More than 30 years ago, when David Toland was a Boy Scout, the future lieutenant governor and fellow Troop 55 members set up camp on the east ridge of what is now Lehigh Portland State Park.
It was a typical Kansas spring day, with warm temperatures in the afternoon that cooled considerably by nightfall.
The Scouts had to build their own shelter, Toland recalled, to varying degrees of success.
As the night wore on, it became too much for one of the youngsters, who had started to cry.
The late Larry Magnuson, one of the Scout leaders, traded his warm tent and comfy sleeping bag with the distraught Scout.
Magnuson, who had once ventured to the frigid Antarctic, confessed the next morning that the nighttime temps had been surprisingly cold.
Cold but beautiful.
“He talked about how he could see the stars,” Toland recalled. “It was so clear he could make out the constellations and detect shooting stars. He looked out across the water and the moon was reflecting on the surface.
“It was just a magical night,” Toland continued Monday, at a signing ceremony to officially ring in Lehigh Portland as Kansas’s 29th state park. “And I’m so happy that going forward, thousands, or a 100,000 people or more a year are going to be able to come to this place and have those experiences that stick with you.”
Toland was joined by Gov. Laura Kelly and a host of other dignitaries for the signing ceremony.
Kelly declared Lehigh Portland as a win for Iola, southeast Kansas and the state as a whole.
“There’s no doubt, this park will boost the local economy and create yet another space for Kansas families and visitors to spend time together in nature,” Kelly said.
She heaped praise on several involved in turning the grounds formerly owned by Iola Industries into what promises to be one of the state’s premiere outdoor recreation areas.
She noted Brad Loveless, secretary of Kansas Wildlife and Parks worked tirelessly with legislators, including Reps. Fred Gardner, Doug Blex, Ken Rogers and Sens. Brenda Dietrich and Mary Ware for rallying bipartisan support.
She also credited Thrive Allen County and the legions of community volunteers who turned what had been a vacant industrial site into a 360-acre recreational complex containing more than 16 miles of hiking and biking trails surrounding a 138-acre quarry formerly known as Elks Lake.
