Enders getting ready for first big holiday of summer—and sun

    With weather forecasts predicting temperatures in the 80s and 90s this weekend, Beau Licking isn’t sure what to expect for crowds at Enders Lake Recreation Area.
    In his 11th season as superintendent for the Game and Parks recreation area, he’s dealt with cool and rainy Memorial Day weekends almost every year he’s been here.
    “It’s hard to say what to expect for crowds,” he said. “It’s rained cats and dogs in the past.”
    Last year, about an inch and a half of rain fell on this first big holiday weekend of the season, but crowds were decent, he said last year.
    He’s unsure what kind of crowds will show up for this year’s three-day weekend.
    He said they’ll just do what they can to get everything ready for the influx of campers and other lake-users. That includes making sure enough picnic tables and dumpsters are in place and the grass is mowed, among other tasks.
    “We want it to look the best it can,” he said.
    Enders is a first-come, first-served camping area, with 42 spots that have electrical service (50, 30 and 20 amp).
    Another 75-100 primitive spots are located throughout the area when camping is allowed at $10/night, Licking said. There are about 63 “basic” camping spots with a fire ring and grill provided at $15/night.
    Campers register their nightly camping fees in a raised, locked box called an Iron Ranger. Self-service envelopes are provided at each Iron Ranger station.
    One of the new improvements lake-goers will notice, especially fishermen, is the new bigger table at the fish cleaning station, along with a new motor and grinder.
    Licking said the new table is large enough to handle catfish, which it could not before. The new equipment showed up late last year and was installed by early February, he said.
    Two new water hydrants have also been installed.
    In addition, coming in the next few weeks, will be the pouring of new concrete at two boat ramp areas— No-Name Bay and the middle boat ramp below the shower house area, he said.
    “The contracts are signed. We’re hoping it will start in the next few weeks or month,” he said.
    Besides the difficulty determining what to expect for numbers at Enders this weekend because of the better weather, gas prices may have the opposite effect on potential campers.
    This week, the national average for unleaded gasoline is about $1.30 higher than this time a year ago.
    Lake levels at Enders are about where they were last year—at 20 to 22% capacity, he said.
Campfires allowed,
with restrictions
    Enders Lake RA will allow campfires, as long as they are in an approved Game and Parks fire ring, like the ones located throughout the camping areas. Licking said that fire rings cannot be homemade, or created with a circle of rocks or a hole in the ground.
    Homemade fire rings and others will not be allowed due to the potential fire danger, he  said.
Rock Creek SRA
    Licking is also superintendent at Rock Creek Lake SRA located in Dundy County, 4 miles north and a mile east of Parks.
    The 54-acre area has a 50-acre lake with primitive camping spots at 43 non-pad sites.
    Licking said a new well was dug and finished the past year for drinking water, something it didn’t have before.
    Two years ago, the lake was drained because it had become infested with a lot of gizzard shad, he noted, which was hurting the fish population.
    Licking said Game and Parks hopes to add some electrical camping spots in the future at Rock Creek.