State parks Coronavirus closings

Denny16

All good and valid points.  Stay safe everyone, while we weather out this storm in port.
cheers

DougH

Sharon_is_SAM said:

It appears the suspension of the National Park fees is true @DougH.  https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/news/public-health-update.htm

Thanks!

CCGA

All campgrounds (ACOE) at West Point Lake GA and AL are closed through 4/19/2020.

Verna

Many of the COE dams and mechanicals for the dams are closed. But double check because in Indiana, the lakes, boating, state campgrounds and launch ramps are controlled by the state DNR and these are still open. 

Denny16

This is soon going to be a moot point, as more and more states and counties in effected areas have or are going to have non essential travel bans, and many have been ordered to shelter at home, no vacation travel is permitted in most norther California counties at this time, only essential services remain open.  Good luck to all during this crisis.
cheers

Marceline

All California State Parks closing - no start date and no end date in press release. 

https://www.parks.ca.gov/NewsRelease/943

Michigan_Mike

Restaurants in New Mexico are closed for carry out only.  State Parks have been closed since last week.  Be safe out there and don’t risk your safety or that of anyone else.  People are still nonchalant about all of this as testing is just really getting underway, so this thing has arrived and is silently spreading throughout the US.  Good luck to any of you folks trying to get home!  

DougH

Texas State Parks are still open but as a state we're completely sold out of toilet paper, spam, and ammo. 

Parks & Wildlife just promulgated:

"After careful evaluation of the ongoing public health situation, Texas State Parks will be limiting park programming and closing public access to park headquarters, visitor centers and park stores starting at 12 p.m. Thursday, March 19" 

N7SHG_Ham

The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department will accommodate current overnight guests through April 2. Reservations for all state park stays from April 3 to and including May 8 will be canceled and site fees refunded. Before May 8, the department will review the state park campground closure to decide whether it should be extended. The decision affects all individual and group overnight facilities: campsites, yurts, cabins, tepees, and services operated by concessionaires. The suspended service also affects reservations for group day-use areas.

CrabTab

Just received an email from Minnesota DNR. State Parks, forests, rec areas and other public lands currently remain open.

dsfdogs

@N7SHG_Ham, yep, received my cancellation notification for mid April to Champoeg. Next up, Cape Lookout mid-May, fingers crossed.

Regarding the free National Parks, I read the staff are very concerned for too big crowds and not enough staffing to clean up their messes. 

N7SHG_Ham

@dsfdogs we have a reservation for LaPine in August, was going to camp on the coast at least once this summer but didn't have any reservations yet. Have a condo reserved in Newport for July, hope that doesn't get cancelled. I cancelled a trip to Portland this weekend on my own, for now just trying to ride it out and see where we can camp in a month or two.

jkjenn

From the Canadian National Parks:

Effective midnight, Wednesday, March 18, 2020, Parks Canada is temporarily suspending all visitor services in all national parks, national historic sites and national marine conservation areas across the country until further notice.

 

Parks Canada will cease taking new reservations until April 30, 2020. All existing reservations for the period March 18, 2020 to April 30, 2020 will be refunded in full. In addition, the Agency is currently developing an approach to honour passes, in light of travel restrictions and closures related to COVID-19. Details will be communicated in due course. Please visit www.parkscanada.gc.ca/covid-19 regularly for updates.

 

All reservations due to arrive before April 30, 2020 will be cancelled, and all fees paid will be refunded automatically. You do not need to cancel your reservation.

 

Visitors with a reservation with an arrival date after April 30,2020 do not need to cancel their reservation. Until further notice, Parks Canada will be waiving reservation cancellation fees and all refunds will be for the full amount paid.

 

In these exceptional circumstances, refunds may take some time to process. Your refund may take place in multiple payments; please allow a few weeks to receive your full refund.

 

Thank you for your collaboration.

Verna

KOA Kampgrounds link to their closures: 

http://go2.koa.com/Y0XRe0q9n00Dw001jMT0VO1

They are my go-to safe place to camp when I need full hookups. While I prefer less expensive like BLM land, parking lots, it seems that KOA Kampgrounds will take care of you if you have doubts about your surroundings. . 

