Latest news with #TimHamilton
Washington Post
22-05-2025
- Washington Post
Two popular Maryland parks will require reservations during peak days
Maryland officials are hoping that if a new crowd control plan works, visitors to some of the state's most popular parks will not have to camp out before busy days as early as midnight. Starting Memorial Day weekend, visitors hoping to enter Greenbrier State Park in Western Maryland and Annapolis's Sandy Point State Park, which has a beach looking out toward the Chesapeake Bay, will need to make reservations on weekends and holidays. 'You'd have people lining up for, say, Greenbrier at 4 a.m., 3 a.m. and even midnight in some cases. We'd open up the gates, we'd let a certain amount of people in, then we would have to close the park to new visitors for hours at a time,' said Tim Hamilton, business and marketing manager for the Maryland Park Service. The day-use pass system went live Monday and is aimed at reducing crowds and traffic backups and ensuring spots for visitors. Reservations for these parks will be mandatory during the peak periods of weekends and holidays from May 24 through Labor Day. No same-day access will be allowed during those times. Admission will be $5 per person. At Greenbrier, out-of-state visitors will be charged $7. Visitors can book their spots online up to seven days in advance of a visit. Reservations may be changed or canceled until 8 a.m. the day before the scheduled arrival. Confirmation emails, along with a QR code that is scanned for admission at the park, will be sent to visitors who successfully reserve a spot. Discussions about implementing a reservation system statewide began as early as 2019, Hamilton said. Officials ran a pilot program that year of the reservation system at Rocks State Park, which houses Kilgore Falls, a picturesque 17-foot-high waterfall. Hamilton said it was chosen because it was a popular destination, with a small parking lot that caused backups for locals and pulled park rangers away from essential safety duties. 'We introduced the system kind of quietly,' Hamilton said. 'People were not thrilled with it because this was change, and change is difficult for everybody. 'But after two or three weeks, people started to grumble a little bit less and they found out, 'Oh, now I know whether or not I can get in off the bat. I don't have to go and wait in line only to be told I can't get in and I turn around and I burned half the day.'' The need for reservations became more pressing after a spike of visitors to parks following the start of the coronavirus pandemic, said Gregg Bortz, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, which manages the state's Park Service. Park visitation rates increased from an average of 10.8 million per year from 2010 to 2019 to an average of 18.7 million per year from 2020 through 2024, Bortz said. Bortz and Hamilton pointed to similar, effective reservation systems used by other agencies, including the National Park Service. They did not specify what officials have determined as the capacity limit for these parks but said that the caps can vary based on parking availability, events and other factors. Sandy Point is a popular destination for Maryland residents and out-of-towners who want to set up cookouts and get a look at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge along the roughly one-mile-long stretch of sand. Greenbrier, located in Boonsboro, houses campsites and hiking trails that surround a 42-acre man-made freshwater lake and a white sandy beach. They were chosen as the first to require reservations because they were shut down for capacity reasons fairly frequently, Hamilton said. Traffic at Greenbrier would stretch two to three miles. Traffic jams at Sandy Point, which sits at the foot of the Bay Bridge, would snarl traffic for those looking to cross over to other Maryland and Delaware beaches. 'Wherever you have water in Maryland parks, that's where people want to be,' Hamilton said. The reservation system will be rolled out to three other state parks this summer: Point Lookout, Newtowne Neck and North Point. But officials did not specify a timeline for when changes would take effect at those locations. Bortz said exact dates would be announced in the coming weeks. Hamilton said patience will be key for anyone looking to spend a day by the water at these Maryland state parks. That goes for him and his team, too. 'If there are some bumps along the first couple of weekends, which we expect there to be here and there, we are watching them carefully with the mind that we are going to react to that and make some changes if we have to,' Hamilton said.
