ST. PAUL — Minnesota’s new state park campsite online reservation system crashed soon after its launch Thursday and will be down indefinitely as officials try to figure out how to fix it.

The system couldn’t handle an unanticipated flood of traffic when it went live, Department of Natural Resources spokesman Chris Niskanen said. Officials expected it to take 4,500 reservations in a day, but saw more than 4,500 visits in its first hour, he said. The system took only about 60 reservations before it crashed, he said.

“We apologize,” Niskanen said. “We don’t like our customers being frustrated. We’re disappointed we weren’t able to deliver the sort of system they want and we’re taking responsibility. We just ask for their patience a little longer.”

Niskanen said it will be down indefinitely until the DNR and its vendor, US eDirect, determine how to expand its capacity. People at the vendor are “working their tails off to fix this,” he said. A new call center for phone reservations will also remain closed for now.