Mounds State Park 12.20.2009

For our seventh state park, we had our first guest hiker. Jesse's sister, Amy, joined us, since she was visiting from Denver for the holidays. If anyone wants to do the same, let us know. We would be happy for some company. We made this trip on the way to Jesse's parents' house for a giant Linville Christmas get-together. It was nice to spend a couple hours outside prior to being stuffed inside the house all afternoon. The day was sunny and about 35 degrees, but the ground was fairly well covered with snow, which was a fun contrast to our last trip, when we wore shorts!

We entered the park for free, since the gate was unmanned for the winter. That's a bonus! We did a quick driving tour of the park and its campground. There were a few joggers and a couple other hikers around. We parked down by the river. (Unfortunately, we were not in a van!) The three of us plus a backpacked Cooper headed out on trail 6 and checked out most of the park by hooking up with trails 4, 5, 2, and 1. Highlights included: seeing a kayak-er on the river on this chilly day, trail 1 with its tree tour, seeing tiny snowmen all around the park that had been built either by visitors before us or some gnomes (there is a great episode of Across Indiana about the pygmy people of Mounds Park), and the mounds, of course. The mounds are sort of mysterious, because the Indians that built them are mostly unknown. There is no written history of them, so everything that is known is just from artifacts. The mounds were used for ceremonies, not usually burials, as some have speculated. They also line up to lunar cycles somehow. They were, of course, dug by hand (no Bobcats available then!) and that is something in itself because the Great Mound is sizable.

We also visited the park's nature center, which is super nice. It features real bathrooms all year and cool exhibits with real animals. There is also comfortable furniture on its porch to enjoy while your lady friend is in the bathroom. The back room of the nature center offers a bird-viewing room, which is also neat. We learned inside the nature center that there used to be a roller-coaster in the park that went out over the river! It was washed away in a flood. We also learned about the Bronnenburg family, who once lived on the property in a house that is still there. They cared for the mounds and didn't allow people to mess with them or steal artifacts. It was their family that helped the land become a state park. Also, the park is fairly small, but it does have a pool and several nice shelter houses for parties. Trail 5 follows the river for several miles and it has great views. Overall, we liked it and it was fun to have Amy with us.

Mounds State Park
4306 Mounds Road
Anderson, IN 46017

Few more Spring Mill pics

Spring Mill State Park 11.21.2009

On our way out of town to Spring Mill, we stopped at Sullivan's Hardware to experience their annual Turkey Fest. We donated a bag of clothing to Goodwill there and in return received a cool Sullivan's hat (which you can see Jesse wearing in the photos) and a reusable shopping bag. We sampled trashcan turkey...mmmm... and ate free Tagalong Blizzards. We also got to see Dr. Dirt! On display were 15 various ways of cooking a turkey as well as many other types of Thanksgiving fare. We recommend Turkey Fest completely.

After a pre-11:00 a.m. McDs stop (breakfast for Jesse) and a post-11:00 a.m. McDs stop (lunch for Abby), we arrived in Mitchell, IN at Spring Mill State Park. We got in for free by whoopin' out our 2010 annual pass!!! We snapped a quick photo at the entrance and then took a quick look at the camp store and BMX track. Both were relatively closed but seemed cool. We did a brief tour of the camp ground and its luxuriously heat-free restrooms. Jesse and Cooper found a cave in the nearby woods while Abby enjoyed the facilities.

After loading up the backpack and Cooper's pack, we started on our hike. We started on Trail 3 near the Inn and almost immediately found a sink hole cave. We realized right away that we had no flashlight, which is a grave mistake for this park. The caves are its best feature by far and flashlights are a must. Jesse squirreled his way into the sink hole cave and explored it as best he could with no light. We then headed on down the trail over the top of Donaldson Cave, and met Bronson Cave. We tried to go into it, but once again were met with some defeat because of our lack of light. Nevertheless, it was awesome. The photo of Bronson Cave is from the inside looking out and you will see an observation deck. Trail 3 is listed as rugged but we found its 2.5 miles to be moderate. On down the trail, we came up Twin Caves. Twin Caves features a boat tour during summer months! It will cost you $3 from Memorial Day to Labor Day. We will go back and do it. It was at this point that we first saw some signs warning visitors to stay out of the caves because the DNR is trying to keep the park's bat population from contracting White Nose Syndrome, which is killing bats in the East and Northeast. The Twin Caves boat tour is still operating despite the risks of the disease, so we went down and checked them out. They are huge and a sizable stream flows through them. See the photo of Jesse and Cooper walking in the waiting area for the boat tour.

On down Trail 3 just east of Twin Caves we found the enormity of the trees to be overwhelming. The entire trail is surrounded by sink holes and we saw many more potential cave entrances. Jesse made an effort to check out many of them. We didn't see many people this day as it's later in the season. The weather, though, was perfect, at about 70 degrees and sunny. We wore shorts and T shirts. Crazy for late November in Indiana! We also saw a beech tree carved with the initials of a couple and then dates they had hiked the trail, starting in the late 70s and continuing for 30 years to this year. Carving trees is stupid but this was cool.

Upon finishing Trail 3 loop, we hooked up to Trail 4 and headed down the canyon to the gaping mouth of Donaldson Cave. Inside, we didn't find chocolates as Jesse had hoped, but we did find super cool rock formations and the sound of a huge waterfall deep inside the cave. Jesse climbed around a little to read the sign from the 20s when an IU professor was studying the blind cave fish that live inside. Cooper was not happy when Jesse climbed out of her sight, as she could no longer do her job of keeping an eye on us both. She cried the entire time he was out of sight and shunned him upon his return. We hiked out and were planning to complete the loop of Trail 4 through the Pioneer Village, until our plans were derailed by a sign stating that no pets are allowed any further, because pets are not allowed in the village. See photo.

Instead of disobeying the sign like the bad kids we are, we decided to turn around. The park was hosting a period Thanksgiving dinner in one of the pioneer buildings and we didn't want to piss of the DNR. We retraced our steps down Trail 4 to Trail 1 and looped back up to the Inn and our trusty Explorer. We dropped of Cooper and the walked to the pioneer village to see the sights. The village contains any original 1800s buildings, including a mill, tavern, distillery, apothecary, school, and homes. The mill is powered by water that pours from the mouth of Hamer Cave, where it harnessed with a dam and funneled into the flume, which turns the huge wheel of the mill. We followed the flume back to its origin at the mouth of the cave and found the water to be eerily blue and of course 54 degrees, the constant temperature of all caves. A concrete company still pumps water from here and uses it for aggregates. The mill can operate year-long due to the water from the cave which never freezes because of its constant temperature. We found a couple more caves after following small streams that flowed through the village.

We hiked out and headed back to the Inn, where Abby had a close encounter with a bear. See the photo. We sat down to another delicious buffet dinner, which included fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn bread, white fish, roast beef, strawberry-rhubarb pie, and the ever-present sweet tea. Conspicuously missing were the fried biscuits and apple butter. Abby was wildly disappointed. The food was good but just didn't quite measure up to previous Inn meals. We checked out the Inn and found a nice game room, an indoor-outdoor pool, and a gift shop with no patches but other good plastic junk. We saw a 1954 map on the wall and were surprised to find the park virtually unchanged from them except for the location of the camp ground and addition of the BMX track.

We found Spring Mill to be among the best we have so far visited, partially because neither one of us had ever been there and we were surprised by the enormity of the caves. We had no preconceived notions so it was all brand new and good. We are planning to return as soon as the ban on spelunking is lifted, with plenty of equipment, so we can thoroughly explore the caves.

Sullivan's Hardware
6955 N. Keystone Ave.
Indianapolis, IN 46220
317.255.9230
www.sullivanhardware.com


Spring Mill State Park
3333 State Road 60 East
Mitchell, IN 47446
812.849.4129

Cash 11.16.09

We are so sad to say that we have lost a member of our team. He was a good boy and we will miss him very much.

