The coronavirus-escape surge into state and local parks continued into fall, bucking the trend of the usual big post-Labor Day decline, an analysis of data from Pennsylvania show.

Last weekend, Scott Kroll, 29, of Warminster, and his fiancée, Taylor Blair, decided to camp at Cherry Springs State Park in remote Potter County, Pa. to enjoy the fall foliage and night sky viewing free of light pollution.

But they couldn’t find a camping spot anywhere near the park, billed as “nearly as remote and wild today as it was two centuries ago,” and had to stay elsewhere. Then, when they arrived the next morning, the parking lot was full.

It’s become a common scenario at many state parks during the pandemic.

Read more about the impacts of all those visitors on state parks and forests – and local parks in the Philadelphia area.

Visits to Pennsylvania’s parks increased by 7 million. The Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/23/2020.

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