Overnight camping resumed Monday north of Luverne at Blue Mounds State Park, with officials following coronavirus guidelines outlined by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
“All of our (72 main campground spots) met space requirements … so we were able to open them all up,” said park manager Chris Ingebretsen. “Anyone with reservations on June 1 or later will be honored.”
Signs around the campground remind campers of the new pandemic guidelines of not gathering in groups of more than 10, observing cleaning protocols, and practicing social distancing from other campers — even outdoors.
Ingebretsen said some restroom areas have been closed to meet the six-foot social distancing requirements, and some areas, such as the picnic shelter, the group campsite, and the prairie and bison tours remain closed until further notice.
“Unfortunately that tour vehicle is pretty big but not big enough (to meet social distancing guidelines),” Ingebretsen said.
The park closed to overnight stays in mid-March and until May 22 had only been open to day hiking.
The park’s 14 cart-in or walk-in sites (where visitors carry in all supplies to remote camping areas) opened for Memorial Weekend.
However, the number of campers during the normally busy camping kick-off weekend was sparse.
“(Prior to the pandemic) the reservation system was full for regular camping months ago,” Ingebretsen said.
Campers whose reservations had previously been canceled were notified first of the carry-in sites’ availability. However, not many people accepted the offer and many sites went unused.
“Most had already made other plans because they didn’t know if they were going to be able to camp,” Ingebretsen said.
Occasional Memorial Day rain showers also didn’t make for pleasant camping conditions.