Much to my nerdy regret, I haven't kept data on how many miles we've traveled or how many trips we took or how much money we've spent on our quest to visit all 25 Indiana state parks in 2016. (That last one is probably for the best. Believe me.) But I can tell you that we have used our pass to enter a state park 42 times so far this year (with the most visits being to Potato Creek, Chain O' Lakes, and Indiana Dunes), which works out to about once every nine days. And along the way, we've learned some pretty interesting things about our state and ourselves. Here are a few of them, in no particular order:
Every season is the best season.
We started this project in January by hiking through a desolate winter prairie at Prophetstown and getting up close and personal with frozen waterfalls at Shades. We spent spring break watching turtles at Shakamak and munching on wild chives at Harmonie. There was a muggy, buggy summer hike at Tippecanoe River, a visit to the beach at Indiana Dunes, and swimming for people and dogs at Potato Creek. We spent fall break watching the leaves turn at four parks in southern Indiana, toured an 1800s pioneer village all decked out for the holidays at Spring Mill, and ended with a hike in the cold, cold rain in early December at Brown County. There is something beautiful about each of the seasons, and I'm so glad we live in a place where they are distinct. The parks are most crowded in the summer, of course, but we've found that even in the dormant seasons, they're teeming with life.
We love birds.
Don't get me wrong; we liked birds before. Who doesn't? Except when they use you or your car/house/boat/whatever for target practice, of course. But this year we've really gotten into actively seeking them out. I haven't gone so far as to keep a bird journal, but I have noted when we've seen them (particularly if we were able to take a picture), and going back through my posts, I'm pretty impressed by the number and variety of birds we've seen during this project: swans, eagles, woodpeckers of many varieties, red-winged blackbirds, hawks, wood ducks, cardinals, robins, grosbeaks, goldfinches, bluebirds, great blue herons, turkey vultures, sandhill cranes, and even one spectacular great horned owl. We saw dozens of eagles during their winter migration at Turkey Run in late January, thousands of sandhill cranes during fall migration at Jasper-Pulaski SRA (not technically a state park but I'm counting it anyway), and a sky full of creepy turkey vultures at Whitewater Memorial. So maybe we should think about keeping a bird journal after all?
We like to find a little something on the side.
I know you've heard me say it before, but the side trips are often the best part of our adventures. We don't really plan them or have any expectations, and somehow that gives them an almost magical quality. This year's standout was the side trip we took during spring break to visit Garden of the Gods in the Shawnee National Forest just over the border into Illinois. We went on a whim, and we were handsomely rewarded. I guess the moral of this little story is that we shouldn't limit ourselves to our preset itinerary. Sometimes our side trips are kind of a bust, but more often than not, they end up being highlights.
Over, under, through, and in — we'll take it any way we can get it.
There's a lot more than hiking on offer at the state parks. We've gone underground on our own personal cave tour and climbed up the remains of an old quarry at McCormick's Creek, and explored an elevated cave (I'm sure there's a technical term for this but I don't know it) at Spring Mill. We've gone kayaking and mountain biking and swimming at Potato Creek. And at Chain o' Lakes, which we visited at least three times, we didn't go hiking at all — our time there was spent entirely on the water. I'm sure there are activities we haven't tried, but hey, there's always next year!
By any stretch of the imagination, we aren't what you would really call "joiners." But this year, we've made a real effort to try new things and talk to new people. I've had a conversation with a stranger at the majority of the state parks, which is kind of a big deal for a hermit who works from home. Luckily, I've found that telling people about our resolution to visit all the state parks is a pretty great icebreaker. Aside from conversation, though, we've gone on organized bird watches and cave tours, learned to hunt wooden buffalo with atlatls at Mounds, entered (and won a prize for!) a fall colors photo contest, and dug for fossils with new friends at Falls of the Ohio. I even went with my mom to a jewelry-making workshop at Indiana Dunes. And the biggest deal of all, at least for me and Liam, is that we discovered how much we love kayaking. I see many happy mornings on the water in our future.
Also worth the effort: bringing our furry friend.
Whenever we could swing it in terms of distance and accommodations, we brought Charlie along with us. Sure, he tended to get messy because he never met a lake he didn't want to charge into or a muddy patch he didn't want to flop in, but the boys got messy too, and I've found so much happiness watching them wallow in it together. We're still deeply in mourning for our Charlie, but he taught us that we are definitely dog people, so we know that eventually we'll have another canine friend or two. And when that time comes, thanks to Charlie, we'll know just how much fun we can have exploring the world (or at least the state) together.
All adventures are better with people you love.
There's something about being out on the trail that makes the boys more talkative. Maybe it's being away from distractions like video games and TV shows and chores, or maybe it's just being out in the woods with our undivided attention, but they talk to us now in ways that they didn't do before. Sharing this time with them has really brought home to us the value of unplugging. But I'm happy to report that it hasn't just been the five of us doing our own thing all year. We've managed to bring other people into our adventure too, from spending a weekend at Pokagon with the Kruyers and Holidays to taking various cousins along for a hike, or a swim, or to try their hand at kayaking. We still have one trip planned this year where the boys and I will be staying in a cabin at Brown County with Laura and her kids, and next month Johnny and Erin and the kids are joining us for the eagle weekend at Turkey Run. We really love having them with us and being able to share this experience.
And sharing the experience — whether that means Mike taking one of the boys mountain biking, all five of us staying at one of the inns, or a whole group of friends and family members — has been the point of this whole exercise. This year is almost over, but our love of the state parks will go on, so if you want to join us sometime next year, we'd love it! You know where you can find us.
In case you missed any of the individual installments of the state parks project, you can find them here: SPP1, SPP2, SPP3, SPP4, SPP5, SPP6, SPP7, SPP8, SPP9, SPP10, SPP11,
SPP12, SPP13, SPP14, SPP15, SPP16, SPP17, SPP18, SPP19, SPP20, SPP21, SPP22, SPP23, SPP24, SPP25.
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