Watoga State Park, Riverside Campground, WV
$13,864

Our Proudest Monkey Tree Fort Village built at Watoga State Park in West Virginia.
As you can see from the many entries here in our portfolio, Watoga State Park had contracted with Bears Natural Playgrounds to construct a series of playgrounds, providing a graceful cohesiveness to the playground equipment they have made available to visitors.
Largest of all the state parks in West Virginia, Watoga has over 10,000 acres of sprawling woodland filled with a multitude of recreational opportunities. Located just 14 miles south of Marlinton, the Park offers Beaver Creek Campground, Laurel Run, and the Riverside Campground, where these photos were taken.
Watoga also boasts an 11-acre lake, which was previously Lake Killibuck, used for paddle-boating, row-boating and trout, bass, bluegill or even catfishing.
Bears Playgrounds have found the perfect home in this park. Our whole log construction gives an organic, wholesome feeling that is striking in appearance, with bold, strong, built to last designs, beautifully stained rustic wood and hunter green accents. Bears Playgrounds are designed to compliment the natural setting of any environment.
Our designs encourage risk taking and challenge. Sometimes these risks can involve some bumps, bruises or falls. We think these challenges are an important part of growing up.
We have made a number of design decisions that we feel are important for safety reasons. We have listed a few below: a) Some play systems are constructed from ladders lashed together to form a structure. We have decided not to interrupt play flow and function with obstructive ladders that can cause unnecessary bumps and bruises. Instead we have decided on a more open floor plan with functionally play-linked activities. b) As a matter of design and safety we have decided not to incorporate any wide stance, slippery coated access ladders. Instead we have decided to use Real Log climbers with low slip wood texture and Roped Hand Supports top to bottom.) We have decided not to allow overlapping, sometimes conflicting uses such as overhead monkey bars with swings on them. d) We have decided to use beefy strong structural wooden knee braces instead of cheap metal brackets.