Visits to Stone Mountain down sharply, report says'

Weather conditions have been blamed as the primary cause of a big drop in visitation at North Carolina's state parks, including Stone Mountain in Alleghany and Wilkes counties.

A N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation report showed visitation at 14,000-acre Stone Mountain State Park dropped by 48 percent from the first six months of 2002 to the same time this year.

Stone Mountain Superintendent Edward Farr disputed the report's figure and said he believed the number of visitors actually dropped by about 30 percent.

The report showed visitation dropped 28 percent at the 34 state parks as a whole, ranging from a drop of 67 percent at Jordan Lake to an increase of 21 percent at Singletary Lake.

Visitation increased 7 percent at Mount Jefferson State Park in Ashe County and dropped 11 percent at New River State Park in Ashe and Alleghany counties.

Even though rain in the warm months and frozen precipitation in the cold months kept many visitors away from Stone Mountain State Park this year, Farr said visitation there has generally been dropping the last few years.

For the state parks as a whole, visitation set a record in 2002 at 13.2 million people.

"This year, we'll probably be between 11 and 12 million," said Charlie Peak, Division of Parks and Recreation public information officer.

"Normally during a lean economy, our visitation picks up because this is more economical," he said, adding that high gas prices recently could be a factor.

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