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Snow thins holiday range Photo by Jim Craven Campground host Lillian Bickerton sweeps debris off a picnic table at Aspen Point Campground at Lake of the Woods. Bickerton and her husband, Bruce, are cleaning up the campground, which still has patches of snow, in preparation for Memorial Day weekend. Some high trails and campsites still buried If you're itching to hit the high country of Southern Oregon's outdoors, you'll have to wait -- quite a while in some cases -- on campgrounds still buried under snow. Many area campgrounds, however, are expected to be open for the Memorial Day weekend. Six of eight campgrounds in the Prospect Ranger District are expected to be open, as are most in the Applegate and Butte Falls districts. Campgrounds at Hamaker Meadows and Huckleberry remain buried under three feet of snow. Those at Farewell Bend and Union Creek, however, should be open in time for the weekend. "We've got every person we have out there," said Chris Dent, a recreation program leader for the Prospect and Butte Falls districts. "We'd get hung by the public if either wasn't open for Memorial Day." The snow problem has delayed start-of-summer camping all around the state. Officials said the Willamette National Forest has had 50 to 75 percent more snow than normal during the winter, leaving many trails and campgrounds closed. At Lake of the Woods, Aspen Point will be open for Memorial Day weekend, but not Sunset. Fish Lake opens Friday for camping except at Doe Point, which remains snowy. Howard Prairie is snow-free. Hyatt Lake is booked up on RV sites and cabins but has tent sites with water. Near Prospect, River Bridge is open, and Abbott Creek has been open for a couple of weeks. In the Butte Falls District, Whisky Springs and Four-Bit Ford are open, as are Imnaha and South Fork. Closed are Snowshoe and Parker Meadows. Sky Lakes is inaccessible. The popular North Forks campground just off Highway 140 is open, and USFS Road 37 has recently opened. Campgrounds at Daly Creek and Beaver Dam, just off Road 37, are reachable either from Dead Indian Memorial Road or Highway 140. Wagner Gap, off the Mount Ashland Road, remains closed. "That one may be mid-July," said Maria Koziol of the Ashland Ranger District. A couple of popular early-season campgrounds in the Applegate District are open. Watkins, on the west side of Applegate Lake, and Squaw Lakes, on USFS Road 1075 east of the reservoir, are ready for campers. "We have no problem with snow," says Edith Vazquez at the Star Ranger Station. "We will be open." For reservations, call 899-1812. Dent said there's just no way Hamaker and Huckleberry can open for the holiday. "Even if you could get in, we don't have time to do the water testing and stuff," he said. "You start hitting drifts about 4,000 to 4,200 feet. But it's going fast with the hot weather." Hikers face a tougher trail than campers. Most popular wilderness areas, such as Sky Lakes and Mountain Lakes, are under lots of snow. Dent said those hot to hit the hiking trails should know they'll be walking over a lot of logs and other debris on the trails they can get to. Hikers may want to choose low-elevation trails like the Wild Rogue Wilderness Trail northwest of Grants Pass. Dent said it will be some time before Hamaker and Huckleberry open. "I'd guess mid-June." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA