Sean C. Morgan
Business at local parks was typical of Labor Day, busy but winding down.
At local parks that meant camping spaces were full while day use was down some from earlier summer levels as families were preparing for school to start, Sunnyside Park Ranger Steve Lambert said. “Reservations were full again about February. First-come, first-served was full on Wednesday.”
Sunnyside had minor problems over the weekend, with one person removed for being obnoxious, Lambert said. “Thursday was a little abnormal. A boat capsized.”
Lambert and Camp Host Ray Newsom took a boat upstream from Sunnyside where they picked up Deputy John Lovik. The three found a boat that had been tied to the rocks. It had apparently capsized after a release from Green Peter.
Marine deputies turned the boat over, Lambert said. “We didn’t find anybody,” and the three boat passengers spent the night on the south shore. They were located by deputies the next day.
Lewis Creek, a day-use park, was busy, but typical of Labor Day, not as busy as earlier in the summer. Waterloo was also full.
“Whitcomb Creek had a great year,” Lambert said. “It was full pretty much every weekend.…
“This year went good. I thought we were really busy all year. Day use just keeps picking up here at Sunnyside and Lewis.”
Mid-week day use was up all summer, and first-come, first-served camping was generally full over the weekends. Park use would drop Sunday and Monday but start picking up again by Tuesday of each week.
“The crew we had out here, the seasonal staff, was just tremendous,” Lambert said. Permanent staff were busy with other projects, including a new boat ramp at Waterloo, a new moorage dock at Lewis Creek, rebuilding picnic shelters at Roaring River and Waterloo and rebuilding bridges and stairs at McDowell Creek.
Based on what he heard over the summer, Quartzville along Green Peter Lake wasn’t as busy as usual, Lambert said, and police seemed to have fewer problems in that area.
Jennifer Walker of Jefferson had camped out at Sunnyside since about Tuesday. Monday, a crowd of nine children, hers and her friends’, were enjoying the lake playing on and around a rubber raft.
“The kids have not wanted to get out of the water,” Walker said. “We try to come up at least once a summer. It seemed pretty busy. People seemed richer this year, with their boats out, all their $40,000 boats and RVs. I just never noticed everybody with all their toys before.”
Walker usually camps at a private lake or at Sunnyside, she said. Sunnyside is “convenient, and we can let our kids run and don’t have to worry about it,” though she still makes them stay together in groups.
She had one complaint, she said. The reservation system was confusing, and she suggested it be detailed somewhere that people can read about it and understand it.
“We’ve been having fun on the most part,” Walker said. “I like it. There are showers and it’s clean, but the bees are ferocious. They’ll take a big chunk out of your food while you’re eating it and fly away.”
Lisa Rennie of Sweet Home and friends from Sweet Home and Eugene were putting into Foster Lake with canoes Monday.
“We can go past where all the boats can’t be,” Rennie said. They tie up at a rock beach about after about an hour and a half headed upstream on the South Santiam River. The area has a waterfall and is accessible on a rough road by four-wheel drive.
Mo Maqatish, Texaco Manager, said high fuel prices had impacted business only slightly. The bigger problem was the closure by a wildland fire of Highway 20 east of the junction between highways 22 and 20. With the road reopened, he was beginning to see a few new faces around the convenience store and gas station.