The campground at Echo State Park is completely full for this upcoming Memorial Day weekend. It was designated a state park last year and with that comes new projects and amenities.
Eric Bradshaw manages Echo State Park and he says the rainy weather hasn’t deterred camping reservations for this Memorial Day Weekend. Last year a private concession ran the park but this year the state is taking over operations. They won’t have a convenience store this year, but they’ll rent paddle boards and kayaks.
They’ve reduced the number of campsites to 14 on the north end of the lake to give campers more space. The sites are primitive and temporary until they can finish the campground on the south end of the reservoir.
“They all have a campfire pit and a picnic table. There’s no access to power or water. There is a bathroom there as well. So that’s what we’re going to have this summer and we have the boat ramp there as well.”
The rain is causing delays with the redevelopment of the camping area on the south side of the reservoir which was called South Beach. Bradshaw says the new Dry Hollow site should be open by this fall.
“If you drive by, you’ll notice the southern part, campground is torn up and construction is under way. When it’s all finished, it will have 19 sites int here as well as a group site. And, it’ll have water and power with 50-amp power and some access to the lake when it’s full. We’re hoping, if the weather would cooperate, to open it this fall.”
Users have complained about inconsiderate behavior at the South Beach site in past years.
“My understanding the big issue with the rowdiness and the concerts and stuff like that was all done at what was called South Beach and now it’s going to be called Dry Hollow. And, that was closed all year last year. So, that really stopped a lot of that. And it’s under construction this year. And it’s going to be managed by the state. It’s going to be managed closely by us. So, we won’t allow that kind of a thing to go on anymore.”
They have fishing tournaments coming up this summer sponsored by Central Bass. Bradshaw says fishing is pretty good right now.
“There’s full mouth bass and there’s perch. There’s also rainbow trout and brown trout. Right now, they’re catching all of them. Some people are catching bass. Some people are catching trout. There’s also a chance to catch catfish, which I don’t see a lot of those, and walleye. Now, those that catch walleye, we ask them to kill them and keep them because they were illegally stocked.”
July 13th, they’ll hold the 19th Tri Utah Olympic Triathalon and 10k.
“They’ll do the swim at the reservoir and then they ride their bike up echo canyon which is near-by. And then, they’ll do the running portion on the rail trail.”
Find the link to https://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/echo/to sign up for events. And for reservations go to