Opening Day preparations underway
State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick to fire opening gun
One of the bigger improvements made to Roaring River State Park during the off season was the upgrade to 50 amp service at 15 camping sites in Campground 1.
February 26, 2020
Charlea Estes-Jones
Preparations are well underway for one of the busiest days of the year in the Cassville area. Opening Day of catch and keep rainbow trout season is this Sunday, March 1, and Roaring River State Park is busy with preparations to make sure the waters and facilities are ready for the big event.
Opening Day will begin at 6:30 a.m. with the opening gun fired by State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick this year.
While typical fish stocking and bank clean up have been the focus leading up to Opening Day, Roaring River State Park staff have been busy completing multiple projects, including upgrading some of the electric hookups in campsites, renovating lodge rooms, and cleaning up natural areas near the cabins and completing glade restoration. They are also in the process of making changes to Eagle's Nest Trail and getting the park's new wifi set up for campers.
According to hatchery manager Paul Spurgeon, they will be stocking Roaring River's cool, clear waters with 7,000 trout in preparation of Opening Day this weekend. The staff anticipate around 2,000 anglers for the opening of the season if the weather goes according to forecast. Right now, the high for Sunday is 60 degrees.
Since the hatchery is still not operational due to a major overhaul renovation project, the fish will come from Montauk State Park's hatchery. Spurgeon said the plan is to bring in fish once a week during catch and keep season. "We'll run the six pools down at the end with recirculation pumps [to keep trout]. They'll be bringing in fish weekly, and we'll be stocking daily. There are 100 lunkers in that number and they are really nice. It's some of the best ones we've had in several years, and they all came in from Montauk," he said.
Hatchery staff also worked on cleaning the stream banks and removing some gravel to ensure the water is clear and ready for anglers. Spurgeon said, "We have dressed up the stream banks and we are in the process of removing gravel out of Dry Hollow, but the stream banks are all dressed up, and there won't be any muddy water for anybody."
Roaring River State Park natural resources manager Joel Topham shared some of the preparations park staff have been completing to be ready, as well.
One of the bigger projects was an electric upgrade to 15 campsites in Campground 1. Topham said, "We upgraded to 50 amp sites. It's always been a call from our customers to upgrade our systems with the ever-changing RV industry. Campers keep getting bigger, and they keep adding a lot of different apparatuses and with that, it increases the need for electric. Thirty amp just doesn't cut it a lot of the time."
The sites that include 50 amp services are numbers 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 54, 55, 56 and family sites 47, 49 and 51. The regular premium sites are $25 per night versus $23 for a standard 30 amp electric site. The family sites are $8 for just the premium electric and $58 for the single family campsite that includes a full hookup. Family campsites have two camping pads on each site.
Topham also said the wifi upgrade that was planned for the park was almost complete. He anticipates it will be fully ready for campers to utilize by the end of March. He said, "We are actively working with our partner goBec. They've actually successfully hooked up all of their fiber throughout the park, so we are just waiting on our end of that. We are scheduled for March 10 to get all of that hooked up and hopefully do a test run shortly thereafter."
Initially, the former director of Missouri State Parks said the pilot wifi program would be free for 30 minutes and then be a paid service following that. Topham said the details are still being discussed regarding how wifi will operate in the park and how much it will cost, if the state opts for a fee to use it.
Other state park staff improvements include restoration work and rerouting Eagle's Nest Trail, which has been closed for an extended period of time. Topham said, "We are working toward getting Eagle's Nest Trail open. We are rerouting the trail right now. We have several new clearances in the works. We are hoping we can get that completed by the end of March as well."
As with many park projects, the Eagle's Nest project was delayed for weather issues.
Other improvements included five room remodels at the inn, new furnishings at the lodge, and improvements to glade seven on Fire Tower Trail, cleaning up the hillside by the inn and the cabins and drainage improvements in Campground 2.
Topham added the park will be reopening the pool for at least this season probably for the last time and plans to change to a splash pad for next season. The park also moved to increase the camping season at Camp Smokey to April 9 through October 31. There are currently only two weeks opened at Camp Smokey this year.
The last remaining big project at the park is the hatchery renovation. Spurgeon said the project is really only two to three weeks of work to get the hatchery fully operational again, however, the wet weather has led to many delays. The $1.9 million renovation began September 2018, and the hatchery has been closed for fish since. Spurgeon said, "We are waiting on lower spring levels because they have to put a concrete connector at the mouth of the cave and build that last structure. It's partially built, but when the rain came, 100% of the spring has to be pumped away from that opening. They haven't been able to do that since 60 cubic feet per second; it's been 130-150. There are only two or three weeks of work to complete once the water goes down. We were very close and then it rained. They did get the footing poured for the structure."
This year's tags will be $4 for adults and $3 for children 15 years or younger. The Roaring River Park Store will have tags available beginning on Saturday, February 29, at 9 a.m. and will continue all through the night. Fishing will begin at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, March 1. Fishing ends on Opening Day at 6 p.m.
