New Campsites for New Users Coming to Placid and Salmon Lake State Parks

SEELEY LAKE - New for Placid and Salmon Lake State Parks are campsites designed for a growing number of users, hike and bike campsites. Montana Department of Commerce provided construction funding to Montana State Parks for the creation and enhancement of "hike & bike campsites" at four state parks. The parks chosen were selected based upon the current popular corridors of bicycle traffic and intended to support the growing trend of bicycle tourism in western Montana.

Those campers who have previously arrived by bicycle, or walking on foot, and camped out of a pack that they carry, had only one camping option; pitch their tent on a hardened camp pad that was designed for a motorized vehicle such as a RV or camper use. Additionally, those campers were obligated to pay the full price for that camp spot (much like a single user of a hotel room will have to pay a little extra for a room with two beds, even though only one bed is slept in).

Typically, due to the normal trend of these users, they arrive in the evening just before dark and weary from a full-day travels and they leave back to the trail at first morning light the following day. This hardly seemed like an equitable charge of park fees, especially considering the amount of space used and their use of park resources.

The placement of these new campsites were based upon the fact that the users will not be arriving in any motorized vehicles, so they will not be needing road access or a vehicle parking space. We chose areas within the campground that were previously undeveloped and a space that had little opportunity to be developed in the future due to location and uneven ground.

Each location has just one covered picnic table for their shared use and one fire ring. There is a water drinking fountain with a special spigot to re-fill water bottles. The sites include several small bike racks to secure a bicycle and a shared food storage locker that users can close food inside a secure bear proof container. Finally we made small level tent pads for users to place their tents on a small designated pad. We created eight tent pads at Salmon Lake State Park and four tent pads at Placid Lake State Park.

Construction of the park improvements began last spring, and were completed in early fall. A couple bicycle users who happened to be biking through the area happened upon Salmon Lake State Park shortly after the work was completed and they were thrilled to have the opportunity to be the first to use the site.

During conversation with the bikers, they were extremely satisfied with the development of the site and its improvements. All the users said that having opportunities to these types of improvements would definitely be a considerable positive factor in their travel plans, routes and future destinations.

Long multi-day bicycle trips is quickly growing in popularity, as are backpacking trips. A couple great examples of the growing popularity and use are bicyclists on the Oregon Coast Bike Route or back packing the Appalachian Trail. Communities that lie along the path of these popular travel corridors are quickly recognizing the significant positive impact that these users are having on local economies, especially in rural and remote areas. The reason for this is quite simple; those users do not have the space to bring all their various necessities with them, nor do they have the physical ability to carry overly heavy loads. Instead, these users are committed to carrying the financial resources necessary to stop frequently in these corridor communities to purchase food, equipment, repair shops and any other necessity that arises during their travels. Those communities have also learned to embrace these users as they bring a positive boost to economies and are insignificant on natural resources, nor do they produce noise pollution.

Bicyclists and backpacker use is still in an infancy level of development and popularity. However, they do provide another positive economic opportunity for our small communities. These are guests who wish to temporarily enjoy our home while making frequent stops to patronize our businesses and stimulate our economy.

Small enhancements to promote these uses will certainly go a long way to encouraging users to plan future trips and vacations through our valley and continued stops at our area businesses, all while having an insignificant negative impact on our resources, pollution (both noise and air) and our normal ways of living in the Seeley-Swan Valley.