I drove past Deep Lake State Park today on my way to the transfer station - there must have been 30 cars parked along the road near the gate. Just an observation, no real slant. I think the decisions re which parks to mothball should consider how this closed-gate access will impact usage. Case in point, Joemma Beach, nice little boat launch there and a long freakin' walk in if you want to just beach fish the cove area - I'd hate to lose that launch. Penrose would just simply be a long walk in from the gate to the fishy water. Tolmie would be a ridiculous walk in... plus ya need a step stool or milk crate to fish it effectively. Kopachuk, on the other hand, you already have to walk down to the water and the gate isn't all that much further up - so what's the big deal on that one? And there are others not so cut and dried... but I would just hope (naively of course) that there is some consideration of these usage factors when figuring out which ones to lock. I dunno - I'm just rambling. Sucks sucks and really sucks.
Jim's thoughts are spot-on -- as usual. State parks offer boat ramps, campgrounds, etc.... -- stuff that isn't useful if everyone has to climb over a gate to get inside. And it is obnoxious to have to hop a gate to get access to public land. And what might we find at the end of a long walk? And this long walk may start well before we even hop the gate, as parking is hard to find outside many Puget Sound state parks. We may find vandalism, eroded trails, trash all over the place -- and maybe some tweaker cooking up a new batch of meth. This is the bottom line here: We are talking about $5 a year to keep these parks open. It is as simple -- and affordable -- as that. This is not about politics, although there is plenty to complain about there. This is about caring for and enjoying beautiful spots.
If it's come to this... hell, I'll pay a fee. I complained before when there was a day use fee at the State Parks, but it is certainly preferable to closing them.
Instead of the $7 launch fee I dropped a $10 in the envelope. Wonder if that was a tip or what? Either way, I don't care, and I'm cool with taxation if it's paying for something related to my special interest group. Great thread Chester.
