11/13/2024
There is something going on with Colorado Bend State Park.
About 7 years ago the park was busy. 6yrs ago they made it very difficult to get into the park.
The park director at the time told me they were playing with the numbers to get more state money. I have no idea if that is true.
I own a store that every patron of the park has to drive past.
Most days the park will say they are full.
I have driven into the park 50 plus times to see not one of the gates or offices manned and nobody in the park even though they say its full.
The park used to be full of families and they rented kayaks.
Most of the time all of the drive-up campsites will say they are reserved, and they are all empty.
For 6 years I have heard numerous stories a day about how awful people's experiences in dealing with the park were.
I called the state park director, and he told me a passel of untruths.
First, he told me they were having the most traffic they had ever had.
I told him that on the same day I was speaking to him the website said they were full.
He said that was because they were packed.
I sent him pics from an hour before our call of a completely empty park with no staff manning gates or the office.
Then he told me there wasn't enough parking.
I pointed out that there were ten or more parking lots, and they were all empty.
The parking lot at the bottom is a mile long.
He then told me they were protecting native grasses.
I asked him which grasses, and he said he would have to get back to me.
I then sent him 2 pictures that he had a difficult time explaining.
There were two Permanent signs 3 miles from the entrance saying the park was closed due to overcapacity.
These signs were up for months.
The park was completely empty.
The next morning the signs were removed first thing in the morning.
So, if you have trouble getting into Colorado Bend State Park you might think they are full. I can assure they are not.
This is our park, and we should all be able to use it.
In the last 6 yrs I've had over a thousand people come in my store will all kinds of stories.
It's a beautiful park but this situation needs to be dealt with.
This sign and another one just like it was up for months. They took them down the day after I called the State Park Director. On the day I took this pic there were ZERO people working in the office or at the gate. There were ZERO people in the Park.
