Wednesday five friends and myself did a shuttle hike of the Rubicon Trail along Lake Tahoe. We left one vehicle in D L Bliss State Park and rode in two vehicles to Emerald Bay where we started our hike. Our cars contained our camping gear and we would access our campsites in Bliss park at 2 PM. After our hike we piled six people into my wife's Highlander - three in the back seat, myself driving, and a couple riding together on the front passenger seat, the wife sitting on the husband's lap (the back section was filled with hiking and camping gear.)Since we were so crowded instead of going all the way to Emerald Bay we planned to drive the short distance to our campsites and drop off some of the people and gear. We were soon stopped by a California State Park Patrolman. His lights were flashing so I pulled over thinking he would drive right by me. Nope, he wrote the lady riding on the lap a ticket for being unsecured and very clearly informed me that I could have been cited for allowing her to ride there. Her husband pleaded for just a warning and I assured the patrolman that the end result would be the same: we left two passengers there by the road, I dropped off some gear and the rest of the passengers at our campsites, then returned to take the two drivers to their cars at Emerald Bay. The patrolman also warned us that any infractions at our campsites would result in our being ejected from the park. To put it mildly this guy was very unpleasant. I work in the service industry in Reno and we value our guests and do our best to create good will. It's good for business and allows guests as well as employees to enjoy the interactions.
We were/are all upset. I'm considering letters to the editor and complaints. I've sent a couple of emails inquiring where to complain. And I guess the lady can go to Court and ask for lenience. Our group are certainly not trouble makers. All are in our 50's and 60's except the lady who got the ticket who is in her 30's. We are hiking enthusiasts who mainly camped that night so we could get an early start on our hike up Mt Tallac the next morning without driving 90 minutes from Reno. Any thoughts? Or is it just "You broke the law, got caught, deal with it."
