ST. PAUL (AP) -- Officials say they're pleased with the relaunch of a troubled campground reservations system for Minnesota state parks.

Courtland Nelson, director of the Parks and Trails Division of the Department of Natural Resources, says the system never reached capacity when it went back online Thursday morning. He says it averaged around 100 to 130 visitors an hour for the first few hours. He says users created about 400 new accounts and made a little over 125 reservations by mid-afternoon.

The system was overwhelmed and crashed the morning of its attempted launch March 1, leaving campers unable to book sites and cabins.

But the system has been beefed up. Under the phased relaunch, reservations were accepted Thursday for arrival dates through April 21. On Friday, they will be accepted through May 12.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

 

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