We had some time to kill between campsites so we found a Walmart in the town of Goshen where we could park for several hours. Luckily there was a Panera Bread Restaurant on the edge of the parking lot, where we not only ate breakfast when we arrived, but after we shopped in Walmart we went back for lunch.
A short while later we were all set up in our new campsite at Chain O' Lakes State Park for the next 3-days. Indiana charges an entrance fee at their state parks, $6 for Indiana residents and $9 for all others. When the check-in person asked if I was a resident I replyed "no, but I was born in Indianapolis, does that count"? She replied, "It does with me and for the next 3-days you're once again a Hoosier". I thanked her for saving me the $3 and no I didn't make that up.
It couldn't have come at a better time because the cell phone service way out here is weak.
The park gets it's name from the 13 lakes that are located within the park, 9 of which are "chained" together by a small waterway named Forker Creek.
The lakes in this chain are called "kettle lakes", formed 16,000 - 19,000 years ago when the Ice Age glaciers here were still huge blocks of ice. Rivers of water, resulting from the melting ice, carved the channels which connect the lakes in the park today.
Instead we drove around the park, checked out the Nature Center, an historic 1-room schoolhouse and a few of the lakes located closer to the roadway throughout the park.
CHAIN O' LAKES STATE PARK
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Norman Lake is the first lake inside of the park.It's also one of the four lakes not connected to the chain.
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For those reasons it doesn't appear to see to much boating activity.
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Miller Lake is right across the parking lot and is connected to the chain...
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...but is too doesn't appear to be very popular with the boaters.
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Maybe it's because it's at the western end of the 9 Lake Challengeand 5-miles from the far eastern end where the trail begins in Sucker Lake.
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The largest lake in the park at 47 acres is Sand Lake.
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It has an "easy to launch" kayak ramp attached to the dock for people with their own boats.
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This is the beginning of the trail that connects Sand Lake to Weber Lake.
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I would much prefer paddling these skinny channels than the wide open lakes.
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Looking back towards Sand Lake from the roadway bridge.
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Also on Sand Lake is where you'll find the boat rental facility.They appear to not only rent kayaks, but canoes, peddle boats and row boats.
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This couple don't appear to be interested in boating, they're fine right where they are.
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This is the 1-room Stanley Schoolhouse, named after Henry Stanley, a nearby landowner.
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It's only open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays, so we had to peek in the windows.
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Curiously the datestone high above the door has he digit 9 reversed in the 1915 date.
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All over the park we keep seeing these huge webs high up in the trees.
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A little research informed us they are webworm nests, which will eventually become moths.
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Outside of the Nature Center was a beautiful planter filled with Black Eyed Susans.
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Right next to the Black Eyed Susans were these flowers, but I'm not sure what kind they are?
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While the Nature Center was mostly geared towards educating middle schoolers,being a map guy I found this relief map of the park especially interesting.
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