Camps Recovering From Flood
Local campgrounds have reopened following flooding in April and May.
“We had enough water to pull down trees. Our RV site has electrical on it, and it took out several of those connection boxes, said Waydene Tinsley of Big Elk Floats and Camping in Pineville. “It took out all the gravel from our beach. We had just hauled in about 50 loads. We did not float anyone. It’s just too dangerous. We are not as bad off as the campgrounds down below us. They were affected much worse than we are, so I can’t complain.”
Tinsley also discussed potential float hazards including downed trees on Big Sugar Creek.
“We have heard upstream that the Big Sugar, which is a really good fishing stream, has big trees down,” she said, noting that if people want to float it, they may have to get out of their boats and carry them around the trees.
“The Elk (River) is clear. It’ll be running fast, and it’s on the high side, but if you’re careful, it would be an excellent float,” she said.
As for clearing the trees from Big Sugar Creek, she said it is up to the landowner, but landowners generally choose to leave the trees because they feel they help the fish habitat and prevent erosion.
“We have gone in and cut out parts of trees, but it makes it tricky when it’s hooked onto the owner’s land,” she said. “Fallen trees in the river are a dilemma and a danger. Most of the trees on the Elk River are brushed to the side, but that’s not true with the creeks like Big Sugar. If it’s floating in the river or bogged down in the river somehow, we can clear it, but it’s not an easy job. Landowners don’t want us coming onto their land to haul the tree out. Reason being most of them have cattle.”
Bobbie Adamson of Shady Beach Campground in Noel said the flood was about three inches lower than the one in December 2015, with 52 inches of water getting in the campground store.
“We had major, major damage to the campground,” she said. “It tore out the RV park again. We’ve got that in the process of building it back up. It knocked down two of our electric poles with transformers on them. So we’re waiting to get those back up so we can restore power to the RV park. It took about half of our campground out. It ripped it up. There’s nothing left. We’re trying to haul gravel into it, but it’s not there yet. The north end beach is still under water.” “We own a campground in Pineville, Shady Beach Floats,” Adamson added. “The people we can’t hold here we’re sending to Pineville. We have a store and a bathhouse up there. That’s going to save us, we hope.”
Roddy Lett of Wayside Campground and Elk River Floats in Noel said, “We lost a lot of gravel at the Elk River campground. We had gravel deposited at Wayside.”
He said he had just hauled in new gravel at Elk River Floats when the second flood hit, and now he has to redo some of it.
“We’re just hoping for the best. We replaced 16 RV pedestals out of 49. It’ll be summertime soon and it’ll be hot and dry, so we’ve just got to get through the spring.”