state parks project, part 22: versailles

Today's first park was Versailles State Park in Versailles. According to the brochure, this is the second-largest park in the state. It's beautiful, with lots of interesting features like a dam and a covered bridge and rolling hills. Unfortunately for us (since we were there to hike), it seems like a fantastic place for mountain biking, with no less than six (!!!) biking trails of varying difficulty, as well as a great place to go kayaking/boating/fishing.

Curiously, Versailles has only three hiking trails. Two of them were a lot longer than we had time for, so we started down the Fallen Creek Trail, which (you guessed it) crosses Fallen Creek three times. It was a nice trail that wound through the woods, but when we got to the first creek crossing, we discovered that there wasn't a bridge, and we weren't willing to get our shoes soaked on a cold late November day, so we ended up turning around at about the halfway mark.

But not to worry! We went back and explored Versailles Lake a little, then we headed for the dam and spillway, where the boys climbed to the top to check things out. And finally, we stopped at the covered bridge.

Verdict: We have to give this one an incomplete since it seems to be a park designed for activities other than the one we were there to undertake. Mike would LOVE to take the boys back for a few runs on the mountain bike trails (if we ever get our bike trailer situation figured out), and I would very much enjoy renting a kayak and spending some time on the lake. As it stands, though, we had a nice walk in the woods and explored some interesting features, but whether it was our general energy level, the off season, or the park itself, somehow we just weren't feeling it on this one. We're perfectly willing to give the other activities a go, though, if we get a chance to go back, and if we do, we'll let you know our revised opinion.

See also: SPP1, SPP2, SPP3, SPP4, SPP5, SPP6, SPP7, SPP8, SPP9, SPP10, SPP11, 
SPP12, SPP13, SPP14, SPP15, SPP16, SPP17, SPP18, SPP19, SPP20, SPP21.