Charlea Estes-Jones
Preparations are well underway for one of the busiest days of the year in the Cassville area. Opening Day of catch and keep rainbow trout season is this Sunday, March 1, and Roaring River State Park is busy with preparations to make sure the waters and facilities are ready for the big event.
Opening Day will begin at 6:30 a.m. with the opening gun fired by State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick this year.
While typical fish stocking and bank clean up have been the focus leading up to Opening Day, Roaring River State Park staff have been busy completing multiple projects, including upgrading some of the electric hookups in campsites, renovating lodge rooms, and cleaning up natural areas near the cabins and completing glade restoration. They are also in the process of making changes to Eagle's Nest Trail and getting the park's new wifi set up for campers.
According to hatchery manager Paul Spurgeon, they will be stocking Roaring River's cool, clear waters with 7,000 trout in preparation of Opening Day this weekend. The staff anticipate around 2,000 anglers for the opening of the season if the weather goes according to forecast. Right now, the high for Sunday is 60 degrees.
Since the hatchery is still not operational due to a major overhaul renovation project, the fish will come from Montauk State Park's hatchery. Spurgeon said the plan is to bring in fish once a week during catch and keep season. "We'll run the six pools down at the end with recirculation pumps [to keep trout]. They'll be bringing in fish weekly, and we'll be stocking daily. There are 100 lunkers in that number and they are really nice. It's some of the best ones we've had in several years, and they all came in from Montauk," he said.
Hatchery staff also worked on cleaning the stream banks and removing some gravel to ensure the water is clear and ready for anglers. Spurgeon said, "We have dressed up the stream banks and we are in the process of removing gravel out of Dry Hollow, but the stream banks are all dressed up, and there won't be any muddy water for anybody."
Roaring River State Park natural resources manager Joel Topham shared some of the preparations park staff have been completing to be ready, as well.
One of the bigger projects was an electric upgrade to 15 campsites in Campground 1. Topham said, "We upgraded to 50 amp sites. It's always been a call from our customers to upgrade our systems with the ever-changing RV industry. Campers keep getting bigger, and they keep adding a lot of different apparatuses and with that, it increases the need for electric. Thirty amp just doesn't cut it a lot of the time."
The sites that include 50 amp services are numbers 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 54, 55, 56 and family sites 47, 49 and 51. The regular premium sites are $25 per night versus $23 for a standard 30 amp electric site. The family sites are $8 for just the premium electric and $58 for the single family campsite that includes a full hookup. Family campsites have two camping pads on each site.
Topham also said the wifi upgrade that was planned for the park was almost complete. He anticipates it will be fully ready for campers to utilize by the end of March. He said, "We are actively working with our partner goBec. They've actually successfully hooked up all of their fiber throughout the park, so we are just waiting on our end of that. We are scheduled for March 10 to get all of that hooked up and hopefully do a test run shortly thereafter."
Initially, the former director of Missouri State Parks said the pilot wifi program would be free for 30 minutes and then be a paid service following that. Topham said the details are still being discussed regarding how wifi will operate in the park and how much it will cost, if the state opts for a fee to use it.
Other state park staff improvements include restoration work and rerouting Eagle's Nest Trail, which has been closed for an extended period of time. Topham said, "We are working toward getting Eagle's Nest Trail open. We are rerouting the trail right now. We have several new clearances in the works. We are hoping we can get that completed by the end of March as well."
As with many park projects, the Eagle's Nest project was delayed for weather issues.
Other improvements included five room remodels at the inn, new furnishings at the lodge, and improvements to glade seven on Fire Tower Trail, cleaning up the hillside by the inn and the cabins and drainage improvements in Campground 2.
Topham added the park will be reopening the pool for at least this season probably for the last time and plans to change to a splash pad for next season. The park also moved to increase the camping season at Camp Smokey to April 9 through October 31. There are currently only two weeks opened at Camp Smokey this year.
The last remaining big project at the park is the hatchery renovation. Spurgeon said the project is really only two to three weeks of work to get the hatchery fully operational again, however, the wet weather has led to many delays. The $1.9 million renovation began September 2018, and the hatchery has been closed for fish since. Spurgeon said, "We are waiting on lower spring levels because they have to put a concrete connector at the mouth of the cave and build that last structure. It's partially built, but when the rain came, 100% of the spring has to be pumped away from that opening. They haven't been able to do that since 60 cubic feet per second; it's been 130-150. There are only two or three weeks of work to complete once the water goes down. We were very close and then it rained. They did get the footing poured for the structure."
This year's tags will be $4 for adults and $3 for children 15 years or younger. The Roaring River Park Store will have tags available beginning on Saturday, February 29, at 9 a.m. and will continue all through the night. Fishing will begin at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, March 1. Fishing ends on Opening Day at 6 p.m.