DougH

Listen to the latest RV Miles podcast.

Areas like Moab kicked everyone out, Estes Park got RMNP to close, the FL Keys closed their RV parks, and it sounds like that trend will continue.  One county in TX closed all RV parks except those with permanent residents.  RV Miles indicated if you're a full timer it might be time to hunker down in a suitable park for a longer stay, but stay flexible in case things change.

Lots of free places as alternatives in many states though, if you're boondock capable.

Bayliss

The NPS (Recreation.gov) recently cancelled two separate reservations I have for Joshua Tree (Cottonwood Campground) in May.  The message indicated that they will automatically refund my credit card charges, although that has not yet happened.

Lesley_and_Ian

We cancelled a site in Big Bend NP. got the refund but $10 admin fee.

b407driver

I had a 7-day permit for the White Rim starting Tuesday, but Canyonlands NP cancelled all permits a few days ago through early April (due to UT health department directive to limit camping/lodging in the Moab area, including on BLM land). I find it a bit of a bother that the park remains open (buildings closed), overlooks where people gather remain open, etc. Far fewer people 'fit' (and are permitted) down on the White Rim than up on the rim where there are paved roads; it's probably one of the safest places to be to not spread/get the virus, and everyone down there is self-sufficient. I typically lap the White Rim with only a single visit to a UT gas station, always stay away from Moab.

I understand the intent to limit visitors to the Moab area, but keeping the relatively busy park(s) open while closing the sparsely populated (and permit-required) White Rim seems illogical, at best. 

Cheers to all, stay safe.

jkjenn

They should probably  just close the parks.  These small gateway communities need to be protected.

VictoriaP

Washington state park campgrounds closed through April:
https://parks.state.wa.us/1177/Novel-Coronavirus---COVID-19

NOVEL CORONAVIRUS – COVID 19 UPDATES

March 22, 2020
The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission (Parks), Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced the closure of all state campgrounds across Washington to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. Campgrounds will remain closed through April 30.

The closure includes roofed accommodations like cabins, yurts and vacation houses.

No new campers will be allowed into Parks, WDFW or DNR lands beginning Monday, March 23. Current campers will be phased out following instructions from land officials.

Day-use areas and trails remain open. Due to the volume of people visiting Washington’s ocean beaches, we are asking the public to avoid those areas. People should continue to practice social distancing when recreating outdoors. 

Marceline

jkjenn said:

They should probably  just close the parks.  These small gateway communities need to be protected.

NPS just announced today that they are closing most of Point Reyes National Seashore after being inundated with daytrippers on Saturday.

N7SHG_Ham

https://katu.com/news/local/oregon-state-parks-to-close-march-23-amid-coronavirus-pandemic

Will now include day use areas too.

jgram2

@N7SHG_Ham I may be going out on a limb here, but my guess is that’s because of the unconcerned crowds at the coast, and the very real concerns of the small coastal communities. I don’t think it’s sunk in yet that you can be infected 2-10 days before displaying symptoms (as far as the medical community can tell so far) and shedding virus that whole time. In a small German study of 27 people who flew home from Wuhan, 17 tested positive, 14 had symptoms and 3 did not. Those 3 had the highest viral load, so had the capacity to shed more virus and infect more people. And, Since people under 50 are more susceptible than previously thought, it’s important to stay home as much as possible. It’s been a looong time since I was a teenager but I remember solemnly nodding at my parents’ various safety lectures and forgetting every word in moments of hilarity and excitement. Not much has changed.

Sharon_is_SAM

I think they are also trying to protect park staff.  Florida has resorted to “Pay by Plate” for all toll roads to prevent any transmission to toll attendees.  