Brown County 11.7.2009

We decided to go to Brown County since most of the leaves have fallen and we figured the hordes of tourists would be gone. We were mostly right. Instead of entering through the typically-used west gate, we enjoyed crossing the covered bridge of the north gate. Instead of one large lane like most, it has two separate lanes. It appeared to be a Burr Arch. Entering the north gate gets you right near the pool and parking for mountain bike trails. At the north gate, we excitedly purchased our 2010 annual state parks pass for the bargain price of $36. Something we immediately noticed since the visits of our childhoods is the addition of many miles of bike trails. This seemed to be pretty popular.

We started our hike on Trail 10, which starts just behind the main fire tower, near the park office. We didn't climb the fire tower, because the dogs were with us, but we did visit the delightful pit toilets nearby. Ew. Trail 10 is labeled as "rugged", but proved to be more moderate in our opinion. There was a fair amount elevation change, so this could be strenuous to some, but it was mostly gradual. The trail featured a small frog pond at the halfway point of its 2.2 mile loop. Also, there was a nice little creek at the bottom of the hollow, and the dogs drank plenty. There was also a small shelter house that has a fireplace and graffiti. We met some nice people on this trail and Jesse got to take some photos for an especially nice group of IU and Purdue fans. It wasn't crowded, but we did see some people. We met another beagle also, and she was scared of the sound of leaves crunching! Overall, Trail 10 was a nice hike with lots of good views of nature.

After a drink from the spigot behind the Hoosier Nest, we realized we didn't have any batteries in the camera! So, we headed to the country store located in the park's campground. It was supposed to be closed, but we got lucky, and it was open. It had lots of good junk, like slushies, park souvenirs, popcorn, camping supplies, and stuffed animals. And batteries. We sat down in the shade, enjoyed our slushie, and loaded the batteries into the camera.

We then started our next hike on Trails, 5, 4, and 7, which link together. Trail 5 is a self-guided nature tour, with stops displaying different sites in the Ogle Lake Nature Preserve. We couldn't find the brochure, so we didn't know what the sites on the tour were, but it was cool anyway. Jesse just made up a bunch of crap as usual and pretended to know everything. Trail 5 was really great and we saw lots of good nature stuff. Trail 5 led us to 4, which then led to 7. Trail 7 surrounds Ogle Lake, and is Abby's most-hiked as a kid, but it is crowded. A lot of people seem to make 7 their one hike for the day for its nice views of the lake. So, we got on 7 for a bit, but it was way too crowded for us, so we backtracked and got back to 4 and headed up, up, and up back toward the rally campground where we started. We recommend doing 4 and 5, which can be done as a loop and leaving 7 for the tourists.

Next, we drove all through the park and oohed and aahed at the vistas. The vistas would have been incredible about two weeks ago, but they were still PDC. We also took a quick look at the other lookout towers, which we found out were built in the 30s and 40s by the CCC. Then, we headed hungrily toward the Abe Martin Lodge. Near the lodge are the different cabins that can be rented. Some of them looked really neat and might be worth a return trip to stay for the night. The lodge was busy and offered no rooms for the night. We didn't want to stay anyway since we had to get home to watch Jesse's beloved fighting on TV. Part of the reason for the busyness of the lodge may have been the three weddings taking place in the park this day. Outdoor weddings in November?!? They got lucky cause it was 65 and sunny!

Anyway, once at the Abe Martin Lodge, we found the dining room upstairs and partook of its buffet. Jesse had intentionally starved himself this day and so he gorged himself into a food-induced coma. The weapons included roast beef, fried chicken, mashed taters, fried biscuits with apple butter, mac 'n' cheese, candied carrots, salad, potato soup, peach cobbler, chocolate cake, and glasses upon glasses of sweet tea. Our bill totaled around $33. The food was good, but maybe not quite to the par of Turkey Run Inn. There was a musician in the dining room. Jesse accurately predicted his first two songs as James Taylor and John Denver. You know the type. He did play a Johnny Cougar Mellencamp song too, given the close proximity to BTown.