The Independent
21-05-2025
- The Independent
Secret's out! The once-hidden U.S beach that's now so popular that reservations are needed
The secret is out. A Maryland state park with a beach once considered a hidden gem is now so popular that a reservation system has been introduced. From this Saturday, May 24, visitors to Greenbrier State Park will need to book a day-use reservation for weekends and holidays through Labor Day, the first Monday in September. Last year 504,262 people visited Greenbrier State Park, in the Appalachian Mountains, and lines to gain entry formed as early as midnight, according to with visitors desperate to secure a prime spot next to its 42-acre man-made freshwater lake and white sandy beach. A reservation system has also been introduced for Maryland's Sandy Point State Park, located along the northwestern shore of Chesapeake Bay. In 2024, it received more than one million visitors, its popularity partly down to the one-mile-long strip of sand there that offers views of Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Day-use entrance fees ranging between $3 and $7 for both parks are already in place. However, Tim Hamilton, Maryland Park Service marketing manager, told that "something had to be done" about crowds that sometimes ballooned to a point where they became a safety issue. Park rangers in place to keep an eye on hikers and swimmers ended up being stretched thin as they managed swelling visitor numbers. The Maryland Park Service said: "This new system requires all visitors to reserve their day-use passes in advance during peak times, to reduce overcrowding, limit traffic backups at park entrances, reduce the frequency of capacity closures, and ensure that every visitor knows they have a space before arriving." Maryland Park Service Director Angela Crenshaw said: "The goal of this new day-use reservation system is making our parks more welcoming and accessible to all. "By allowing visitors to plan ahead, we're helping families make the most of their time outdoors — with less stress and more confidence that they'll have a great day in our state parks." Reservations can be made up to seven days prior to arriving. The system at Maryland isn't a first, with Lake Tahoe's Sand Harbor State Park introducing a reservation process in April following a trial run in 2024.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Yahoo
‘We had to do something': Maryland rolls out mandatory reservation system for two state parks
Visitors take in Greenbrier State Park in Washington County during an event called "Es Mi Parque" in 2019. (Photo Courtesy of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources) At Greenbrier State Park in Western Maryland, the line of cars sometimes started forming as early as midnight, with visitors desperate to secure a coveted spot beside the park's popular lake after the sun came up. On the busiest days, the line could stretch a few miles from the park entrance as more and more cars arrived, said Tim Hamilton of the Maryland Park Service. The resulting traffic is just one of the reasons why the park service will begin requiring advance reservations from all Greenbrier visitors on weekends and holidays from Memorial Day to Labor Day, Hamilton said. The reservation website rolls out Monday, and reservations will be required starting next weekend for the Memorial Day weekend — both at Greenbrier and Sandy Point State Park, which hosts a popular swimming beach on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Anne Arundel County. Some time later this summer, the reservation requirement will expand to include Point Lookout, Newtowne Neck and North Point State Parks. Hamilton starts the story in 2019, when there were 14.9 million visitors to Maryland state parks, which 'shattered' all previous records. But another storm was coming. The coronavirus pandemic brought Marylanders outdoors in droves, and park visitorship skyrocketed to 21.5 million: a staggering 45% increase over 2019. That year, 14 of the state's 75 state parks had to close 292 times during peak season because they had reached full capacity. A limited staff of park rangers was forced to contend with the crowds and manage traffic, pulling them away from other duties, Hamilton said. 'This is a safety issue,' said Hamilton, the business and marketing manager for the park service. 'People get lost in the woods, children go missing by a lake — and every second counts.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE The high visitorship wasn't just a one-year blip. In 2021, the visitorship dipped slightly. But at 20.6 million, it still blew every other year but 2020 out of the water. 'Once we were discovered, we stayed discovered,' Hamilton said. The idea of a mandatory reservation system isn't without precedent in Maryland. In 2019, the park service debuted a reservation system for entry to the Falling Branch area of Rocks State Park in Harford County, home to 17-foot high Kilgore Falls, which is Maryland's second-highest vertical drop waterfall. The falls' popularity would quickly overwhelm its 28-space parking lot, Hamilton said. 'For a couple weeks, people grumbled,' Hamilton said. 'After they got a hang of it, it went swimmingly.' Park managers got to thinking: Could the reservation system be scaled up? 'We knew we had to do something,' Hamilton said. Vendor Kaizen Labs developed a website that goes live May 19, where prospective weekend visitors can vie for open slots at Greenbrier and Sandy Point, and pay park entry fees. The first day registration is required is Saturday, May 24. There's been at least some grumbling on social media since the park service announced the reservation system earlier this month, Hamilton said. 'They said: 'Well we already paid for these public lands and now were being told that they're limited?'' Hamilton said. 'What do you do? We don't want someone waiting there from 3 a.m. on.' Upon registration, guests will receive a QR code that will be scanned at the park entrance. Park staff will verify the number of people entering the park and assess any additional fees. Visitors without the registration code will be turned away. Reservations can be made up to seven days in advance, and can be edited or canceled until 8 a.m. the day before the visit. As of now, there aren't any plans to expand the reservation system beyond the initial five parks, Hamilton said, even though other parks experience closures during peak season, such as various areas of Patapsco State Park. The focus is on the parks with the most serious visitation woes, he said. 'We want to alleviate problems that we have. We don't want to create a process where we don't need to,' Hamilton said. At both Greenbrier and Sandy Point, signs advertising the reservation requirement went up this week, and park staff members have been handing out flyers to visitors as well. They're hoping the public information blast, which is also hitting email list subscribers, will ease the transition to reservations. 'For the first few weeks there are going to be some rough edges we have to knock off,' Hamilton said. 'But in the end it's going to be a much better experience for everybody.' At Greenbrier, the state also just finished a repaving project meant to widen the entry road leading into the park, Hamilton said. In the end, state officials are hoping the reservation effort eases stress for park staff members, and slows the impact on the state's delicate natural lands. 'It's like having a party on your lawn: You love having everyone there — but you're watching them trample your grass,' Hamilton said.
