EPHRATA — Grant County PUD’s 2020 recreation season not only was busy, it was busier than 2019 even though recreation sites were closed for 45 days.

Shannon Lowry, PUD public lands and recreation director, said campground use was 20 % higher, on average, than 2019.

“It was a busy, busy season,” Lowry said. That was in spite of all PUD recreation sites being closed for camping from early March to June 1, she said.

Most other outdoor recreation activities were canceled or dramatically scaled back.

“People were looking for things to do that were safe, and outdoor recreation was a logical conclusion,” she said.

The Sand Hollow campground, just upstream from Wanapum Dam, experienced a 47 % increase in the use of its campground. In addition to Sand Hollow, the PUD operates campgrounds at Crescent Bar west of Quincy, Jackson Creek and the Buckshot Recreation and Wildlife Area, both near Desert Aire, and the Rocky Coulee Recreation area near Vantage. There’s also a recreation area at Priest Rapids Dam.

”From a numbers standpoint, it was a very busy year,” she said. Possibly recreation officials shouldn’t have been surprised by the demand, she said, but they were surprised as the summer progressed.

The surge in campground use occurred even though campgrounds were closed during Memorial Day weekend, traditionally one of the busiest of the summer. Boat launches were open over Memorial Day weekend but other recreation amenities were closed.

Recreation officials didn’t know how the COVID-19 outbreak would affect the 2020 summer season, Lowry said. But they did project less campground use since the Gorge Amphitheatre canceled its 2020 season, and concertgoers account for a lot of the demand on concert weekends.

“What we found was that the concert crowd showed up anyway, even without the concert,” Lowry said. Concertgoers already had made arrangements for that weekend, so they came anyway, she said.

The PUD doesn’t keep records for day users, she said, so officials don’t know if day use was higher. “There were definitely busy weekends,” she said. Use of the golf course on Crescent Bar was lower than 2019, but about the same as 2018.

Utility district officials established guidelines to try to reduce the chance of spreading the coronavirus and worked to enforce them all summer.

“And that paid off,” she said. Campers, boaters and people using the beaches did try to follow the guidelines.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].