Enders camping spots hard to come by over July 4 weekend

“Extremely busy” hardly describes the July 4 holiday weekend at Enders Lake Recreation Area, but Supt. Beau Licking used the phrase often as he looked back on last weekend
Not only was it a beautiful and warm, sunny weekend, the Fourth of July 2021 comes after a year of COVID when even outdoor excursions were limited.
On top of that, it was a 3-day weekend again for most workers.
All 42 of Enders’ electrical campsites were full for the weekend, and all of them at the lake’s main entrance by the water were spoken for by Wednesday night. By Friday, the rest near the shower house were also full, he said.
In 2020, just 80% of the electrical sites were filled over the Fourth.
While they don’t have counts on the primitive camping sites, “they were very, very busy this year,” he added.
He estimates between 1,500 and 2,000 people were at the lake each day over the weekend, including campers and day visitors
That meant a lot of watercraft activity, but the weekend came and went without any medical emergencies.
While the lake is only about 23 to 24% full at this point, Licking said people were able to enjoy being on the water. Low levels and hazardous areas are marked with buoys.
“We sure could take on some more water from a nice rainstorm starting near Champion and moving toward the lake,” Licking said.
Game & Parks Conservation Officer Brian Piernicky of McCook was on scene for the weekend, and issued a number of tickets, Licking noted, for issues including no park permit, boating violations, among others.
Also at Enders Saturday night to assist with patroling was G & P Officer Alex Hasenauer of North Platte.