For the most part camping season is coming to a close as the calendar moves into October and for one Greene County official, he is happy with how the year has gone.

Greene County Conservation Director Tanner Scheuermann tells Raccoon Valley Radio he was surprised to see that the camping numbers overall remain steady compared to last year.

“Beginning of the year, we were kind of maybe anticipating some lower numbers with costs of living going up, inflation, things like that. That takes a toll on everybody. So we thought maybe that would take a toll on the recreators coming out to camp but we were wrong. We actually had a pretty busy season out there.”

Scheuermann says the other county parks fared well this year and even saw some increase in camping at Squirrel Hollow. He points out that even though Spring Lake Park continues to attract the most visitors, he feels that the other county parks offer other varieties for people.

“Hyde Park or Squirrel Hollow, you have the (Raccoon) river. And one of the factors that kind of plays in popularity of those parks too is when we have good river levels are adequate for folks to use the river, whether that be fishing, kayaking, boating, whatever they’re doing out there. So I don’t know if we want those areas to become another Spring Lake, but they kind of have their own unique set of amenities that Spring Lake may not have either. They are quiet and more secluded parks and people like that about them.”      

Scheuermann adds his department is working on a master facilities plan to update what is currently at the county parks and says people can register for the cabins at Spring Lake Park now for next year.