Gdetrailer wrote:
JimJohnson wrote:
What you say makes a lot of sense - if most of the campground's sites remain open. What I have found (but due to demand you have to book many months in advance) are campgrounds that fully close most of the sites. The remaining sites are generally close to the office and very likely only provide electric. Staffing is generally the owner(s) and MAYBE one person for part-time phone coverage. Minimal plowing, minimal maintenance - they would keep the office accessible regardless if open or closed. Showers as well as other park amenities are closed. You might be able to get water jugs filled from inside the office.
As I said, the few campgrounds that offer this do a brisk business with their limited sites. I wish more campgrounds offered this service.
I don't believe very many campgrounds will find it economically viable to keep a couple or handful of sites near the office open yr round. If it was, they WOULD already be doing that everywhere..
I see your from Texas, up here in PA, pretty much all campgrounds close, even ones that are setup with permanent lot leases. It is not unusual to have a winter storm sock roads in with a lot of drifting snow along with ice..
I live on a pretty busy rural road and there have been a lot of times over the years I called off from work when I woke up to 6" of fresh snow on a bed of 1/4" thick ice that happened overnight and no sign of a plow and salt truck for hrs.. Heck vehicles often get stuck on the hill below my home every winter..
If you think a campground can "operate" and still turn a profit on one or two "overnighters" in the middle of winter, I would suggest perhaps you may have a good business plan to start your own chain of "overnight" campgrounds across the US and have a go at it. Find a few small gas stations and pitch your idea and give it a spin, charge $10 for one night and split it with the station..
But for larger campgrounds doing this, I suspect if they really thought they could turn a profit they would have been doing it for yrs. Your plea won't even be considered.
Some of the PA state parks, east of the mountains, have a loop open all winter. Most in the mountains, west side of state, or north close 3rd Sunday in October with a few open through mid December for deer season. Quite a few OH state parks stay open but without water available after mid November. It's not state wide policy, left up-to local managers, so you have to look at the specific parks web page for dates.