It was a good trip, and Brown County and all its acreage offered lots of amenities. On a side note, we had several inquiries about the dogs' backpacks, and so here is some info: We purchased the packs from REI Outlet online and they were each about $25. Campmor online also had a good selection, but we went with REI since it offers a dividend on all purchases. The dog packs are nice because the dogs can carry their own stuff. Plus, they look really cute.

Brown County State Park

North gate: 1801 SR 46 E

West gate: 1405 SR 46 W

Nashville, IN 47448

812.988.6406

REI Outlet

www.rei.com/outlet

Campmor

http://www.campmor.com/

Fort Harrison State Park 10.24.09

We had only a short bit of time, so we decided to make our next stop in town. We thought the park wouldn't be that cool, since it's in town, so we figured it didn't matter if we only had a couple of hours. We were wrong! Ft. Ben is cool! It's a lot bigger than we thought and even has horseback riding.

We headed east on Kessler Blvd., which is also 56th St., and passed by Jerry Hostetler's house, featured in the book Weird Indiana, which we had purchased at Turkey Run. It's a giant, overly decorated house, which was added on to, and added on to, and added on to, for 30 years. This resulted in a 55,000 square foot mess, which you can see if you drive on 56th St., just east of Binford. The park is just north of 56th St. off of Glenn Road. The park was a military training facility until the early 90s and it was made into a state park in the late 90s. Many of the facilities within the park have been modified from their original military purposes. The dogs came with us this time, and at the parking lot, we followed the dogs off onto a deer path down to Fall Creek. We walked the deer paths for a while and saw what were quite sure were discarded military items, such as bombs. See photo.

We also hiked the Fall Creek trail, which as you may imagine, follows Fall Creek. It offered good views of the creek and some woods. The yellow foliage was bright and colorful. We were surprised to find some decent sized hills in the park, a sizable lake, and horse trails. The day we were there, it was Great Dane Day, and we got to see about a dozen of these horse-sized canines, though when Jesse asked their owners if we were on the horse trail, they were less than amused. There were a couple of other trails, as well as a paved bike path. We also saw some cool playgrounds for kids. We intend to go back in snowier weather so we can enjoy the badass sledding hill, which appears to be a former gun range. We checked out the horse barns, which appeared to have been barracks formerly. The horses have as nice as accommodations as the soldiers!

Since we misjudged the coolness of this in-town park, we do want to return, perhaps to ride horses and definitely to go sledding. There is also an Inn just outside the park gates and it would be fun to check out as well.

Ft. Harrison State Park
5753 Glenn Rd.
Indianapolis, IN 46216
317.591.0904

Prophetstown State Park 10.23.09

After a month's hiatus, we finally made it to our next stop on the tour. We visited Prophetstown State Park over Fall Break. It is located in historic Battle Ground, IN, near Lafayette. We took 65 N to SR 25 E and then North on 225 through the town of Battle Ground. The directions on the DNR website don't take you through the town, so you may want to find your own way. You also get to cross the Wabash on a very cool retrofitted train trestle bridge if you go via 225.

A quick note about donuts: If you are ever on 65 in the morning near Lebanon, you absolutely must exit on SR 32, go East for a 1/2 mile and stop in at Titus Pastry Shoppe. These are the best donuts ever! The best of the best is the chocolate cream filled. Ooooh. Donuts. Mmmmm.

Anyway...

Prophetstown was founded in the 1800s by the Indian chief Tecumseh as a training ground for warriors. During a great battle between the Indians and General William Henry Harrison, the town was torched. It was rebuilt for educational purposes. The land was bought up from homeowners and farmers in the early 1990s and made into a state park in 94. There are a few miles of trails, an interactive, working 1920s farm, and the rebuilt Indian settlement.

We left the dogs at home for this one, though after we were there, we kinda wished we would have brought them, because they would have enjoyed it. We started our adventure with a hike on both trails available. The trails featured views of the five-acre lake, Harrison Creek, a swamp, and prairies. We also took a side journey off the trails and across Harrison Creek, which was a bit flooded. Jesse had to de-shoe to make the journey for us both. See the photo on that one! Though the trails were fairly limited, they were fun and got us a good tour of the park. During our hike, it started to pour down rain and we had to seek refuge in an old barn near the lake. It proved to be water-tight and we enjoyed our rest.

