Saugus DCR to open camp to public in September

SAUGUS – It is perhaps one of the town’s best kept secrets, but Camp Nihan is about to go public.The Department of Conservation and Recreation has plans to open the campground to the public starting in September.DCR spokesman Anne Roach said the park is currently undergoing renovations on the cabins.”We’re upgrading, bringing in new furniture, painting and doing work on the cabins,” she said. “In September we will add it as one of the camps (DCR) lists on Reserve America. That’s the site we use to book reservations through.”Over the years the camp has been used as a non-profit, environmental camp. Various scouting groups have spent the night at the camp and it has played host to a variety of outings, including a public television shoot a few years ago.However, unless you know where it is, the entrance and the camp itself goes largely unnoticed by most. A narrow, rutted dirt lane located off of Walnut Street past Kohl’s and Bed Bath and Beyond leads to a tiny bridge, banks left and opens into a two-lane dirt road that leads back into 65 acres of sprawling forest. The camp includes hiking trails, swimming, marsh land and a spring fed pond. The Saugus River also flows through the camp, providing a chance for visitors to see a little wildlife such as heron, mallards and river otters, as well as fox and deer that reside in the woodland.Three cabins and one lodge provide shelter for campers. Roach said two of the cabins are large enough to house 12 campers each and one could fit 10 people.”There is also a lodge for community space too,” she said.While adding tent camp sites hasn’t been ruled out, Roach said DCR hasn’t gotten that far yet. She said just the cabins will be open to the public at first and they will see how it goes.Fire Chief James Blanchard thinks it’s going to go well, in fact better than DCR might imagine.Blanchard said he was called to inspect the camp and note what needed to be brought up to code, which he added was a lot. He said he thinks with the park’s proximity to Boston and other points of interest, there will be a lot of interest in the place.Charlie Petrucci, who runs the camp for DCR, didn’t disagree.”I think if you put this on the (Internet) you’ll have people from all over wanting to stay here,” Blanchard said. “Right on Route 1, it’s an easy shot to Boston and it backs up to a golf course. I think it’s going to be busy.”Roach said right now DCR plans to just “roll it out slowly and see what happens.””It’s always been a great place,” she added. “This just kind of puts it out there.”