How Kansas Jayhawks football team boosted Clinton State Park to state's 2nd most visited
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More people than ever have visited Kansas state parks in recent years.
Those parks saw more than 8 million visitors for the first time in 2020, the COVID year.
That total fell in 2021 to 7.6 million, then rose last year to 7,892,316, said Linda Lanterman, parks director for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.
More: This lake has crystal clear blue water and miles of trails — and it could be Kansas' next state park
That department maintains 28 state parks. It will soon add one more, as Gov. Laura Kelly signed a bill Wednesday establishing Lehigh Portland State Park near Iola.
Of the current state parks, here are the state's five most-visited:
No. 1: El Dorado State Park, 1,615,212 visitors in 2022
El Dorado State Park offers the most campsites of any state park in Kansas, Lanterman said.
Kansas' most popular state parks tend to be near its most populated areas, with their closeness enabling residents to visit more often to enjoy "a vacation or a mini-vacation," she said.
That's the case with El Dorado State Park, located about 38 miles northeast of Wichita, the state's largest city.
Its website describes it as being "one of the top state parks in America based on fishing, boating and family fun."
While state parks have historically been a place for people to sit and relax or to go boating or fishing, KDWP in recent years has sought in particular to provide other offerings to draw in younger visitors, Lanterman said.
Those include shooting ranges it now maintains at El Dorado, Hillsdale and Tuttle Creek state parks, she said.
El Dorado State Park includes El Dorado Reservoir, completed in 1981. The lake has 8,000 acres of water and 98 miles of shoreline. The state park offers about 2,000 acres of park and 4,000 acres of wildlife area.
No. 2: Clinton State Park, 643,176 visitors in 2022
The University of Kansas football team appears to have helped boost Douglas County's Clinton State Park into its current position as Kansas' second-most-visited state park, Lanterman said.
Clinton was sixth in visitors with 449,697 in 2020, when KU went 0-9, but leap-frogged Milford, Cheney, Tuttle Creek and Hillsdale state parks to finish second by 2022 with 643,176, KDWP said.
Lanterman said Clinton in 2022 saw much more camping on the weekends KU's football team played home games.
Meanwhile, the Jayhawks went from winning two games in 2021 to winning six games and securing a Liberty Bowl bid in 2022.
Clinton State Park, located about 5 miles west of Lawrence, draws visitors from cities that include Lawrence, Topeka and the Kansas City Metro area, Lanterman said.
Dedicated in 1975, the 1,500-acre park features Clinton Reservoir, which encompasses 7,000 acres, its website said.
The park's offerings include trails, an archery range, disc golf and a sand volleyball court.
No. 3: Cheney State Park, 631,188 visitors in 2022
Cheney State Park is located at Cheney, about 25 miles west of Wichita and 30 miles south of Hutchinson.
The 1,913-acre park features Cheney Reservoir, which encompasses 9,600 acres, according to its website. Construction of the lake was completed in 1965.
Cheney State Park's offerings include three nature trails, with one of those being a 5-mile bicycle/walking trail.
No. 4: Hillsdale State Park, 606,529 visitors in 2022
Hillsdale State Park is about 12 miles northwest of Paola. It's particularly popular among residents from the Kansas City Metro area, Lanterman said.
Hillsdale offers more than 12,000 acres of park and wildlife area, with roughly 7,000 acres being open to hunting.
The state park also includes one of the state's newest reservoirs, completed in 1982, its website said. About 4,500 acres of water and 51 miles of shoreline are open to fishing, it said.
No. 5: Tuttle Creek State Park, 550,176 visitors in 2022
Tuttle Creek State Park, located about two miles north of Manhattan, sees an increased number of visitors on weekends that home football games are played at nearby Kansas State University, Lanterman said.
The park's offerings include trails, disc golf and volleyball courts.
It features Tuttle Creek Reservoir, the state's second-largest reservoir, with 12,500 acres of water and approximately 100 miles of shoreline, the park's website said. The reservoir became fully operational in 1962.
The state's largest reservoir — Milford, located northwest of Junction City — encompasses 15,709 acres.
Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: El Dorado State Park is Kansas' most-visited state park. Here's why.
