EL DORADO, Kan. (AP) - People camping in southeast Kansas this holiday weekend are being advised to reserve a spot or arrive early because floodwater levels have closed some campgrounds.
El Dorado State Park manager Seth Turner told the Wichita Eagle (https://bit.ly/2rOS1Ih ) on Monday that areas where campsites are first-come, first-serve are already filling up ahead of Memorial Day weekend.
“We still have a lot of campsites, both primitive and utility,” he said. “But if you want your pick of sites, you need to get to them. Otherwise, you’ll get whatever is left this weekend.”
Turner said that on a good holiday weekend, the park might host up to 70,000 people. He said the park still saw about 40,000 people last year despite bad weather.
Still, state parks in Kansas should be fine despite some unavailable campsites because they’re seeing increased popularity and revenue, said Linda Lanterman, state park director for the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism.
“This weekend can be huge for us,” she said. “It’s the first of the big three holiday weekends, with the Fourth of July and Labor Day. Between those three, it’s where we sometimes get two-thirds of our revenue.”
Turner said it could be several weeks before the park’s water levels stabilize, and campers shouldn’t expect to immediately go into places that just opened after being closed for cleanup.
“That’s the thing some people don’t realize,” he said. “Once the water’s down, it can be three weeks of work for us to get things ready again, cleaning up the debris, smoothing things out around the campgrounds. We’ll have to put our electrical boxes back together. It takes time.”
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Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, https://www.kansas.com
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