WASATCH COUNTY, Utah — Three state parks with reservoirs reached capacity by 4 p.m. Saturday.
People waited up to two hours to get into Jordanelle, Deer Creek and Fred Hayes state parks.
Many used the parks with the same idea in mind: finding a body of water to escape record-hot temperatures.
“Decided to come over here to cool down because it's super, super hot,” said park-goer Anavea Lomu. “There's so many people here, especially when you get down to the water area. There's so many people over there.”
Those who got there before the wait times felt fortunate to be near the cool water.
“We were able to find a spot on the beach just between like other people already set up,” said Kyle Rusak. “So, yeah, there's just so many people here.”
Devan Chaves, the public affairs program manager for the Department of Natural Resources State Parks Division, said parks reaching capacity hasn’t been uncommon lately.
“We started seeing this a lot during the pandemic era where we saw visitation skyrocket across a lot of our parks,” said Chavez.
He said certain parks like Jordanelle have live cameras where people can check traffic flow ahead of time. He added that if one has a major wait time, there are plenty of options.
“The great thing about Utah State Parks is that we have 46 different parks across the state. If your favorite is Jordan or your favorite is Deer Creek — which, they are a lot of people's favorites — now might be a perfect time to find a new favorite,” said Chavez. “Try something new.”
