WATERLOO - On a sunny Wednesday afternoon, Ron Boxwell staked his claim at the George Wyth State Park campground.

"It's a nice park. I've been out here a lot," said Boxwell, a Waterloo resident, as he spread out his tent.

While parks on the Volga and Yellow rivers are his favorite, he likes George Wyth because it's close to activities in town but still offers a place to get away from it all.

Last year, few campers had the opportunity to enjoy area campgrounds like George Wyth and nearby Black Hawk Park north of Cedar Falls.

Record flooding deluged parks along the Cedar River and its tributaries.

After the water subsided, park officials wrote off the balance of the 2008 camping season at George Wyth.

But earlier this month camping resumed at the state park, although some of the amenities aren't back up and running.

"We are thrilled to be back open," said Lori Eberhard, manager at George Wyth.

"We thank everybody for their support and please bear with us."

The campground and lodge restrooms are back in operation.

The beach area remains off limits, and budget constraints mean the campground has less seasonal staff to mow green space and complete restroom checks.

Some of the shelters are available on a first-come, first-served-only basis.

Even so, by Wednesday all of the electrical sites at the campground had been claimed for this weekend, a sign that camping there has rebounded.

Upriver at Black Hawk Park, camping resumed by Labor Day 2008, said Vern Fish, director of the county conservation board.

The park's shower house took on 3 inches of floodwater, despite the fact it is lofted high into the air on stilts.

Staff had to replace the water heaters.

"We've done everything we can to mitigate for the next flood," Fish said. "Overall, the public will walk in and say, 'There was a flood here?'"

The 2008 flood caused the Black Hawk County Conservation Board to walk away from its policy of taking reservations for campsites, Fish said. He said the board had to pay back thousands of dollars in refunds when it wasn't able to provide the sites following the disaster.

George Wyth and other Iowa state parks still allow reservations for a portion of their campsites.