The number of people who visit High Bridge State Park in Farmville continues to climb.

According to Park Manager Daniel Jordan, visitation is up more than 33 percent from the previous fiscal year. In the 12-month period ending June 30, there were 278,308 visitors at the park, up from the previous fiscal year’s 208,555.

The 31-mile-long trail includes the more than 2,400-foot-long High Bridge, 125 feet above the Appomattox River. The trail traverses Cumberland, Nottoway and Prince Edward counties, including the towns of Burkeville, Farmville, Pamplin City, Prospect and Rice.

“Part of the increase is due to Camp Paradise, which accounts for about 20 percent of our increase,” Jordan said. “We’re seeing a lot of visitors down there.”

Camp Paradise, which opened Jan. 1, is a new access and parking area at the trail east of the bridge near Rice off Aspen Hill Road. The access offers the closest parking area to the bridge.

The figures Jordan offered are as of Sept. 14.

Since Jan. 1, 201,443 people have visited the trail — a 32 percent increase above last year’s 152,715 count.

Explaining the increase, he said more people are using the River Road access point in Cumberland and the new Camp Paradise Road.

“It’s a couple (of) things. One, it’s overall attendance is up. For the beginning of the year, like up through June, is when we really saw the increase and, yes, it was about 20 percent at Camp Paradise. So that new parking lot’s getting a lot of visitors,” Jordan said, adding a hot summer has affected the park’s revenue. “Our revenue is, actually, for the fiscal year … up 28 percent. But, this time, if you look at (the) comparison of calendar year, we’re actually down 8.6 percent. That’s due largely in part because of the hot July and August.”

In terms of programming, the number of participants so far this year is up 31 percent from last year, while there are 38 percent fewer programs being offered.

“We’re doing more quality programs over quantity and we’re seeing the numbers because of that,” Jordan said. “We offer a little bit less, but, because we are spending more time developing and marketing things, we’re actually getting more participants out, which also goes in line with our increased visitation as well.”

So far this year, more than 5,100 people have taken part in programming at the state park.

“What we’re doing is a couple things,” he said. “One, we’re offering different types of programs, and also making sure that we have somebody just about every weekend.”

He also said the park’s first goal is to keep hikers, bikers and equestrians safe.

“We’re trying to do point duty on the bridge so that there’s somebody down there that can be accessible to get questions asked and stuff like that,” Jordan said.

He hopes the new mountain bike trails between Farmville and River Road in Cumberland will draw more people, along with walking paths off the trail, offering different views and perspectives of the bridge.

A trail offering access under High Bridge opened this year, Jordan said.

“High Bridge is definitely the gem of the trail, and we’re thankful for that,” he added, calling it a wonderful piece of history and “an engineering marvel.”