CAMPER TELLS OF LITTLE TRASH & CAMPGROUND POLICING AT HENDERSON POINT STATE RECREATION AREA

We at Kerr Lake Park Watch get and hear a lot of complaints, but rarely do we get a visitor or camper who wants to share their findings publicly. Below is an observation on Henderson Point State Recreation Area.

Though this person freely offered their name and their campsite, we will only furnish the person’s info to the Superintendent at Kerr Lake or higher in the Division of State Parks, if they so inquire.

From the Visitor:

“We have been camping here at Henderson Point since last Tuesday, July 21st. I would like to know why the trash cans have been removed from the sites and we now have to deposit our trash in the dumpster across from the bathhouse. When we arrived, the dumpsters were overflowing with trash, stuff piled on the ground, and oh my what a STINKY mess! That site destroys part of the beauty of our favorite place to camp, and may I add, we’ve been camping here since 1988!

Yesterday during my morning walk, I walked through the whole park, and what did my eyes see but BUZZARDS digging into the trash; there were at least 4 in one of the open dumpsters and then there were probably a dozen or so more gathered not too far away in the overflow area from the dumpsters. It was kind of like a scene from Hitchcock’s movie “The Birds”, and frankly it was an eerie feeling. Today on my walk, there were more like 6-8 Buzzards digging into the trash bin, with several more hanging out close by; as I made my way around the outer loop coming around on the other side, there was a fellow camper trying to run them off so he could put his trash in the bin! Why has it come to this?  What happens when someone is attacked by one of these creatures defending his loot he’s picked out of the trash? What can we do to correct this ugly mess? Who do we complain to?

Also, who’s enforcing the general rules? There have been several campsites that had so many vehicles at them you could barely drive by, especially pulling a camper or boat. At one site I counted 5. I don’t want to appear as a kill-joy, as it seemed there were several sites side by side of family/friends together, having a great time, but the number of cars parked at the 3-4 sites did create a safety issue driving by them, especially with the number of children around. I also need to mention the number of dogs we saw NOT on a leash, in fact we were visiting a site of some friends, who had a dog and here shows up this little dog; don’t know where it came from. It was probably 10 minutes or so before someone came around looking for it! I get tired of hearing, that their dog won’t bite/attack or whatever and then those dogs that bark non-stop for hours.

These are just a few things that have gotten to me on this trip. What are we that love our state park to do when we and most others abide by the rules and others seem to think they don’t apply to them?

That’s fine. I also wanted to include how the trash pick-up could be an extra handicap for the handicapped, like the sites that are over in this loop, especially if they are in a motorcoach or class C.  The same would be true for others in those RV’s that don’t bring a tow vehicle. Are they supposed to keep their trash as long as they’re here and then drive to the dumpsters on their way out?

Thanks for letting me vent, I’ll now get off my soapbox.”

Posted in: KLPW - Campground Facilities and Improvements, KLPW - Camping Safety, KLPW - N C State Recreation Areas

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3 Comments

  1. Ingrey July 30, 2020

    During COViD time, it must be hard to keep up with keeping such a big park spotless. I appreciate that the vault toilets were clean, stocked with toilet paper, and sanitizer.

    On our loop we did see plastic bottles here and there so I grabbed my gloves to pick them up on the way to the beach. The dumpsters were full when we got in Sunday but was picked up Monday.

    We like the place so we do what we can to help out.

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  2. spitzer July 30, 2020

    this is happening in all the camp grounds the rangers just drive around and do nothing where is John speed he really cared about his park and took pride in his work the state parks are going to hell no body cares any more.

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  3. R. Tippett August 5, 2020

    This was everything we have been seeing in the past few years. The deterioration of the Kerr Lake Parks. We too have been coming here since the late 70’s. It has improved on one hand but the amount of trash left in the parks is amazing. We have camped here and walk at several parks. I guess there must be a trash can shortage. The worst we see right now is Nut Bush boat ramp area. People literally throw there household trash out at the bottom of the steps. We found 2 large black bags of trash and of course animals had strewn them everywhere. The ramps for the disabled have been covered with limbs, leaves, and other trash. Recently when the lake flooded and washed off the trash of course. Now leaves and other debris are piled so thick on the lower side walk to be used by the disabled it makes it hard for us to walk much less someone in a wheel chair to use. If this was a private business the ramp would have been cleared. I believe tax dollars is what pays for these parks so whats going on? Everything is being blamed on the Covid well the problems on the Kerr Lake parks has been going on before this showed its ugly head.

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