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Frank A. Douglass Insurance Agency

McLain State Park expects busy summer

McLain State Park Supervisor Louise Hunt says all signs point to a full campground by the end of June. The state park system uses a third party vendor to handle reservations. That data is then accessible by park staff, and Hunt expects to see the 100 percent occupancy shift from weekends, as is the case now, to seven days a week as school lets out.

Hunt says day-use visitors have been kept away by the recent stretch of cool weather.

It really is weather dependent on how many people are coming in during the day. There’s, I would say, maybe 30 cars or so a day that come in for day use.

Mid-summer heat is building in this weekend that is sure to change that. Sunday, with the mercury pushing 90 degrees, a cool breeze off of Lake Superior will be a welcome feeling for many.

McLain has been hampered by shoreline erosion from Lake Superior’s above-average water levels in recent years. Break walls have been installed to mitigate future issues, but the damage already done is forcing some changes to be made to the layout, says Hunt.

We’ve got that new campground loop put in, with the new camp sites and then the new bath house in the last few years. We’re still trying to finish up the last phase of that project, so our next step is going to be a new sewer system, and we are supposed to be getting another water well drilled within the next couple weeks, or so.

COVID saw a huge jump in visitorship to state parks last year. That looks set to continue this summer, in spite of a quiet schedule. The Canal Run in July will bring people to McLain, but no other formal gatherings are planned.

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