Skyridge Trails Campground in Torrington, Conn. is set to open over Memorial Day weekend with 90 campsites and three log cabin rentals, according to the park’s owners.
“We’re sold out,” said Lelah Campo, who developed the campground over the past two years with her husband, Dan Mahieu.
Skyridge is the first new campground to open in Connecticut in many years, Lelah said, adding that construction was about six weeks behind schedule due to 2023 being one of Connecticut’s warmest, wettest — and muddiest — on record. The park is situated on 365 acres of farmland, forest and pastures that had been historically used for timber harvesting and charcoal production.
In fact, remnants of the nearly 200-year-old charcoal pits still can be found across the many trails and valleys across the property. In more recent times this property has been used for agriculture and for raising livestock.
Skyridge is Lelah and Dan’s second campground. The new park is only eight miles away from Cozy Hills Campground, which they acquired in 2014, and will help them capture overflow business from Cozy Hills, which is typically sold out on weekends during the summer months.
Going into the campground business was Lelah’s idea. Dan, who is a partner in an electrical construction firm, initially wasn’t completely sold on the campground business, but he was willing to support her as she chased her dream.
Lelah had previously spent a decade running a statewide trade association for construction companies for 10 years, and before that was an owner in a family concrete business. She has been recognized for her business experience, winning the HBJ 40 under 40, and Construction Industry Person of the Year awards.
Lelah liked going into the campground business because she liked being able to run her own business, make her own decisions and make things happen.
“It took us time to learn what we needed to learn,” she said. “We were not avid campers. We came into this industry completely green. We learned a lot. Over time, we learned what worked, what didn’t, and adjusted along the way.”
And like many newcomers to the campground business, they learned many lessons from the school of hard knocks. For starters: Don’t rely on your real estate broker or the campground listing to tell you how many sites are in the park you’d like to acquire. Count them yourself.
When Lelah and Dan purchased Cozy Hills, the real estate listing said the park had “approximately 130 sites.” Lelah and Dan later learned that was wishful thinking.
“There were not 130 functioning sites,” Lelah said. “There were some sites that hadn’t been used in years.” Other sites, she said, had to be completely reconfigured to be usable.
Cozy Hills currently has 178 sites, but 90 of them are new, Lelah said, adding that they added the new sites in the spring of 2018. There was a lot of work involved in adding the new sites and fixing many of the existing ones on Cozy Hills’ irregular, mountainous terrain.
“We added 10 electrical services. We did some paving. We ran miles of fiber underground so we could provide our guests with stronger WiFi,” she said.
Other improvements included installing three playgrounds, an athletic field, a laser tag field, a gaga ball pit, a gemstone mining sluice and an area for archery. They also installed horseshoe pits but are now considering changing them to pickleball courts, which are in higher demand.
Lelah said it took Dan “a while” to embrace the challenges of owning and operating a campground. But now, as they prepare to open their second campground, he’s fully on board.
“He loves it,” Lelah said. “He loves to ride around at the end of the day and check out the campers and the facility.”
Lelah and Dan still have work to do on Skyridge. “Everything underground is in, but we still have to put in the site pads,” she said.
But Skyridge provides enough recreational opportunities to keep people entertained, including a natural beaver pond, which can be used for fishing and canoeing, and six miles of horseback riding trails, which can also be used for mountain biking. Skyridge also has a swimming pond, a gaga ball pit, a food truck and golf cart rentals. Lelah and Dan also plan to install a swimming pool and other amenities in the near future.
“Our summer business looks good for our new park,” Lelah said.
