6/25 Status of State Parks

I haven't been posting much lately because I am in Ohio, staying in various state parks near my youngest son’s home, and catching up on doctor and dentist visits.  Last week, I had an x-ray of a finger on my right hand to determine why I had pain there.  Unfortunately, it is arthritis.  I had hoped two little painful bumps could be easily removed.  Also had a couple of cat scans to check out some long-running issues.  No changes, so that is good news.  Then I saw my dentist and scheduled a tooth implant—not fun to look forward to, but glad to get it done in next few weeks.  Also, spent some time with grandkids and am now working on doing some deep cleaning and reorganizing of stuff in my motorhome. I am embarrassed to say I washed my privacy curtains for the first time in 11 years!!! They were marked "dry clean only" but came out fine after being washed in cold water.

In between all of these things, I have had some conversations with people about the condition of state parks.  As you might know, I nearly always stay in federal, state, or county campgrounds.  They tend to be less crowded than commercial campgrounds, with sites farther apart and a few animals running around. 

The problem in this country is that with only a few exceptions, most state parks were built several decades ago, in an era when most people stayed in tents or relatively small RVs.  A few decades ago, most state parks added electric and sometimes water hookups to sites.  They also usually laid down some asphalt for RVs and cars to park on. 

Unfortunately, RVs have gotten bigger, and many require 50 amp hookups instead of the older 30 amp connections that most state park still have.  In addition, trailers and motorhomes have become a lot longer and a few inches wider over the years.  Also, campers expect more amenities such as showers and flush toilets these days.  The problem is that when it comes to state budgets, recreation is an easy thing to cut, which has been common in the last couple of decades.  The result has been delayed maintenance and few improvements made in most state parks over the past 20 – 30 years.  This means that asphalt is crumbling, electrical hookup boxes have been backed into a few too many times, and utility systems have degraded, plus many sites are too narrow and too short for modern big rigs.  Since Ohio can be a rainy state, a narrow site means you step off your stairs into the mud!!

(I won’t even get into another of my pet peeves in campgrounds—the fact that whoever laid down the asphalt pads 40 years ago were clearly not campers and often did not realize the importance of sites being even reasonably level.  I call these sites “ski jumps”!)

COVID caused a lot of people to cancel hotel and cruise-type vacations.  RV dealers had banner years during COVID as people bought trailers and motorhomes as safer means of vacationing.  This was exacerbated by the large numbers of baby boomers who retired, bought RVs, and took off for the open road.  Places where you could always get a last-minute camping site are now booked weeks and months in advance. 

Some states have started to make improvements, as evidenced by the State of Ohio replacing about 10-15% of the older sites with full hookup sites last year.  (A full hookup site has electric, water, and sewer.)  Most importantly, these new sites Ohio constructed have new concrete and asphalt, are wider and longer, and are much more level.  They also have concrete patios, which reduce the mud and the mats campers put down to have a clean place to put chairs on.  They also have put the hookup utilities on concrete pads, which means you do not have to get muddy feet or wade through a puddle to plug in your electric cord!!  Yea!!!

Unfortunately, there is a lot of infrastructure like underground electrical wire and water systems that still need to be replaced in a lot of state parks, and there are still too many “ski jump” sites that need to be replaced.  As an example, the campground I am currently staying in has only 20 amp sites, except for two handicap and two ex-camp host sites.  This means that you cannot run an AC unit in an RV on hot days.  Last winter, they put in underground wiring for 30 and 50 amps, but installation of the electric posts were delayed until this coming October because they could not delivery of the posts before the busy summer season.  (I got one of the old camp host sites, so I am lucky to have AC if I need it.  I know camping with AC might sound silly, but I am getting older and without AC, every recreational vehicle soon resembles a tin can on a hot day.)

I have mentioned RV sites, but I have to add that tent sites are even worse in a lot of places.  In the two places that I tend to stay at while visiting my son, tent sites are just opening in the woods, with a driveway nearby to park a car.  Newer state and federal campgrounds will have tent pads that are slightly raised and consist of fine gravel on top of coarser gravel with the materials held in by a wooden barrier of some sort.  This means that campers will have a dry or at least well-drained surface on which to pitch their tents—a considerable improvement over mud or wet forest ground.   

I am using Ohio as an example, but it is pretty typical.  A friend of mine sent me a list of the improvements the State of Michigan is planning for its state parks, and it totals $15,962,000 over the next couple of years, much of which is coming from Biden's American Rescue Plan.  Here are two articles:

·        https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/about/newsroom/releases/2022/06/28/arpa-funded-state-park-infrastructure 

·        https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/places/state-parks/arpa-funding/project-list

I looked through the second item, the project list, and I am especially glad they are replacing the sanitation system at Traverse City SP.  The existing dump station is a terrific example of poor design, so I hope they are relocating it or at least relocating some of the campsites near it. I assume it was built when few campers had tanks to dump because it is located at the end of a line of camp sites. This is a very large campground in a very popular place, so there are so many RVs that line up to dump each day that they have to station a camp host to direct traffic, plus the line ends up forming down the roadway so that it blocks in several campsites!! Can you imagine being stuck in your camp site for several hours each day by RVs lining up to dump their sewage tanks??? It really needs to be located away from where campers are camping.

I know that Michigan has spent a lot of money on Wilderness SP near Mackinaw City over the last couple of years, redoing most of the campsites. Like most other state parks, it is packed at least six months of the year. I remember staying there 11 years ago, and the sites were so close together and the roadway so narrow that most campers had their vehicles parked hanging out into the road. I remember people having to move trucks before I could leave!!

In reality, all this good news is just a small amount of what really needs to be done to catch state parks up with the needs and wants of campers. If you look through the Michigan list, you will see that a lot of the changes will not be immediately noticeable to campers because many of the projects involve replacing electrical and water systems, but it is a good start and will eventually make camping easier and more pleasant for a lot of people.