Bold and Exciting

Those are the words that I would use for the proposed design for rebuilding the Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park. There are a number of very exciting ideas in this design. The park's camping area is going to be moved to an area north of the park entrance, off Highway M. This is the current site of the equestrian trail and a large campground for RVs, tents, scouts, and horse owners is proposed. The park will have a new entrance road, picknic grounds, park office and store and a number of other features at the north end of the current park area. One advantage of this design is you will be able to visit the park and play in the river even if the Shut-Ins is closed because of the number of visitors. Anyone who has tried to visit the park during the summer has experienced waiting in line for someone to leave so you could get in, under the new plan there will be other things to do while you wait. There will be a new road from Highway N leading to an overlook at the scour left by the Taum Sauk event. And you will be able to hike in the scour. They are even proposing having a shuttle bus system from the campground to the main park area and then to the scour area. So I encourage you to go the the parks web site and look at the plans and let DNR know what you think. Sounds like they want to get started in early fall and have some areas open by next summer. I sure liked what I saw.