Posts Tagged ‘campsites’

Minnesota’s troubled campground reservations system for state parks relaunched smoothly Thursday (March 22), officials said.

The system crashed shortly after launching March 1. Officials had expected to take 4,500 reservations in the entire day when it was overwhelmed with 4,500 hits in its first hour.

On Thursday, it averaged only about 100 to 130 visitors an hour for the first few hours, said Courtland Nelson, director of the Parks and Trails Division of the Department of Natural Resources, who told reporters he was “quietly pleased.”

Users created about 400 new accounts and made a little over 125 reservations by mid-afternoon, and the system never reached capacity, he said.

Under the DNR’s phased relaunch plan, reservations were accepted Thursday for arrival dates through April 21. From Friday through Sunday, they will be accepted through May 12. A bigger test will come Monday when sites can be reserved through the Memorial Day weekend, Nelson said. More dates will be added through April 2, when system will start taking reservations for a year in advance.

The new system adds features the old system lacked, including the ability to let campers view pictures of individual campsites before selecting them.

Storms from the past weekend did so much damage to the Potwisha Campground the National Park Service has temporarily closed it. The campground is accessible from the Highway 198 entrance to Sequoia/Kings Canyon national parks in Three Rivers.

High winds and rain uprooted some trees, flooded some areas and left debris strewn about the campground area.

The park service closed the campground earlier this week. There was no word on when the campground would reopen.

Park staff members are working to reopen on 3/30 at 12 noon at noon to be ready for weekend camping.

Anyone interested in camping at Potwisha Campground should check ahead first by calling 565-3341 or visiting the website at www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/campgrounds.htm to confirm if sites are available before they arrive.

A limited number of other campgrounds are also available in the Sequoia/Kings Canyon.

The region received as much as two inches of rain in some places, gusting winds and hail as multiple storms moved through the area last weekend. Thehe damage at Potwisha includes limbs broken off trees and campsites sitting under water.

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A proposed closing of COE campgrounds and campsites is a sign of tough economic times.

Almost all federal agencies have taken a hit and that includes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Little Rock Arkansas District of the Corps operates 178 public parks and access areas — and a number of the sites in those parks, will be closing this year.

It’s part of tightening the belt on the federal level.

The Little Rock District of the U-S Army Corps of engineers announced 29 parks will face some sort of a reduction and that includes closing 248 camping sites out of the 1,227 sites available at Greers Ferry Lake.

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