State Park Closures

Black Canyon and Curecanti closed

(CBS4) – More of Colorado’s national parks continued to contract operations Friday in response to local government’s efforts to control visitation and curb the spread of the COVID-19.

Campgrounds, visitor centers, and restroom facilities at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and Curecanti National Recreation Area are closed until at least April 30th, the National Park Service announced.
 
Another Utah national park closes

Today Zion National Park was closed at the request of the Utah State Department of Health to help limit the spread of the COVID-19. Canyonlands and Arches NP already were closed. Bryce and Capitol Reef NP are still open, but all NPS campgrounds in Utah are closed.
 
Texas State Parks are supposed to re-open tomorrow, 4-20. Some restrictions, so call ahead.
 
Of course you are. And the WalMarts are all open - but please wear your mask,
 

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Still open this morning, but....
 

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Denali National Park campground closed

I received an email yesterday that said all lodging including campgrounds, guided tours, and dining facilities in Denali National Park are closed until June 15. My reservation for the week of June 7 was cancelled. It has no effect on me now as I've already abandoned my trip and gone home.
 
Just got an email from recreation.gov that Great Sand Dunes NP closure has been extended through Oct. 31 - we had reservations there in Sept. I expect to get similar notifications for numerous reservations we have in Aug. & Sept. at other parks.

They stated that no action is needed - if the park remains closed, reservations will be automatically refunded. If the park reopens before the date of your reservations, they will still be valid. I think they are, in effect, just closing down the reservations system through Oct. to avoid people continuing to make reservations for the summer months which might have to get canceled depending on how long closures stay in effect. Many of the popular national park campgrounds are fully booked six months ahead so I'd expect people with late summer reservations to just hang onto them at this point and see what develops.
 
David Murphy, we got that same email about Great Sand Dunes NP. We live about a 3 hour drive from there and we have been trying to get reservations there for several years but everything was always booked. We were so excited when we hit it right in 2020 (or so we thought) for a campsite reservation for the first week in June. HA! Looking like another year for us to miss out on GSDNP. Bummer!
 
With so many of the most popular national parks, you have to be online literally the second the clock strikes 10AM EST six months in advance and be ready to click and pray to get a reservation. We did that successfully for a number of parks on a trip planned for Aug. & Sept....scored campsites in Many Glacier at Glacier NP, Capitol Reef NP, Great Sand Dunes NP, and some terrific forest service campgrounds as well as a few private campgrounds around Glacier. We even parked at the visitor center at Big Bend NP while we were there a while back in order to use their wifi and get online to make summer reservations at the right moment.

The day after we got home from the Big Bend trip I thought I'd be clever and went to the grocery store when they opened at 6AM. The line was like a Best Buy on Black Friday, the great grocery panic of 2020 had begun. With every day that goes by now, the realization sinks in a little more that things will not be returning to "normal" any time in the forseeable future. Sure glad we got our trailer and managed to get in some great camping in the first year we had it. We will appreciate it even more when we are able to hit the road again...whenever that turns out to be.
 
David Murphy, we got that same email about Great Sand Dunes NP. We live about a 3 hour drive from there and we have been trying to get reservations there for several years but everything was always booked. We were so excited when we hit it right in 2020 (or so we thought) for a campsite reservation for the first week in June. HA! Looking like another year for us to miss out on GSDNP. Bummer!

Several years ago I couldn't find a spot at Great Sand Dunes so I stayed for a couple of nights at San Luis State Park. It is close enough to the dunes that you can visit easily. Since then San Luis has been incorporated into a wildlife area and the rules have changed, so when things open up again you might want to check out their website to see how to visit.
 
San Luis State Park

San Luis State Park is where we stayed some years ago as the Dunes park was full. We were tent car camping, and San Luis State Park was EMPTY...of like everyone. There was some problem with the water supply and nobody else was there. Peculiar.
 
We've been going to San Luis Lake SP for years, love the big sky view at night of the San Luis Valley with the sand dunes off in the distance with mountains rising up right behind them. It was always pretty deserted...now that it is a wildlife refuge, not a state park, they have closed the bathrooms and dump station, no water available, but as far as I know camping is still allowed. As much as we love it there, we were lucky enough to score one of the few campsites in the national park campground that not only will easily accommodate a trailer but also backs up right next to the dunes. Those sites always last about three seconds online, we just got lucky and got one this year. Lucky, until the coronavirus came....
 

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Here's the view from the campsite in Great Sand Dunes NP that we scored....and may or may not get to enjoy in September.
 

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