Opening Day

Opening Day is always a big deal to those afficinados who have been waiting for something to open or begin. Hunters, fishermen, skiers, baseball fans, and basketball fans can't wait for opening days. Yesterday was our opening day. The parking lot just outside of the gate was full of cars loaded with eager campers. Our camp ground had been closed since last September and it is very popular with local tent campers so its reopening was eagerly ancipated by what I call 'real' campers'. We had been told that our camp ground had a cult following and was anxious to see if that was true. The crowd at the gate told me it was.

Every hour or so beginning at about 9:30 an emissary from the parking lot would walk down the hill and politely inquire when and if we would open. We sadly had to tell them that we did not know and wouldn't know until the water testing was complete. They would sigh and trudge back up the hill to the parking lot. At 2:30 pm the word came from the lab that the water was okay to use and I headed for the gate. The opening day crowd had been outside their cars, talking and watching their kids play and as soon as they saw me they gathered up the kids and got into their cars. It took a minute to open the gate and like pied piper I led a column of cars, campers, and RVs down the hill.

We gave each vehicle a plastic 'reserved' tag and told them to find a site that they liked and put the reserved tag on the post in front of the site then come back and pay us. They rushed off in clouds of dust. It reminded me of the Oklahoma Land Rush in a way. Soon they were coming back to check in with us. We gave them the rules and sent them off to set up their camp sites. We sold out the lower loop and it was decided to open up the upper loop where we still had snow and some significant problems with our rest rooms. Soon we had that sold out too except for one site that had a river of snow melt running through it.

We later had a chance to take the Gator and tour our little camp ground to see how everyone was settling in. Our supervisor, Don, told us that the key to camp ground control is the wave. As we drove around and waved at each group of campers. Don said if they did not wave back then they were unhappy and to stop to see what the problem was. We had nothing but wave backs. All the campers were busy putting up tents, fixing food and starting a camp fire. The only problem was with one group who had built their campfire with wood that extended beyond the fire rings that the National Forest Service provides. The group of teenagers in one large site was even behaving themselves. Don told us that such groups are the real problem causers in camp grounds. These kids must have been a group of camping choir boys. Polite and orderly.

So with camp fire smoke rising through the dark pines and the sounds of kids playing moving through what were previously quiet groves of trees, we ended our first Opening Day. This is fun.