All trails at Douthat State Park have re-opened after the park suffered extensive damage in the June 29 derecho storm.
Douthat Stat Park has more than 40 miles of hiking and biking trails, as well as six miles of equestrian trails.
To help re-open the park, Virginia sent crews from seven other state parks to help with clean up.
Douthat State Park did not have any structural damage, but several trees were knocked down.
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Updated story from Friday, July 6
The power is back on at Douthat State Park, and the park will reopen Saturday.
However, the Camp Carson Picnic Shelter and Douthat Lakeview Restaurant will stay closed until Wednesday because of damage from a storm on June 29.
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Original story from Thursday, July 5
Friday's storm closed four of Virginia's state parks. Thursday night, just one of them, Douthat State Park in Alleghany and Bath Counties was still without power.
The chippers and chainsaws are getting a workout, and all hands are helping to clear the trees that came crashing down on Friday night.
Al Cire has been working on the cleanup since Monday morning.
"We have our lifeguards," Cire told WDBJ7. "We have our other concessions staff. We have our wait staff, our office workers, plus our regular maintenance staff all out cleaning out the park."
Charlie Conner is the Park Manager. "It's a lot of work. It's a lot of clearing," Conner said. "It's a lot of stuff hanging up in the trees. ... It's just a tremendous amount of work in order to make it safe."
On a hot summer day, the beach at Douthat Lake should be swarming with swimmers, and the restaurant crowded with customers.
This might have been the first time in Douthat's 76 year history the park wasn't open for the July Fourth holiday,
Managers say safety is their first concern, but they're hopeful it won't be long before power is restored and visitors can return to one of western Virginia's most popular state parks.
