The June numbers were down, but whether it’s the high gas prices or flooding creating lower attendance at Missouri’s state parks is not yet clear.

Sue Holst, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources has reported campsite use as being off 14 percent, but she’s not ready to believe that RV-towing outdoor enthusiasts are throwing in the towel after looking at the numbers on the gas pump.

“It’s something we are carefully watching,” Holst said. “Our numbers are slightly down, but we also have to keep in mind we have had a lot of flooding this spring. The flooding in general has put a damper on people deciding whether to go to state parks or not.”

Gary Parker, superintendent at Big Lake State Park, is equally cautious when he tries to analyze the numbers.

“It really hasn’t been a very good spring or early summer, weather wise,” Parker said. “We were closed for two weekends — nine or 10 days in all — because water was up high on the levees. So, we closed it to be safe for a while.”

The flooding never actually occurred at Big Lake, which escaped the fate of several of Missouri’s state parks.

Nancy Athen, a campground host at Big Lake, got the word, however, that she had to help evacuate the campground as a safety precaution.

“The water was lapping at the levees over here last month,” she said, adding that she was ordered to go to each campsite to inform the guests that they needed to leave the grounds by 5 p.m. “It was kind of like telling your family goodbye.”

Campers were reimbursed for their missed time, and because they came to the park with the knowledge that flooding was possible, the guests were cooperative, Athen said.

Holst said the Missouri Parks Division is currently analyzing the figures and later will try to assess whether more local campers are taking advantage of the state parks.

Dick Nicholson, another campground host at Big Lake State Park, has already seen that.

“Most of the time, it’s campers from right around here now,” Nicholson said. “We get a lot of them from up around Tarkio and Fairfax, and a few from Nebraska.”

In his four years at the park, he’s met campers from California, Texas and Alaska. Such long commutes now are rare, he said.

But that doesn’t mean the park is devoid of campers.

Athen was surprised that by 6 a.m. last Friday the park’s electrical sites were completely full, despite campers having just come off the big holiday weekend.

“I’ve decided that nobody needs to tell me about a gas crunch,” Athen declared, “because there’s no gas crunch around here when you fill up on a Wednesday or Thursday morning.”

What may be changing, however, are the types of equipment people are willing to tow to their favorite outdoors haunts.

The 35-foot monsters may slowly be giving way to smaller and lighter rigs. The timing is poor for the Department of Natural Resources.

“The last couple of years we have tried to upgrade our campgrounds to make them accessible to the larger rigs,” Holst said.

An increase in tent campers has become apparent, Parker said, as people opt for the better gas mileage of passenger cars on their vacation trips.

“I’ve seen recently a couple of tents with air conditioners,” Parker said. “I saw one sitting outside a tent on one of those milk crates, with a flexible furnace duct going over to the tent. I don’t know how it was working, but maybe that’s a sign of the times.”

Holst said she hopes that whatever type of camping setup outdoor enthusiasts choose, they at least choose to keep coming to the parks.

“We have been trying to stress in our information that state parks are a very good economical vacation,” Holst said. “A lot of people don’t realize what they have in their own state.”