11/26/2012 9:47:31 AM Versailles State Park by jeffcrvn

Hiking VSP - Hiking the Hiking and Mountain Bike Trails at VSP: Hike #1: My first hike at VSP started at the Mountain Bike Trail Head and went North on Turtle Loop (#5). This trail becomes Creekside Loop (#3) at Laughery Creek and winds its way North to Northwest along the creek with changes in elevation to 300 ft or so. It then turns West and becomes Grandview Loop (#1) which eventually turns south and turns into Center Loop (#2). Center Loop turns into Cliffside (#4) and travels south. It connects with Shadow Run Loop (#6) and leads back to the trailhead. This loop all together covers about a half of the 15.1 miles of Mountain Bike Trails in the park and took me approximately 3.5 hours with two 10 minute breaks for water and snacks. Lots of rolling hills of what is designated as a easy to difficult trail. The difficult parts are the Grandview and Clifside Trails. I am sure they would be tough on a mountain bike, but were fairly simple on foot. Try this hike sometime. I was a blast. I ran into about a dozen bikers who were all keen to share the trail. Happy tails.

8/24/2012 7:54:29 AM Versailles State Park by C, V, C, and B...

Love this Park! - We have camped here twice so far this year and plan on going one more time in the fall. The space in most campsites is great. The family atmosphere is terrific. Our son has had a great time every time we have been here. The staff is friendly and the entire park was clean and beautiful! Thank You

7/21/2012 6:15:27 PM Pokagon State Park by Terry

Visitors not welcome! - We drove to Pokagon State Park, which from our house was over 100 miles to visit the campground and see if we might want to camp there sometime soon, only to be told by the gatekeeper that we could not drive through the campground on the weekends as it was a security issue. He said we would have to park in the visitor's section and walk in to look at camp sights. I have never heard of such a thing from a state park anywhere in Indiana. What type of security issue would there be on weekends that there would not be through the week? My wife has asthma and she cannot walk far from air conditioning when it is hot out and the temperature was 88 degrees that day (7/21/12). I will tell you this though, I will never set foot in you park again and I will tell my friends not to either. Makes me ashamed to be from Indiana. I am seriously thinking about sending this email to Governor Mitch Daniels too!

7/7/2012 10:24:11 AM Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge by enjoyers of natures beauty

Rewarding and Relaxing Place To Be - On one of our many trips there, my wife and I came upon an amazing site in one of the marshes there. What started out as photographing a doe feeding in the marsh, we saw more then 20 Great Blue Herons. They were in the trees, on the bank, perched on logs and stand in the water. There were also 3 green herons. A group of 4 raccoons and 3 scattered about raccoons we scavenging about as well as 17 otters were feeding and playing in the water. 4 of them were pups. It was an amazing moment in our lives. On another day we saw 24 deer, 3 fawns and the rest were does and bucks, all the bucks were in velvet. In the short time we have been going there, we have photographed of 150 species of wildlife of that over 130 species of birds. Each day there is a new adventure.

6/9/2012 7:27:23 PM Versailles State Park by Steve

Very disappointed - We reserved June 8th & 9th. Upon first appearance the campground was very nice. The surprises started soon as we parked. The site we reserved was suppose to have water but it appears none of the sites have water. The only water available in our area was from the bath house showers. The closest water access was on the other side of our area. The rest rooms had no soap or toilet paper. The group across had several barking dogs (all night) & were drunk and loud into the early morning. After 5 pm I did not observe any staff or rangers patrolling the area. Things started the same way in the morning and we left was noon. I would not recommend this camp group to anyone.

5/24/2012 10:37:00 AM Pokagon State Park by Cassy

first time back in 35yrs last aug - it was great even better than i remember,as a child hope to get to see it all this summer

5/17/2012 9:04:42 PM Shades State Park

STAR GAZING PARADISE - WE ARE PLANNING OUT 2012 CAMP TRIP TO SHADE SECOND WEEK IN JUNE. I HOPE OUR FAVORITE SITE IS NOT TAKEN. HOEP THEY GOT LARGER PICNIC TABLES.

5/13/2012 10:52:42 AM Charlestown State Park

Be aware of deer ticks - We recently camped in the park(our first visit)and found that the area in the campsites had not been mowed, the tick infestation was so terrible that we could not sit outside without multiple ticks getting on us , even with the use of personal spray. It was so bad that we left one day early. We were in a campsite with full hookups and was a fairly expensive venture. We also noticed when we arrived on Thursday the dumpsters were over-flowing with trash. They were not emptied until on a Friday night or Sat. We did enjoy the paved trails otherwise we were very dissapointed. With proper maintenance this could be a very nice campground.

3/30/2012 5:22:27 PM Clark State Forest by Chip Heath

what about the trail systems. - I bought 4 bridle tags for myself and family,now I find out all of the trails are closed, someone decided they needed to close all of the trails after the March 2nd tornado. Most trails were not even affected. Do not forget DNR the tax payers own this park, we pay you to manage it not to close it. Wake up and do the right thing!!!

3/26/2012 10:26:25 AM Whitewater State Park

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3/6/2012 Glendale State Fish and Wildlife Area by Matt Benge

Love Dogwood Lake - A great place to camp. Have been 10 yaers in a row. Great fishing and a nice park!

2/24/2012 Richard Lieber State Park by A. Cottrell

Wonderful - I have been camping for the last 10 years and my favorite place to take my 3 small children is Lieber Lake. We can enjoy the pool or the playground or go on an adventure that they will treaure forever.