Reopened campgrounds see rush of guests while observing social distancing

Families anxious to get away from it all after weeks under Pennsylvania’s stay-at-home orders have flocked to the area’s privately owned campgrounds.

Still, they haven’t escaped from social-distancing guidelines in force as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus.

While camping facilities at state parks aren’t set to open until later this month, Gov. Tom Wolf allowed privately owned locations to welcome back transient campers May 1 — joining any long-term campers that already were present.

Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park in Mill Run, Fayette County, and Buttercup Woodlands Campground in Renfrew, Butler County, experienced banner opening weekends.

“It was phenomenal having 180 guests in,” said Tracy Czambel, operations manager at Jellystone, which has 287 camping sites. “That’s 100 more than we’re used to.”

She credited the jump in bookings in part to the fact that the covid-19 pandemic has placed professional sports on hiatus and has canceled spring school athletics for kids.

Campers are getting a jump-start on the weekend, Czambel said.

“Our Thursday night check-ins are picking up,” she said. “At this time of the year, people usually check in on Friday.

“They’re extending their stays a couple extra days. Maybe they’re laid off or working from home, or they’re able to work from their camper with Wi-Fi.”

Of the 300 camping sites available at Buttercup, at least 120 were occupied on opening weekend.

Prior to the May 1 easing of covid-19 restrictions, “we lost about 2½ weeks at the beginning of the season. We thought it was going to be rough,” said Buttercup manager Jacob Hagofsky. “Honestly, our numbers were better this year than in prior years.”

The only way campgrounds can safely accommodate guests with social distancing is by keeping many communal facilities off-limits and modifying activities.

Playgrounds and restrooms are among areas closed at Jellystone and Buttercup.

“Campers have to have self-contained units,” Hagofsky said. “We’re not permitting site-to-site visits. That alters the way we’ve started the season here. Most times, campers would have their friends over for a cookout.”

In past seasons, Buttercup staff would organize group crafts for children. This Mother’s Day weekend, Hagofsky said, materials will be distributed in individual bags so children can share craft activities with their moms while remaining at their separate campsites.

Also, mothers will receive carnations in lieu of a Mother’s Day breakfast, which has been canceled.

Similarly, at Jellystone, kids were provided materials to make individual Cinco De Mayo pinatas instead of gathering at a pavilion. Children are permitted on a train ride.

“We sanitize the cars in between,” Czambel said.

Guests are required to wear masks while on the train or at the park store, but the face coverings aren’t enforced at campsites, she said.

Buttercup has kept its cabins closed for rental because they lack restroom facilities.

Jellystone has 54 cabins, but there will be periods when some aren’t available for reservations.

Under new health protocols, Czambel said, staff can’t enter a cabin to thoroughly sanitize it until 72 hours after the previous occupants have vacated it.

It has yet to be determined whether the park can safely open its swimming pool this season under guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We’re waiting to hear what has to occur,” Czambel said.

Hagofsky is still hoping to offer band performances for Buttercup campers on Memorial Day weekend.

Jellystone has abandoned plans for a birthday gala for Mill Run’s Sarah Etta Work, mother of a park founder, who will turn 100 on May 27. Instead, staff are encouraging well-wishers to send her cards in care of the park.

Co-owner Todd Wehr said Bear Run Campground may have to modify its Memorial Day weekend schedule. Fortunately, he said, “We do have some room to spread out,” with about 300 camping sites on 60 some acres in Portersville.

Wehr has been easing into the season, welcoming back long-term campers May 1. Transient campers started arriving Sunday afternoon. Bear Run is opening its 20 cabins this coming weekend after hiring a company to sanitize them.

Those who book space at the campground while enjoying activities at two nearby state parks will have more reason to come, as both are opening their reservable boating facilities Friday.

“We’re on the border of Moraine State Park and just minutes away from McConnells Mill,” said Wehr. “A lot of people enjoy both state parks from here.”

Gary Mix noted his family opted to limit the number of camping sites when it purchased Mountain Top Campground near Tarentum six years ago.

Though the campground lacks such added features as a swimming pool, the roomier sites offer a peaceful setting for RV campers and make it easier to maintain the social distancing that is now a must.

“We average about 60 spacious sites,” Mix said, noting the campground’s store and restrooms are closed for now. He hopes to open the single available cabin for use in June. Bookings for summer entertainment, including a bluegrass band, are on hold.

Many campers use Mountain Top in Fawn as a rustic base while commuting to Pittsburgh, Mix said, which has come with both an upside and a downside during the current pandemic.

“We have a lot of campers who have extended stays,” he said. “Hospital nurses and IT people. We have contract workers who stay with us for, maybe, two or three months.”

On the other hand, the campground has seen a drop-off in reservations for those who had planned stays to coincide with summer events in the city that have been canceled.

“We had 50-or-so people that canceled recently,” he said. “Our whole way of operating is going to change. There’s no doubt about that.”