CRISFIELD — For the third year in a row Janes Island State Park last year hosted more than 100,000 visitors with 105,044 the official tally.

That includes 26,570 persons camping and another 6,470 renting cabins with day use estimated to be 72,004 making 2022 the second highest year since 2020 which saw more than 100,500 people at the park.

Day use is associated with vehicles arriving, for example, at this time of year 1.6 visitors are tallied per vehicle while the camper and cabin numbers are based on actual registration figures.

The park hosted more than 85,000 visitors in 2018 and ’19 but attendance jumped 18% in 2020 as the public found camping to be a positive recreational activity during the coronavirus pandemic.

Park Manager Christina Carlson said recently that attendance may be leveling out but the trend since COVID-19 of people discovering outdoor recreation is strong.

“In my world parks became very busy,” she said. “We saw new visitors and new campers and it may have stuck!”

“People that didn’t recreate outdoors have found a new passion.”

On New Year’s Day the park hosted a guided First Day Bike but morning fog may have kept participants away while others turned out to hike the White Tail Trail, which had been previously a ranger-guided walk on the first day of a new year.

The park includes 2900 acres of uplands, wetlands and sand beaches plus 30 miles of marked water trails. There are 105 camp sites, three full-service cabins, and the Daugherty Creek Lodge.

The marina includes 25 boat slips and it’s adjacent to the park store and fish cleaning stations.

Last year there were 160 interpretive programs drawing more than 2,300 participants and volunteer rangers and naturalists conducted 18 guided paddles. The park also hosts Somerset County seventh graders and Wicomico County sixth graders, and has a Junior Ranger program for ages 7-14.

A major event planned in late spring of this year is the first annual Paddle Fest, which was to be held the first weekend in October last year but canceled due to weather. It is now set for the first weekend in June which coincides with National Trails Day. If that is a washout, it will be rescheduled for September.

Park day use hours are sunrise to sunset. For those interested in reservations for camping, a cabin or picnic pavilion visit https://parkreservations.maryland.gov/ or call 410-968-1565.