Ryerson Station State Park swimming pool closing for the season
A view of Ryerson Station State Park’s swimming pool in Richhill Township
The splash park at Ryerson Station State Park will remain open on select days through Sept. 4.
A few days remain to enjoy the swimming pool at Ryerson Station State Park.
The pool will remain open daily, weather permitting from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. through Monday, Aug. 15. But those who’d still like to cool off have a number of days to take advantage of the spray park, which will be open from noon to 5 p.m. on Aug. 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 27 and 28, and Sept. 3 and 4.
The park’s swimming complex, a project three years in the making, opened to visitors Memorial Day weekend. The complex includes a splash pad and tipping bucket and a zero-entry pool with a twisty slide.
The pool and spray park are open at no charge to visitors during the summer. Those who come to enjoy the area are welcome to bring snacks or lunch for enjoying on picnic benches just outside the water areas, and lockers are available for storing personal items.
The parking lot, which is the site of the park’s former pool, is covered in a solar canopy, the first of its kind to be installed in a state park.
At the pool’s grand opening in July, state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn said the park is “net zero in terms of energy consumption.”
“The energy for this park is generated by solar,” Adams Dunn said.
In April 2013, the DCNR and Consol Energy Inc., settled a lawsuit concerning mining impact on Duke Lake. The dam was emptied in July 2005 when inspections revealed foundation movement and seepage. The new pool complex cost an estimated $10 million, according to the DCNR, and was paid for with those settlement funds.
The pool and spray park were just a part of the improvement planned at Ryerson. Park manager Alan Johnson said those include redesigning the park’s entrance, stream restoration, a fishing pond and new hiking and biking trail.