# Amity campground West point



## riprap (Jun 21, 2016)

I just reserved a spot at Amity. It looks like a lot of sites can only be used Thursday thru Saturday nights. Anybody know the reasoning behind this? Doesn't make sense and a loss of revenue. How hard is it to cut the grass and clean the bathroom?


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## 660griz (Jun 21, 2016)

We have avoided Amity for much of those reasons. Whitetail or Holiday are much better...if you can get a spot.


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## riprap (Jun 21, 2016)

660griz said:


> We have avoided Amity for much of those reasons. Whitetail or Holiday are much better...if you can get a spot.



There were a few spots at holiday. We've stayed there several times. I just wanted to try something new. We've taken a pass through whitetail and it didn't seem too boater friendly.


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## Bob Shaw (Jun 22, 2016)

Yep, the campground is only open Thursday thru Sunday mid-day, and I think they have closed a number of sites. From what I know, it is a cost cutting by the Corp. Amity used to be our favorite campground on the lake.


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## Greene728 (Jun 25, 2016)

Yes I can tell you. After a long talk with the COE ranger in charge of all the campgrounds on WP it's budget related. They also closed all primative sites at Holiday too, as well as closing Holiday and Amity September 4th of this year. The way he explained it to us is that they get a set operation budget from congress every year. And with the COE being the same budget as the military and all the military operations the last several years guess who gets cut. The money spent on sites doesn't go to the COE or the CG's at all. It goes into a general fund. He was very optimistic that in the next year or two (2017-2018) that things would hopefully return to normal. They caught a lot of backlash from the decision to operate Amity this way. But he said they looked at data compiled over the last several years and these were obviously the most busy days and Monday thru Wednesday they had many empty sites. They also sub out everything to a company called Anderson now. They cut the grass, clean bathhouses, fix leaks, electrical issues, etc. and they have really cut back on grounds maintenance in an effort to save even more. It's really frustrating too. WP parks were beautiful when we first started camping down there around 2008. But the last couple years it's really dropped off. Matter of fact, I generally carry my weed eater with me to cut around the bank when we go. We were at Holiday this past Monday thru Friday and they cut the grass on Wednesday that was knee high in many areas. FWIW, Amity is open the week before July 4th and Labor Day. But everything else is like you said, Thursday till Sunday. I bet the lines on Sunday at the dump stations are ridiculously backed up. We also only stay at Holiday or R Shaffer Heard for these very reasons. Shame too as IMO Amity is probably the nicest one overall.


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## Bam Bam (Jun 29, 2016)

I've stayed at Amity Once(Tent Camping in the Middle of August one Year, Bad Mistake) We stay Alot at Pine Rd Park, Holiday & Whitetail (All three eat up with Deer like Red Top use to be)


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## riprap (Jun 29, 2016)

Greene728 said:


> Yes I can tell you. After a long talk with the COE ranger in charge of all the campgrounds on WP it's budget related. They also closed all primative sites at Holiday too, as well as closing Holiday and Amity September 4th of this year. The way he explained it to us is that they get a set operation budget from congress every year. And with the COE being the same budget as the military and all the military operations the last several years guess who gets cut. The money spent on sites doesn't go to the COE or the CG's at all. It goes into a general fund. He was very optimistic that in the next year or two (2017-2018) that things would hopefully return to normal. They caught a lot of backlash from the decision to operate Amity this way. But he said they looked at data compiled over the last several years and these were obviously the most busy days and Monday thru Wednesday they had many empty sites. They also sub out everything to a company called Anderson now. They cut the grass, clean bathhouses, fix leaks, electrical issues, etc. and they have really cut back on grounds maintenance in an effort to save even more. It's really frustrating too. WP parks were beautiful when we first started camping down there around 2008. But the last couple years it's really dropped off. Matter of fact, I generally carry my weed eater with me to cut around the bank when we go. We were at Holiday this past Monday thru Friday and they cut the grass on Wednesday that was knee high in many areas. FWIW, Amity is open the week before July 4th and Labor Day. But everything else is like you said, Thursday till Sunday. I bet the lines on Sunday at the dump stations are ridiculously backed up. We also only stay at Holiday or R Shaffer Heard for these very reasons. Shame too as IMO Amity is probably the nicest one overall.



There were campers at the primitive sites at holiday this past weekend. This is the week before the 4th and they closed Sunday at 3pm at Amity. I was able to leave my boat at the gate and come back and get it after 3pm. They are only open one extra day (Monday) on a holiday weekend. 

Shaefer Heard campground doe not close. We might look into going down there next time we camp at West Point. I always thought the gate attendants were volunteers. I just can't see where closing a campground is saving money. There is little to no upkeep besides cutting grass and cleaning restrooms, which have to be done anyway. 5 campers is better than zero. 

They probably factor in that the ones camping are getting the 1/2 off discount during the week and they want to benefit from full price. It's a shame. It's the COE. Our tax money goes into building a place and you can't even use it. People are always looking for a good place to camp. If highland Marina was smart they would put in some halfway decent camping. Their campsites look like permanent dwellings.


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## Bob Shaw (Aug 2, 2016)

The campground gate attendants are not volunteers, bur are paid for their service, at least they were. I think they've started using volunteers this year. The gate attendants used to have to bid for the positions.


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