Connecticut closing state campgrounds after the 4th of July

markandkim wrote:
CT is a freaking mess. Call it Eastern California.

Actually, I call it NewYorkachusetts.

The guy I bought the Sahara from was a contractor in CT. Got sick of taxes and regs, sold everything and moved o the Dominican. There was probably some alimony involved as well :).

Best way to get voters to approve new tax levees is to cut services.

CT is a freaking mess. Call it Eastern California.

Look on the bright side. There's only like 6 other states within an hours drive from CT!

wa8yxm wrote:
Now I'm from Michigan.. Which by the way just purchased land for a new park. But the reason I point this out is in Michigan we have Counties (I've visited them)larger than CT.

So you have an RV, what's stopping you from leaving,, at least for a weekend or vacation?

Interesting or surprising fact.

From my house in Detroit, if you drove SOUTH, crossed into Ohio and turned left and headed east.. And I went NORTH, crossed the Big Mack (Bridge) and turned left.. You would get to the Atlantic ocean before I arrived in Wisconscon, assuming we both drove the same speed and number of hours a day.

How many states would you have to drive across. and all of them biggter than CT?

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:
We spent six months in CT last year volunteering for the COE. We were just 1/4 mile from a CT state park, but with the $10 to $15 per day visitor fee because our truck has TX plates, and the $10 extra per night for camping, we didn't find it worthwile to camp at CT state parks.

We did visit a few without a daily visitor fee during the weekdays, but never on weekends.

Oh don't "down" CT. It's a lovely state and packs tons of quality into it's diminutive size. I spend at least a month there every camping season and have never been bored. Mystic Seaport and the Aquarium, blueberry picking and horseback riding in the NW; the Florence Griswold Museum offers free drawing classes for kiddos once you pay the admission fee; Dinosaur State Park's guides are incredibly knowledgeable; Gillette Castle and the cute lil auto ferry you can use to get there; Essex Steam Train ride AKA the Footweary Grandparents' Special and that's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Tons of towns and villages proudly displaying pre Revolutionary houses and stone walls to beat the band. The Thimble Islands. This year we plan to drive up to Hartford's Children Science Museum and visit Lake Compounce.

Locally, CT is well known for it's dislike of taxes and sometimes the state does stuff that brings to mind the old saying "cutting off your nose to spite your face". A few years back the legislature raised camping fees and a taxpayers' revolution ensued.
Upshot? Increases were rolled back for all but out of state residents. Sooo now the out of state fees are on par with what nearby states' charge THEIR out of state visitors but I suspect CT residents are still paying less than their resident neighbors do. Thus the budget issues continue.

This is an expensive overall region so can only think I'll be pleasantly surprised by what it costs to camp in other regions but not shocked by what I'll have to pony up individually for the pleasure of time spent.

Wonder if they are just using that as a ruse to sell them off. I wouldn't be surprised to see those become exclusive golf courses in a year or so.

Prelude to tax/fee increase that will prevent further use.

We spent six months in CT last year volunteering for the COE. We were just 1/4 mile from a CT state park, but with the $10 to $15 per day visitor fee because our truck has TX plates, and the $10 extra per night for camping, we didn't find it worthwile to camp at CT state parks.

We did visit a few without a daily visitor fee during the weekdays, but never on weekends.

This IMHO is just a prelude to their getting ready to tell you they need to raise a tax of some kind. Here in Indiana, Fort Wayne area they want to add $20-$75 per year per vehicle now when you purchase your plates. We already have a wheel tax, regular tax, and our license plate fees are far above those in say Ohio. State campground site fees are comparable to private parks.

OK found it and in some ways I'm not surprised.

From the Hartford Courant:

Hartford Courant wrote:
Three campgrounds that have the lowest use in the state — Salt Rock in Baltic, Greens Falls in Voluntown, and Devil's Hopyard in East Haddam — will close soon after the holiday weekend, according to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which oversees state parks.

Lifeguard services will be cut at various parks including Rocky Point and "Hammo" (Psst. The state did that in the recent past and in fact I didn't even realise they had re-instated the lifeguards last year).


None of this changes any of my plans for my 3 week trip in CT but it does cancel my long w/e August stay at Devil's Hopyard. That would be a lovely little campground (only about 15 campsites) if only money was spent to up grade it.