Campers flocking to campgrounds in Lee, Whiteside counties

The great outdoors is back to being great again. Almost.

This past weekend is when Mendota Hills Campground in Amboy usually holds its annual Float a Boat weekend on its lake.

That didn't happen this year, thanks to COVID-19 and social-distancing. Its PollyWogs Frog Jump Off weekend in September, a tradition since 1981, also is called off.

Illinois campgrounds were closed in mid-March by Gov. JB Pritzker's stay-at-home order, causing them to miss the Memorial Day holiday – the first big summer weekend for campsites, and thus an important income generator.

They opened up May 29 with Phase 3 of the Restore Illinois plan, which loosened some restrictions on what activities could be allowed.

Losing out on Memorial Day was a blow, Mendota Hills owner Jaime Rogers said, but his campgrounds are making up for it somewhat with full capacities the last two weekends.

"Every month you lose, you can never regain that. We're just hoping for a good rest of the summer, and so far it's going well," Rogers said.

While camping is being allowed, some campground amenities where it is difficult to enforce social distancing, such as pools, beaches, playgrounds and sports courts, remain closed.

Mindy Wohlstadter, owner of Crow Valley Campground at the mouth of the Elkhorn Creek near Como in rural Whiteside County, hears it all of the time: "When's the pool going to open?"

"Not until the governor tells me to" is the answer, Wohlstadter said.

Despite the restrictions, people still are coming out in droves to both campgrounds.

This coming weekend is Father's Day weekend, and Wohlstadter expects Crow Valley to be "slammed."

"People want out of the house after being cooped up, and the campers are more than 6 feet apart," she said.

Both Rogers and Wohlstadter have instituted policies to stay in line with the executive order.

Each campground now has a drive-up check-in window to limit contact with campers, and keep their office traffic down. Masks are required for all customers and staff while in their offices.

At Crow Valley, campers must sign a waiver of liability holding the campground faultless should they get ill, no visitors are allowed, and there are no organized activities or playtime for children.

No campers from areas outside the county that are considered "hotspots" for the virus are allowed to camp there, either.

"We are grateful that we were able to completely open with Phase 3, and for those that have had patience with our structured opening and guidelines that we’ve had to follow," Wohlstadter said.

"The most difficult things we’ve had to contend with is limiting people in the office and store, and cleaning after each customer, and not allowing the children to play together at the playgrounds or ride bikes. [It] broke our hearts to not allow this."

At Mendota Hills, Rogers moved his store items outside, which has doubled his sales, he said.

"That's the first time we've done that," he said. "When we're outside, people are purchasing a lot of stuff."

Rogers and Wohlstadter are hoping that Phase 4, tentatively scheduled for June 26, will loosen restrictions even further.

Doug and Sue Hillison of Polo, who occasionally visit Crow Valley with their dogs, are enjoying a relatively restriction-free time outdoors.

"It's kind of nice to be able to get our lives back a little bit, and out of someone's control," said Doug, 61. "It's very enjoyable to be outside and enjoy nature again."

Other area campgrounds, such as Erie Campground, Timber Lake Campground in Mount Carroll, and Lake Louise in Byron, also are open, with rules similar to Crow Valley and Mendota Hills.

Grand Detour Islands, Leisure Lake in Rock Falls, and Lake LaDonna in Oregon are among those not yet open, while White Pines Resort, which consisted of a restaurant, dinner theater, cabins and a gift shop, closed permanently on May 13, citing the coronavirus shutdown as the nail in the coffin.

"We were also worried that if this continued, we'd have the White Pines story ourselves of going down," Rogers said. "The one difference for us is that once our camping season is done for us in October, we're closed. We can't hold anything else."