Parks project finishes

Wayfarers State Park is starting to quiet down after a busy summer. 

This year, part of the park’s winter preparations will include staff moving into the new ranger station built this summer in the Harry Horn day use area.

“We are putting the finishing touches on,” Amy Grout, manager for Wayfarers State Park said.

Hooking up some utilities, moving furniture in and signing off on last minute details is all that remains. While Grout said they don’t have a move in date yet, it should be sometime in October.

The ranger station was the largest piece of the first phase of improvements proposed for Wayfarers State Park.

The maintenance shed was also expanded this summer, and was the first piece of the project to be completed, finishing up in July. Grout said having that available during the busy summer season was helpful.

Across from the entrance to the park the old public restrooms have been removed and replaced with a park host pad. New, disabled accessible restrooms will be available for the public in the ranger station.

While the park will turn off the water and close the day use restrooms by the lake this week, restrooms with running water will be available at the ranger station all year, as soon as the station opens.

There are pit toilets also available in the off season, but Grout advised visitors bring any water they might need.

The new construction at Wayfarers is the result of a process started in February 2014 after Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks noted the increased use of parks around Flathead Lake.

Five parks give public access to the lake but all are staffed from Kalispell. Wayfarers is one of the busiest, greeting 133,000 visitors in 2014 and seeing almost half of them in the offseason between October and April.

The proposal aimed to make Flathead Lake’s parks more efficient for visitors and staff by placing rangers on the lake.

Grout said that visitation this summer was as busy as normal, and June was by far the busiest.

“June was extremely busy for us,” she said. “One of the busiest June's we’ve seen due to the hot dry weather.”

Cooler weather and smoke in July and August kept park visitation from becoming extreme, though Grout suspected the park visitation was what it usually is in those months. Full visitation numbers will be released later this year.

Despite having construction in the park during their busiest season Grout said things still ran smoothly.

“We really didn’t see much of a conflict,” she said. The contractor was careful about the hours they worked, and to take up minimal parking. Drilling was also done underground so the entrance was never closed.

“All in all I think it went really well, doing a big construction during our busy season,” Grout said. “It will go even smoother next year with park staff on site.”

The ranger station will be staffed year round, though hours of operation have not yet been determined. While it will not be a “full-blown” visitors center with interpretive displays, information will be available for visitors.

Grout said an open house will be held sometime after they are finally moved in. 

There will be a work session in the Harry Horn day use on Thursday from 12:30-3:30 p.m., to help take care of some other projects that need to be done.

Grout said a class from Flathead Valley Community College will come to help reinstall the swing-sets in the park, which needed to be moved during construction. Volunteers are encouraged to come help. They will also do some thinning of small saplings and shrubs that are overgrown and affect visibility. 

“It’s so dense in there right now people can’t really even see the playground,” Grout said.