Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
COALVILLE — If you're itching to launch your boat at Echo State Park, make sure you do it this weekend or else you'll have to wait until at least next year.
The state park's day-use and launch ramp facilities will close Monday due to construction, the Utah Division of State Parks announced Thursday. Due to mud and "extremely low" water levels, they expect the facilities won't reopen until either the winter at the soonest or spring.
Officials initially announced in May that they planned to eventually close the facilities, docks and ramps to begin construction to improve facilities. But the closure, when first announced, was set to happen when reservoir levels got low enough. Due to Utah's drought, water levels at the reservoir fell to 19% capacity this week, according to the Utah Department of Natural Resources.
Crews will work to widen and extend the park's boat ramp and build a new parking lot and entrance station. Park officials are also evaluating an idea to construct cabins and other forms of lodging, said Echo State Park Manager Eric Bradshaw.
"These are things that I have mentioned before, but I feel it's important to remind people of all the good these improvements will bring," he said, in a statement Thursday. "All of Echo State Park's staff genuinely care about this area and are excited to see these improvements take shape."
Echo Reservoir officially became a state park in 2018 and has slowly grown in popularity. Utah State Parks reported that it received nearly 78,000 visitors last year.
The project set to begin next week is the second enhancement since Echo became an official park. The first phase of park improvements featured the completion of the Dry Hollow Campground last year. Utah State Parks officials said the campground will remain open through the closure of day-use facilities.
