Rains scare off Ohio’s campers

By STEVE STEPHENS

Last month’s rains seem to have put a damper on the season for campers.

June’s rains appear to have done what high gas prices couldn’t: drive campers out of Ohio State Parks.

Despite — or perhaps because of — gasoline running $3 to $4 a gallon this year, Ohio State Park campgrounds had been having a terrific year. Through May, campsite rentals were up 8 percent for 2008. Park officials said the increase could have been because more Ohioans are vacationing in-state this year.

But when the rain fell steadily last month, the number of campers also fell significantly. Campers rented 96,265 sites in June 2007. This year’s number was down to 84,112, a 12.6 percent drop. At an average price of $25 a night, that’s more than a $300,000 dip in park revenue.

“That was a dramatic decline,” said John Hunter, assistant park system chief. “It certainly would have been a major hit for us if we weren’t up already through May.”

Overall, campsite rentals still are up for the year, and Hunter thinks the numbers for the rest of the summer and fall might rebound — if the rain ever stops.

Last month, rounds of golf at state park courses and boat rentals at park marinas also were down, while rentals of snug and dry cabins, cottages and the like actually rose slightly from last year. That indicates the decline in campsite rentals might be weather-related, Hunter said.

At least that’s the hope.

“We probably have a better chance of getting cooperation from the weather than seeing gas prices fall,” he said.

The decline in campers and camping revenue hasn’t drastically hurt the park system’s finances yet, “but a lot will depend on the rest of the year,” Hunter said. Guests who had reserved campsites in advance honored those reservations for the most part, despite the rain, Hunter said. And reservations for the rest of the year continue to be strong.

“It was the walk-up business that was really hurt,” Hunter said.

“Those folks can easily say, ‘It’s a rainy weekend, I’m not going camping.’”

Dick Eiden, who is camping with his wife at East Harbor State Park on Lake Erie, said he is certain that the rain has taken a toll.

Eiden is a “camper host,” a volunteer who helps around the East Harbor campgrounds, the largest in the state, in return for a free campsite.

Camping at the park definitely dropped off last month, said Eiden, who has been a volunteer there for the past seven years.

“I don’t think it’s having too much of an effect on [RV] camper camping, but in the area with the tents, that seems to be way down,” he said Thursday.

“I think we can attribute a lot of it to the weather. We are getting all kinds of rain up here. We had about 21‚Ñ2 inches last night.

“We talked to a guy who said he got up this morning, threw his feet off his cot and splashed water all the way up the side of his tent.

“We’re seeing people going to town and waiting in line at the Laundromat to dry their sleeping bags out.

“I just talked to two people in our area who were going to stay through the Fourth of July weekend, and they’re just leaving instead. They’re soaked and the kids are miserable.”

Even a big, dry RV like Eiden’s 28-foot model can be a little too snug when the weather turns rainy.

“I have two of my grandkids here this week, and trying to entertain a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old inside a camper for 24 hours at a time is tough.”