After the hike, we made our way to the 1920s farm and checked out the houses on site as well as the barns, blacksmith shop, chicken coop, horses, hogs, cattle, sheep, and other farm implements. There was a very friendly border collie that was totally into fetch. Also, the homes were kits from the Sears & Roebuck catalog delivered via train in the 20s. The larger home was decorated in 20s vintage. It was awesome. You can tour both houses. Upon approaching the implement barn, we saw a wagon marked "Likens Farms, Anderson, Indiana". This was the very wagon that Jesse used to ride in as a kid when he would work with his friend Bobby Likens on the family farm.

After the visit to Prophetstown, we headed back into Battle Ground and followed the signs just 2.1 miles to Wolf Park, locally known as Woof Park. It costs $7 for a 45-minute tour of the enclosures which hold many wolves. There are also foxes, coyotes, and bison, as well as a gift shop and learning center. It was cool to see the wolves, but we thought the enclosures were kind of small and it would have been better if the wolves had more of a free-range type environment. The park offers a sponsorship program where you can choose an animal to sponsor and then you get to feed it and pet it and visit it one-on-one. The park started in 1967 and has been offering tours since the early 70s. The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable about all the animals.

Back in Battle Ground and very hungry, we visited TC's Restaurant & Tavern, one of two dining choices in town. TC's was half bar, and half family dining area. The server was very friendly and the food was quite good. The dining area featured a lot of memorabilia from the former Battle Ground High School basketball teams; the town's high school students now attend Harrison. We sampled the buffalo chips, pork filet, and NY strip, as well as the cole slaw and dinner salad. The buffalo chips and pork were the highlights. Our dinner, with no alcoholic beverages, totaled around $30. If you do visit TC's on a weekend, you may want to make reservations or get there early, as all the tables were reserved for the night when we were there. We just happened to be eating at 4:00, what we like to call "Grandma Dinner Time."

We didn't have time to visit the Battle Ground museum and monument, just east of town, but it looked cool and we will go back if possible. It was a good trip.

Prophetstown State Park
PO Box 327
Battle Ground, IN 47920
765.567.4919

Wolf Park
4004 E 800 N
Battle Ground, IN 47920
765.567.2265
www.wolfpark.org

TC's Restaurant & Tavern
109 N Railroad St.
Battle Ground, IN 47920
765.567.2838

Titus Pastry Shoppe
820 W South St.
Lebanon, IN 46052
765.482.1740

Shades State Park 9.27.2009

After a delightful evening at the furnished apartment, we made a breakfast stop at the White Horse Cafe. It seemed to be the place all the locals go on weekend mornings, and it was good. We each had cups and cups of coffee, eggs, hashbrowns, bicuits and gravy, and ham. This we got for around $18.

We then headed up Marshall Rd., through the town of Marshall (where's the arch?) and to Shades State Park. We outfitted the dogs with their backpacks and started on our first hike of the day. We found Shades to be a smaller, more basic park, without the amenities of TurkeyRun. There is no inn, nature center, or pool. However, the trails were perhaps even better and there was hardly anyone there! With the dogs, we navigated trails 1, 6, 2, and a bit of 9. Highlights included Devil's Punch Bowl, Lover's Leap, and the entirety of trail 2. It was the best trail we hiked all weekend by far! A word of advice for trail 2: it is somewhat poorly marked as it seems to be a new addition. Start 2 at the Dell Shelter and when it splits, stay left and head down the giant stairs. Go out to Sugar Creek and see Steamboat Rock. Then, you will be standing in a small stream or ravine. Even though there is no sign, this is actually part of trail 2, so go on. This was a very rugged hike and may be impassable if it's been raining a lot, but it was totally worth it for the views of Maidenhair Falls and Pearl Canyon.

We then dropped the dogs off at the trailer (Thanks again Noah and Holly!) and hit trails 4 and 5. These trails featured ladders and some rugged parts, but were no #2. Dogs should not go on these trails due to the ladders.

Shades used to be called Shades of Death because of its history of bloody Indian wars and also because of the crazy shadows created by all the rocks and trees. We really enjoyed it, perhaps even more so than its more popular neighbor Turkey Run due to smaller crowds and cooler trails.

Shades State Park

Route 1 Box 72

Waveland, IN 7989

765.435.2810

White Horse Cafe

287 S. US Hwy 41

Rockville, IN 47872

765.569.9450

Turkey Run 9.26.2009

Turkey Run is located off IN 47 near Rockville. We took the long way to get there. We now recommend going 47 out of Crawfordsville. Don't go on 74.

Turkey Run seems to be among the busiest of the state parks, so it might be best to go on a weekday if possible or early in the day on a weekend. When we got there, it was packed, so instead of heading across the awesome suspension bridge, we stayed on the same side of the creek and hit trail 1 all the way to the covered bridge where we did cross. We then went on trails 8 and 4 and checked out the Lusk Home. We also saw the coal mine. The dogs did great on these trails and could be off the leash because there weren't many people. We also got to go down to the creek and see it.

We crossed back over on the suspension bridge and dropped the dogs off at the trailer. (Thanks Noah and Holly!) Then, we went back across to do the awesome trails 3, 5, and 9. Highlights included the always-fun ladders on 3 and Boulder Canyon on 9. Dogs should not be taken on 3 due to the ladders, but it is among the best in the park.

We also visited the Turkey Run Inn, but did not get to stay the night. If you go, be sure to ask for the manager, Donald Vita, and tell him we said hi. We ate dinner at the Narrows Restaurant at the inn and it was delicious after a long day of hiking! We got the buffet, which is $12.95 on the weekends, and it was worth it. The bests for us were BBQ porkchops, fried biscuits and warm apple butter, sweet tea, and fried chicken. Yum.

So, we were tired and stuffed, and there was no room at the inn. We made a quick stop in the giftshop and picked up some patches and a Weird Indiana book. Then, we asked the friendly gal at the inn desk for some recommendations of where else we could stay. She offered two names and phone numbers of places in nearby Rockville. On the way out of the park, once we regained cell signal, we placed a call to the Covered Bridge Motel and talked to the owner, Phil Kurtz. He didn't have a room available but did offer us a furnished apartment for the price of $50. So, we headed on over to the Covered Bridge and picked up the key. Phil even gave us a free six-pack of Miller Lite he had in the fridge. What a guy! The apartment was a couple miles out of town and we found it to be clean, nicely appointed, and equipped with satellite TV on which we watched the Purdue - Notre Dame game. Tough loss for the Boilers, though the last-minute timeout was a ridiculous call. If you stay at these apartments, perhaps bring your own towels, as they were a bit small, especially for a 6'4" kinda kid.

Turkey Run State Park

8121 E. Park Rd.

Marshall, IN 47859

765.597.2635

Covered Bridge Motel

346 S. US Hwy 41

Rockville, IN 47872

765.569.2833

Introduction to our idea

So, we really like hiking and camping and outdoor things of all kinds. And we were looking at the Indiana State Parks website the other day http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/ and we decided that we would do a tour of them all. Being money-conscious (cheap) as we are, it seemed like a good idea to buy the $36 annual pass and try to get it done in a year. But, the passes go Jan. - Dec. and we got all excited and decided to start now anyway. So, we will be visiting all 26? state parks in the next 14 months.

A little about us: We are Jesse and Abby, both 30 years old, a home remodeler and a teacher. We have two dogs, Cash and Cooper, who will be going on most of the trips with us. We live on the White River on the north side of Indianapolis.

We will be trying to provide honest and useful information about the State Parks that we visit. We will try to give info about the trails, inns, restaurants, and other ammenities. We will also probably throw in some info about various other places we visit along the way, even if they're not technically inside the parks.

This past weekend, Sept. 26 and 27, we visited Turkey Run and Shades State Parks. More to come on these trips.