Answer Man: Rocky Bluff Campground in Hot Springs closing?

HOT SPRINGS - Today's burning question is about the status Rocky Bluff Campground in Hot Springs. Have other questions for our staff? Email Executive Editor Karen Chávez at KChavez@citizentimes.com and your question could appear in an upcoming column.

Question : I was emailing to ask you in your capacity as Answer Woman about Rocky Bluff Campground and its picnic area. We have enjoyed hiking there in years past but now the gate is always closed, and the trails are overgrown and unmaintained. We love that area, and are upset to see the trails become unusable. Why is the Forest Service ignoring this area?

Answer : The United States Forest Service has announced the campground will be closed indefinitely, and the future plans for the site are in question.

Rocky Bluff Campground is located roughly 3 miles south of downtown Hot Springs near the Spring Creek community. The 1.2-mile Spring Creek Nature Trail circles the campground and meanders beside the creek as well as a trout stream. The site is typically open from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend.

But the U.S. Forest Service has made the decision to close the campground indefinitely, citing multiple maintenance issues.

The campground had operated by reservation only since 2020. The site opened at some point in the late 1960s or early 1970s, and improvements to the bathrooms and water systems were completed in the late '90s.

But at the turn of the century, use started declining, budgets shrank and funding for deferred maintenance wasn’t available, according to a U.S. Forest Service document, titled "Rocky Bluff Campground Way Forward" shared by U.S. Forest Service employee Alexandra Davison with local stakeholders at the July 19 meeting.

According to the document, as a result of the declining use and shrinking budgets, in 2017, Appalachian Ranger District Recreation Program Manager David McFee and District Ranger Matt Macombs discussed issues, needs, potential options of cooperative management and the future of the campground with local stakeholders, including the then-Mayor Sydney Harrison.

When no agreements were made, the decision to close the upper loop was the next step to reduce overall maintenance costs and continue on.

In the document, the U.S. Forest Service cited "substantial deferred maintenance, including broken asphalt, leaks in the water distribution system and a restroom with failing plumbing and a roof beyond repair" as factors that led to its decision to temporarily close the site, adding that utilization has hovered around 40% for the available 17 sites, while revenue has been between $5,000-$8,000 annually.

The Forest Service met with local stakeholders and partners July 19 to discuss the future of the campground.

Next steps

Adam Rondeau, a public affairs officer with the U.S. Forest Service, told The Citizen Times the Forest Service made the decision to temporarily close the campground this past winter, in advance of the 2024 season.

"The modest recreation fees collected from campers are insufficient for the campground’s operations," Rondeau said. "We are working with local partners, community members, and community leaders to develop a long-term plan for the site, and those discussions are ongoing."

The "Way Forward" document offers three general paths the site could take, adding that "there may be creative opportunities within any of these."

Those options include:

• The Forest Service decommissions the campground and it becomes a day-use trailhead where visitors can utilize the Spring Creek Nature Trail and Van Cliff. The timeline on the decommission would be an estimated five years, depending on availability of decommissioning funds and grant funds for the trailhead, engineering design and contract award.
• An entity invests a large amount of money in the site to address deferred maintenance and operate it in some way. Under this option, the Forest Service retains ownership of the land, and the timeline would be several years and would likely require coordination with Forest Service engineers and specialists, as well as a special use permit process.
• The site is used for something other than a campground and is able to be utilized in close to its current state (no restrooms, minimal improvements). The timeline for this would be a one year, dependent on special use agreement.

David Wagner is chair of For The Love of Hot Springs, formerly known as the Hot Springs Citizens Committee .

Wagner, who has a longstanding personal connection to the campground, was on hand July 19 to hear U.S. Forest Service officials discuss potential future plans.

Wagner said he wasn't entirely discouraged about the indefinite closure, because it at least meant the site "is not necessarily going to just close."

"It's better than it just staying dilapidated and nothing happening," Wagner said.

But the announcement of the indefinite closure is one that brings up a lot of emotions for Wagner.

"For me, I have a really special connection to it," he said. "My family goes really far back in Hot Springs. I started coming here in the early '80s, and all of our family reunions were always at Rocky Bluff. We would all come piling in there as a big group, those from out of town camping, and those from around the area coming to connect for a day or two. I have so many amazing memories there."

Wagner recalls a period when the maintenance was performed by an organization comprised of retirees.

After the group eventually fell off, Wagner remembers when he and other family members would take it upon themselves to handle maintenance ahead of family reunions, which his family held at the site until around 2007.

"I think I'm interested in exploring all options possible to keep the park open in various forms, and especially access for the community and for the community's guests," Wagner said.

The "Way Forward" document points to the increasing number of private campgrounds in the area, which the U.S. Forest Service said in the document "fill the same niche as Rocky Bluff."

But in Wagner's view, having a recreational park area in Hot Springs is important to residents.

"There's a lot of interest, generally speaking, to have a park for Hot Springs, which is very hard to do within city limits," Wagner said. "So it'd be great to be able to explore having that space for that type of use, but it's something that I'd have to dig into with the committee, the mayor and the aldermen to focus on, but I believe it could and will be a focus."

For The Love of Hot Springs planned to meet Tuesday night to discuss the park's indefinite closure, Wagner said.

"Maybe there's a world where there's multiple uses here, where part of it is for a public space, day-use access, and part of it is a special use permit where someone else is running it and taking on the maintenance and care of it," he said.

According to Wagner, one of the points mentioned by U.S. Forest Service officials in the July 19 stakeholder meeting was the shift to more supportive camping, including RV camping.

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Wendy Stancil, a Hot Springs Town Board member, said she hopes there is an adequate forum for community residents to get the opportunity to give input on what the community is willing to contribute as far as ideas and finances.

"Many of us that live here use the trails, and I think the presumption that RV hookups are necessary isn't accurate," Stancil said. "There are still plenty of tent campers out there. Since Hot Springs doesn't have a park or a public campground, I think keeping something open for tent camping is definitely worth exploring."

In Wagner's view, it's important to not completely shut out the traditional camping model.

"Rocky Bluff is a great example of that — it's remote, it's quiet, it's peaceful. It's all the things that a certain group is looking for to get away from advances in technology and all that stuff," Wagner said.

"Hopefully we can shed some light on it. It's bittersweet in some ways. In some ways, I loved my little secret park that not a lot of people knew about. But I think it's time that people do know about it so we can save it."

Johnny Casey has covered Madison County for The Citizen Times and The News-Record & Sentinel for three years, including earning a first-place award in beat reporting in the 2023 North Carolina Press Association awards. He can be reached at 828-210-6071 or jcasey@citizentimes.com.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Answer Man: Rocky Bluff Campground in Hot Springs closing?