Ponderosa State Park in Idaho
Camp Idaho: I’m talking with the Office Specialist at Ponderosa State Park in Idaho. How’s it going this morning?
Interviewee: Great. How are you today?
Camp Idaho: I’m having a pretty solid day for a Tuesday today. So let’s start with about how long Ponderosa State Park has been around and how it got started.
Interviewee: Well, you’re asking me specific dates that I don’t have committed to memory, but the land was set aside back in the ’40s for a State Park. And Ponderosa became a State Park back in the late ’50s or early ’60s, I believe.
Camp Idaho: Okay, so quite a while ago.
Interviewee: Yes.
Camp Idaho: And what types of camping do you offer there?
Interviewee: Now we have three separate campgrounds. One campground: all the sites have water and electricity. The second campground: all of the sites have water, sewer, and electricity. Those two locations are reservable. And then we have a third campground located on the north end of the lake that there are no services. The campground has central water, and those sites are non-reservable locations.
Camp Idaho: Those are all first come, first served. And are those for just tents?
Interviewee: No, you can have tents or RVs at the Northwest Passage Campground, which is on the north end of the lake. I don’t recommend anything over 25-foot to that location.
Camp Idaho: Okay. And what are the most popular activities in the Park?
Interviewee: Depending on the time of year you’re at the Park, of course in the summertime there’s hiking and biking and swimming in the lake, and boating activities and such. In the wintertime, we have just over 12 miles of groomed cross-country ski trails and fisher trails here in the park. Our winter accommodations are deluxe cabins that we have. They’re also available during the summer. Actually available year round, but that’s all that we have available during the wintertime – are the deluxe cabins.
Camp Idaho: It’s just the cabins. And how are those heated?
Interviewee: Propane heat.
Camp Idaho: Oh, nice. Yeah, I’ve done the camper cabins here before, in Minnesota, and many of them have small wood stoves and you can get the cabin very warm, but then you have to get up about every two hours throughout the night to feed the stove, which gets a little frustrating.
Interviewee: Not here.
Camp Idaho: Not there. You’ve got the propane heat kicking it all night. That sounds pretty great.
Interviewee: Yes.
Camp Idaho: And what are some of your favorite attractions in the area, around there?
Interviewee: Here in the McCall area?
Camp Idaho: Yeah.
Interviewee: Well, the lake of course. People like to come out and play on the lake during the summertime. Downtown Shopping. We have the Manchester Ice Center here, and then the Junior Steelheads come up and play hockey for us in the wintertime. You can go ice-skating there. If you want to venture out and about into the woods, depending on the time of year, you can pick morel mushrooms, huckleberry picking, explore and find hot springs in the area. Some primitive and some developed.
Camp Idaho: Okay, two more questions for you, (Unclear 3:23.6). If you could spend just one hour in Ponderosa State Park, how would you spend your time there?
Interviewee: Walking in the Park.
Camp Idaho: Nice. And if you could spend just one night camping in Ponderosa State Park, which particular campsite would you pick and why?
Interviewee: Campsite. If I had to choose one campsite in the entire Park, I would be torn between Site 1 and Site 113, believe it or not. The beginning of the campground and the end of the campground, but they both offer quite a bit of privacy. Nice, big sites. They’re private and away from everybody else, so those are my favorites.
Camp Idaho: All right, perfect.
Interviewee: They’re both popular in the Park.
Camp Idaho: Okay, awesome. That’s always the kind of inside tip we’re looking for, for our listeners. Well, that’s about all I have for you today. Thank you, (Unclear 4:19.5), for taking some time out of your day to chat with us about Ponderosa State Park in Idaho.
Interviewee: You’re welcome.
