In June of 2017, there were several illegal encampments created by apparent homeless persons in the wooded areas around Idyllwild County Park. These encampments included improvised structures of natural materials, and large amounts of items strewn around the ground in and around them. A wide variety of items included cooking implements, magazines, clothing, tampons, signs of intravenous drug use, candles, and many other random items. Of particular concern was the evidence of small fires that had been created in some of these areas.
Park personnel obtained a clean up estimate for at least one of the encampments- because of the presence of needles, this deemed the cleanup to be a hazardous materials remediation, with a cost estimate of nearly $9,000. Some of the other less hazardous sites were removed by Park personnel.
Here are some photos of these encampments:
Idy-County-Park-Illegal-Encampments