N7SHG_Ham

@jgram2 absolutely it was because of what happened this weekend on the coast and the gorge. People weren't self distancing, so now locked down.

jkjenn

jgram2 said:

@N7SHG_Ham I may be going out on a limb here, but my guess is that’s because of the unconcerned crowds at the coast, and the very real concerns of the small coastal communities. I don’t think it’s sunk in yet that you can be infected 2-10 days before displaying symptoms (as far as the medical community can tell so far) and shedding virus that whole time. In a small German study of 27 people who flew home from Wuhan, 17 tested positive, 14 had symptoms and 3 did not. Those 3 had the highest viral load, so had the capacity to shed more virus and infect more people. And, Since people under 50 are more susceptible than previously thought, it’s important to stay home as much as possible. It’s been a looong time since I was a teenager but I remember solemnly nodding at my parents’ various safety lectures and forgetting every word in moments of hilarity and excitement. Not much has changed.

A friend who is a family doctor was on a webinar with worldwide family doctors today. Here was her takeaways from the webinar. She is a very reasonable and intelligent person. She has made her post public, but I screen captured it for our non-facenlbook friends.


As far as the parks go, people think they wont bring it these small gateway communities, but they can and potentially already have without knowing it. 

This is a, "love your neighbor" kind of situation.  

2Cougs

WA State Parks are closed including DNR land.

From the WA State Parks website:

Novel coronavirus – COVID 19 updates

March 22, 2020
 The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission (Parks), Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced the closure of all state campgrounds across Washington to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. Campgrounds will remain closed through April 30.

The closure includes roofed accommodations like cabins, yurts and vacation houses.

No new campers will be allowed into Parks, WDFW or DNR lands beginning Monday, March 23. Current campers will be phased out following instructions from land officials.

Day-use areas and trails remain open. Due to the volume of people visiting Washington’s ocean beaches, we are asking the public to avoid those areas. People should continue to practice social distancing when recreating outdoors. 

State Parks

Campers who have state parks reservations through April 30 will be notified and offered a full refund. Visitors can find the latest information about State Park operations on this page.

DougH

Colorado closes more access (sigh)

Forest Service closes all of its trailheads, campgrounds and picnic sites across Colorado. Parks and Wildlife similarly closes its campgrounds

https://theknow.denverpost.com/2020/03/26/forest-service-colorado-parks-campgrounds-closed-coronavirus/236228

I have such mixed feelings on this topic. Since I'm not a full timer yet, I have the option of staying holed up in a stix-n-brix (my city and county are under stay at home orders). But at the same time, I want to support the travel stops along the way with my tourist dollars. You hate to see small private RV parks or the occasional cafe or specialty shoppe shutter forever because of a three or four month quarantine period. And selfishly I want to get out and kayak in this beautiful weather. That said, the last thing I want to do is contribute to the spread of the CoVid19. Besides, so many places are already partially closed or restricted to pickup / delivery only, by county or state orders. Wait, that means they need our dollars even more. But with less places open, shouldn't they be reserved for the full-timers? See what I mean?  It's so hard to know what the most ethical thing to do is in these times.

Sharon_is_SAM

Virginia State Parks are closing tomorrow 3/27.

Verna

As @jkjenn and I keep mentioning, the Human Resources are stretched thin near the campgrounds , BLM areas, COE campgrounds and areas. Their medical facilities are few and far in between and we Camper’s need to respect that the people who live there need to exist, also.The food and necessity shortages we are experiencing may be greater at these favorite destinations. 

As some of my snowbird friends have told me, they headed home 6 weeks earlier than normal after seeing so many businesses being closed, BLM areas are being held to the seldom enforced rule of only 14 day stay limits, grocery store shelves are bare, and campgrounds are closing per state mandates. 

Full timers are reporting that they are not able to find free or inexpensive camping and they either keep driving (that’s a hazard!) or they are stopping at Private campgrounds and paying more, but they feel safe. 

These are times that we are not used to, and we must think of how we are affecting others. 

My advice (take it or leave it because we will not argue) is to stay put in the brick and mortar, patiently wait until quarantines are lifted for your protection and that of others, and know that we will all remember this and appreciate camping and the great outdoors even more. 

Off my soapbox....