The park advertises WiFi available but we only found that in the camp store and park office. Because it matters to some - cell signals are hit or miss. Flip a coin and the laws of chance prevail - half the time you will reach a dead end and have to go back (or in our case hike down some rolling boulders to get back on the real trail.only because we could see it "down there"). But when you arrive to a point where there appear to be two or three trails intersecting - there are no arrows or blazes to guide you and the park office has no detailed trail maps. The trails are extremely well marked where the path of a trail is obvious. We also walked the scour trail - unfortunately at the point where we were supposed to see the layers exposed by the dam breach but there was not obvious way to get there without a machete, We also hiked horseshoe falls trail, Regarding the trails - give yourself plenty of time - twice as much as suggested on the park guide. It was distressing to see people ignoring the rules - plastic disposables littered parts of the trail, especially near the boardwalk. Clearly the boardwalk trail to the Shut-Ins is the most popular but go past that (with good footwear and hiking sticks) to see the geology and ecology up close. We walked three trails - all unique, a bit rough terrain in spots. We assume this was because of the renovations required after a dam break of 2005 (lots of info about that all over the park and in its printed guides). The camping was perfect - clean, well kept, quiet campground. The park was almost empty (in spite of a short spell of unusually mild weather). We visited Johnson's Shut-Ins August 21-23 2018. Being retired we have the luxury of visiting parks off-peak (mid-week & avoiding major holidays). We're avid hikers and campers but older with unavoidable health changes, so have had to drop down our outdoors activities a notch. Be aware, we got no cell phone service in this area, Apparently too remote. There is quite a modern little camping city here - more than we got to see in 24 hours. (One disappointment - my shower was cold). Each unit has a bathhouse with separate individual showers and toilets. The basic sites have a concrete drive and pad with a concreted in fire pit, a picnic table, and a pole to hang a lantern. We found plenty of available basic sites, both drive up and hike-in( on a Sunday). Electric RV sites are reserved in advance, as are basic sites, but unreserved basic sites become first-come-first served on the day of arrival. This means a brand new (13 year or less) park with a new visitor center and a state of the art, clean, well laid out camping area. The utility company's insurance obviously had to contribute a lot to the rebuilding. The park itself has been forever marked by a catastrophe that happened in 2005 - a reservoir broke and the lake flowed down the mountain in a tsunami which washed away the old park. There is plenty of parking and a bathhouse with lockers and store/canteen available at the entrance to the river swimming area. This is a fun place to play in the river, there are little children here but caution would be advised in the falls area, and the water in the swimming hole drops off quickly to "over-your head" when you get away from the rocks. I would recommend this for adults and older children who swim well and can be under loose supervision safely. From the second overlook, there is a set of stairs that takes you up the mountain face to a point above the "swimming hole" where you can go down a steep dirt path to the water - this path can also be reached from a trail beyond it. The water flow is gentle and spread out usually which allows the able bodied to climb around in the rocks and down the falls like a natural stairway. If you go down the stair above the falls you can climb down into the rock area. There are at least three access points to the river - one leading to a flat area above the falls with a short stairway down the second one leading to the river right above the falls.both of these are reached by a handicapped accessible trail to the overlooks ( though the river is not directly handicapped accessible). This park is built around mountain scenery and a unique section of the Black River where the stream flows over a falls of right angled rock pieces into a natural swimming hole.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |