General Discussion > Trip Report

parke county (Indiana) covered bridge festival

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count me in:
We have been going there for several years now (like 7 or 8 now, I think)  the 1st couple years as a long "day trip"/ we have camped there and stayed several days except for the 1st 2 years we went... we'd been hearing about this thing for years, and know friends that have been going for like 25+ years.  As far as the event, even since we started going, it isn't what it used to be,  the flea market atmosphere it has become mostly sells imported reproduction garbage these days, the locals that do their annual garage sales this time of year seem to have the better "stuff"...
the food this year wasn't as good as past years, asking for one thing and getting another, that sort of thing....
but as it relates to camping and Apaches,  it was a good trip.   We went Sunday thru Wednesday, the fest starts 2nd Thurs of October and goes for 10 days. this is about the 57th or 58th year of this thing now. 
We saw on the weather on the TV before we left home that it was raining down there, so we left later than we had originally planned to, so as to not have to set up camp in the rain.  it worked, it was raw and gloomy as we got there to set up but was nearly dried out by the time we got there, this is about a 2-1/2 hour drive from home.  weather wise, it got better each day, no rain while we were there, chilly Sunday, cool Monday, nice Tuesday and nicer yet Wednesday. (figures, the day we had to head home)  better than last year when we took the old tent and had to take down in the rain. the nights were chilly, the 1st 2 were around 40* at night, 3rd one only got down in mid 50s.... new Hydroflame had no problem getting and keeping the inside of the Ramada to around 70, though I went thru more propane than I had expected to.... would not have thought I'd have to swap bottles in the middle of the 2nd night.  and that was with shutting it completely off as soon as we were dressed and ready to go for the day.... could have used some heat in the shower house though, yikes.
  The Ramada did good, cooked everything outside on either the Coleman stove (I had 2 with me) or the tabletop Weber grill....  as I don't have the stove hole cut into the new countertops yet.

camping wise we stayed at the Raccoon lake SRA (state Recreation area) near Rockville IN.   I have bene wanting to go to another state park about 10 miles away (Turkey Run)-- would be same price, as both are Indiana state parks, but having a buddy that now lives down there and actually works at Raccoon lake makes it tough to want to go camping at any other facility in the area even if it was free. 

Donna was a bit scared the 1st night as we were sitting by the fire and while I made jiffy pop popcorn we had a raccoon come up into our site and to within 6 feet of where she was sitting, with 2 of his buddies about 20 feet behind standing on a log at the top of a ravine.  they left us and went and visited our neighbors in the site about 4 down from us that were in a tent and in our "usual" spot at that campground, they picked up a couple buddies along the way to go bother the neighboring campers.... the next night we had a couple, they didn't get as close to us, but one went around  our campfire and up onto the step of our camper apparently wanting "in",,,, he got down, circled around and ran under and beyond it.  During that night Donna woke me up to tell me she thought they were trying to get in again, I didn't hear a thing I was passed out cold til she got me up...   on this night while we were out by the fire the neighbors were making noise and carrying on, we looked down that way to see that they had their flashlights pointed to a tree where there were 2 of them climbing almost side x side in their campsite
the 3rd night I saw the eyes and ears a few feet down the bank of the ravine behind the picnic table as I lit the camp stoves but they never came up into the campsite that I saw.

My buddy Glenn,  who I have known since just after high school and used to live up here,   now lives a few miles from this campground, works there and keeps me with plenty of firewood among other goodies, came by each night while we had the fire going to "catch up" and was teasing Donna a bunch about "they're gonna get her" (the raccoons) .... and asked how many ground hogs we'd seen, I guess that area is known for those too... and they are usually out more in the day. I guess they had "too many" ground hogs last year and 'took out" 85 of them throughout the park.... we never did see any of those, but as we came and went with the festivities of the Festival the deer were also certainly out in force throughout this park!

prettinger:
They don't call it Raccoon Lake for nothing!  I have camped out there before and had the same experience with the raccoons.  I am native Hoosier transplanted to Arizona.  I hope the leaves were turning nice for you.  I miss the maple and oak tress.

count me in:
actually no, leaves looked like they do in August.... by Wed. just barely starting to turn. Back in Illinois today I went to my mom's house 25 miles north of where I live now,  (Mom still lives in the house I grew up in)  and there was more leaf color than I saw all in 4 days earlier this week down there.

count me in:
 Yesterday, I was out in Indiana a little farther east and almost as far south as I was at that campout        and for those commenting on the changing leaves they were finally how they normally would have been  in past years during that festival that we went to.  (picked up my new 3 way fridge for the Apache at a couldn't pass up price ne corner of indianapolis)

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