No One Has Reservations About Campgrounds Many Filled For Memorial Weekend With Weather Being The Wild Card

Charles Phinney is ready for a horde of campers this Memorial Day weekend.

He and his crew have mowed the grass at the Beauty Creek Campground, they’ve picked up litter, planted 500 trees and 700 bushes, and worked on the creek.

So today he’s going to kick back in his RV, whose water tank he just topped off, and wait for campers to come - in droves.

“Last year, we had people waiting in the parking lot for spots to open up,” said Phinney, a park manager. “The rain may slow it down, but we expect it to be full.”

Phinney is not the only one bracing for herds of outdoors enthusiasts this Memorial Day weekend. Most of the area campgrounds have full or nearly full reservation lists, leaving unprepared campers with little chance of snagging a campsite this weekend.

The low-lying camp spots this year ought to fill up more quickly than other years because there’s still snow in the high country above Priest Lake, said Terry Kincaid, an outdoor recreation planner for the Bureau of Land Management.

“People who want to get into the back country might be a little disappointed,” Kincaid said.

Farragut State Park, one of the largest in the region, has filled all of its reservations, but has left 20 percent of its sites open for first-come, first-served campers. The park also will open up several sites usually set aside for group reservations, leaving the campground with about 75 available sites.

Whether those sites fill up depends on the weather, said Pam Ellis, an office specialist aide at Farragut.

To check if there is any room at the campgrounds, call the Forest Service’s toll-free reservations number at (877) 444-6777. The number is also good for reserving sites at Army Corps of Engineer campgrounds.

If current forecasts hold, the weather could be a bit unpleasant, said John Livingston, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Spokane.

Saturday looks like a decent day, Livingston said, with a few possible showers by the afternoon and temperatures in the lower 70s. Temperatures will fall Sunday and Monday by 5 or 10 degrees, and there’s a good chance of rain those days.

But Livingston will be out of the rain regardless.

“I’m not going camping,” he said. “I’m going to Tucson.”

Wherever you might be going this weekend, the law will be out in force. The Washington and Idaho state patrols expect the annual surge in traffic volume over the Memorial weekend, WSP Trooper Brad Hudson said.

Patrols nationwide have been participating in “America Buckles Up” week, he said. The emphasis has been on enforcing the child safety seat law, he said.

As the weekend gets in gear, patrols will be looking for speeders, road rage and people driving under the influence of alcohol, Hudson said.

On the water, marine deputies will be conducting a lot of safety inspections, said Sgt. Andy Boyle of the Kootenai County Sheriff’s recreation enforcement division.

The department will have five teams of two people out, in addition to other deputies, Boyle said. They will be patrolling the north and south ends of Lake Coeur d’Alene and the Spokane River. Deputies patrol Fernan, Hayden and Pend Oreille lakes, as well as Hauser, Twin and Spirit lakes, Boyle said.

In Spokane County, the sheriff’s marine patrol will be out on several lakes, including Long Lake, Sgt. Joe Bonin said. Deputies also will conduct boat safety inspections, he said, and will be looking specifically to enforce Washington’s new law that says children under 12 on a boat less than 19 feet long must wear a life jacket at all times.

Bonin warns people who plan to be out on the lakes and rivers that the water is still very cold. In addition, a strong spring runoff has left a lot of debris in Long Lake, creating hazards, many of which are hard to see, he said.

“Life jackets, life jackets, life jackets,” is Bonin’s advice to boaters.

He cites the 50-50-50 rule: You have a 50 percent chance of swimming 50 yards in water that is 50 degrees. Area waters are in the low 50s. If you fall into the water, you aren’t going to make it without a life jacket, Bonin said.

Officials said Round Lake, Priest Lake, Henry’s Lake, Hell’s Gate, Three Island Crossing, Bruneau Dunes, Lake Walcott, Ponderosa and Priest Lake state parks will be full early Friday.

Best bets for drop-in camping are: Lake Cascade State Park, near Cascade and Donnelly; Heyburn State Park, near St. Maries; and Dworshak State Park, near Orofino.

For anglers and other water enthusiasts, Kincaid said, water levels look good on rivers and lakes.

“I don’t think it’s an optimum fishing level on the St. Joe or the Coeur d’Alene,” Kincaid said. “But they’re certainly what I would term fishable.”

All Bureau of Land Management sites are first-come, first-served, and the smaller sites will fill up quicker than the larger ones.

On Lake Coeur d’Alene, the Bureau of Land Management has two boat access campgrounds at Windy Bay and Lake Bay. Kincaid said the weather will determine whether they’re busy.

Regardless of the weather, Phinney has one final piece of advice:

“Have a good time.”

These sidebars appeared with the story: TRAFFIC NUMBERS Fatal weekend

In Washington, there were 11 fatalities in 10 collisions during the 1999 Memorial Day weekend. Excessive speed figured in six of the fatal collisions; DUI in four; and inattention to driving in two, according to the WSP.

There were seven fatalities over the weekend in 1998 and three in 1997, a 32-year low.

ON THE NET Boating site

For boating information on the Internet, go to the Washington Boating Safety Officers Association site: http://boatwashington.org