We love camping in state parks. In fact, I can think of only two occasions in the past 10 years we didn't use the SP. One occasion was a spur of the momenth 4th of July weekend. We stayed at a COE. The second was this past trip in which we camped at a state rec area. For what it's worth, that was still under the auspices of our SP system.
We gladly pay our dues and often donate a little extra. They've been worth it in our books.
Sidenote: when DW was earning her masters degree, one of her jobs was that of a maintenance ranger in the VA state park system.
I love state parks too. Most of our camping is in State or National parks. Two years ago our governor threaten to close many of the state parks in PA. Locally there was a huge outcry over it and the parks have remained open. They have cut staff and closed more of the campgrounds 🙁 during the winter, but the parks are still open. 😀
State parks are great! Most have historical significance which we can pass to our children. Here in NY they threatened to close parks last year. In the end they did close a very few and cut services at others. But still ONE MILLION more people visited the parks than the previous year. And this with reservations being in limbo the beginning of the year. Yet they are still talking more cuts. How more clear does it have to be??
My very favorite campground is a state park in Maryland. It has been ever since the first time I camped there, more than 30 years ago.
We prefer a rural-type campground to the tenement-type, organized-activities, shoulder-to-shoulder "family" type of park. (Though, I've seen state parks [Hickory Run in Pennsylvania, to name one] that have sites so close together everyone might as well be sleeping in the same unit. That type of poor planning and money-grubbing leaves me cold.)
We love State Parks too! We have visited several in Virginia and this summer we are going to dedicate all of our camping weekends to staying in as many as we can. We buy the State Park Passport+ to save 10% on our reservations. Probably don't get our maney back but we consider it a contribution to help keep the Parks open. Virginia is really promoting their Parks unlike California and other states who are just going to start closing them down due to "budget issues". :-
We prefer State Parks to KOA, Army Corp Eng, or PVT owned CG's. GA. State Parks are the cleanest I have seen through out the country. The state uses prisoners and community service people to clean the grounds, bathrooms and fire pits to save money. SP's here have the best sites. The bathrooms are spotless all the time.
We purchase the family annual pass($75), it includes 2 nights of camping and 2 annual parking passes ($5 per day), plus 10% off camping and 10% in the canteen. The pass pays for it self! It also supports the GASP system "Friends of the Park".
Make sure you support you states park system. :ranger:
In my 28 years of camping I don't think that I ever stayed anywhere other than state parks and Boy Scout camps. We love the State Parks and would be very disappointed if they were to cut back or close ours. Ours need enough repairs and updates without cutting their already tight budget. I emailed Gov. Strictland before he left office about the rumors of Ohio cutting more money from the budget. He never responded >:(. Let's hope our new Governor will make the necessary changes in the budget. They are already saving a ton of $ by all the volunteers and donations.
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