Welcome back, summer
Norris Dam State Park gearing up for a season of outdoor activity
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Norris Dam State Park Ranger Trent Ellen stands near the former Civilian Conservation Corps grease pit with park visitor Ron Van Dyke. - Collin Riggs
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Norris Dam State Park Rangers Trent Ellen (center) and Clara Shattuck (right) tell the history of the Civilian Conservation Corps to aspiring author Ron Van Dyke during one of the park’s guided hikes - Collin Riggs
Norris Dam State Park is gearing up for another summer and another Memorial Day much different from last year’s.
Last year, the park, inspired by the Go-Big Challenge at Big South Fork, started its 84-Mile Challenge for the dam’s 84th birthday, with Park Manager Veronica Greear saying it was the right approach for the pandemic.
“It was perfect, because it was something people could do on their own and be away from others while they were doing it,” she said. “This year we bumped it up to the 85-Mile Challenge. It’s a great partnership with TVA and the city of Norris, and people can earn rewards at the same time they’re visiting us.”
The park challenge allows visitors to the park to check in on an app in their phone and log visits to win rewards such as hats, shirts, and more. Visitors can also volunteer for “miles” as well, with every volunteer hour counting as two miles.
“They can ride bikes, hike, paddle, kayak, etc. It’s basically a health initiative to explore the park, the watershed, and the lake and trails,” she said. “We do ranger-led hikes, but most people are doing it on their own, enjoying being outside. It’s been very popular and we’re planning on keeping it up.”
Greear said the park has already been booked up for Memorial Day, and, rather than doing anything special this year, they’re simply planning on treating it like any other year.
“It’s always a busy time for us, and we’ve had absolutely no problem filling up our campgrounds and cabins,” she said.
“We’re treating it like a normal year. We offer programs to the park visitors, campfire programs, nature programs, the same as we would do for any other year.
“We’re not doing anything we haven’t done already, but we’re excited to launch the summer and provide excellent experiences for our park visitors.
“We have seasonal interpretive rangers we hire every year to provide education and programs. We also plan on having a junior ranger program in July that’s already booked up.”
The park will be encouraging social distancing and masks for those who have not been vaccinated.
“We are following the Executive Order 80 as well as the new COVID guidelines, but we do not have any restrictions in place as of now,” Greear said.
“We do encourage people who have not been vaccinated to socially distance, and masks are not mandatory, but we do encourage them.”
Other than the 85-Mile Challenge, the park also started a program at the Lenoir Museum in May educating park goers about the families displaced by Norris Dam. The program is called “Families of the Valley Remembered.”
“We actually launched it in May,” Greear said. “But it’s been so popular that we’ve decided to keep it open through June and expand it.”
After such a strange year, Greear said everyone at the park is excited to have some normalcy.
“We’re looking forward to actually having a summer, and providing everyone a safe, enjoyable time,” she said.