We reserved a primitive camping site in Shakamak State Park for Friday and Saturday night. We invited a couple family members along for the fun. We left Indianapolis about 4:30pm on Friday and arrived around 6:30pm. The trip would of been shorter, but we hit after work traffic in Indy. We took 70 west to 59 south. We stayed on 59 (at one point it went west for a few miles) until we hit Jasonville at which point we took 48 west. 48 takes you right to the entrance of Shakamak.
We reserved 2 camp sites, just to make sure we had plenty of room. One of the sites we got was tiny. Not sure how anyone could camp in that spot. Luckily the spot we got next to it was a corner plot and had enough room for both sleeping tents and a dining tent. If you’ve never camped here before, you will probably want to call and ask which site they would suggest. Some of the spots were huge and well laid out, others were either tiny or extremely muddy. The primitive sites had drinking water and garbage dumpsters on about every corner. There were also modern restrooms and showers in the middle. This turned out to be a life saver for a hot and humid summer camping trip.
We got all set up and decided it was time to pick up our firewood. Angie and I headed off to find the camping store. The store was not near the camping section at all, it was over by the pool (middle of the park). We drove to the parking area and saw the sign for the camping store pointing down a paved road. We pulled in and noticed it was a bit tight. Maybe it was a 1 way and we’d come out on the other side somewhere? We continued down and then noticed it turned into a stone walking trail. We weren’t on a road at all, this was a trail. We (very carefully) turned around and headed back and saw the path we pulled in on turned and went down a ways. Maybe the camp store was down there, so we followed it. Nope, evidently this entire thing is supposed to be a walking trail. The trail ended up going to another parking area and we were just able to squeeze off the trail back on the road.
We drove back around and decided this time we would walk (and not drive) to the other side of the pool. We finally found the camp store! CLOSED?! It wasn’t even 8pm yet! We had no wood and the camp store was closed. We were not happy. We stopped back at the camp check in area and talked to the person on duty. Evidently they ran out of wood and another shipment was coming in tonight. They were going to drive around the camp sites to sell it to anyone that needed it. Whew, we dodged a bullet there. We went back to our camp site and got things set up and relaxed. A couple hours later the wood truck came around and we started our fire.
The next morning we woke up fairly early and went to rent a boat. Shakamak rents out row boats for $5 an hour or $20 for 24 hours. Also need a $20 cash deposit. I paid my $40, got my oars and life jackets and we headed to the Lake Lenape docks. I rowed out to the other side of Lenape while my wife fished from the dock. After getting over there, I found out my new reel was just not working. I rowed back and we headed back to the camp site. After fiddling with my reel for a bit (and untangling the mess of line), I called it quits and got my trusty spinning reel ready. We headed back to the lake for round 2. It was about 9:30am by this point. I fished for a couple hours, tried several spots along Lenape’s southern banks. I was using a 5″ Senko plastic bait and looking for some bass spots. I saw lots of trees in the water and high weeds, but nothing was biting. Called it quits and got back to the camp site around 11:30.
We had a quick lunch (hotdogs and chips) and went for a hike. Angie picked out trail #2 for us. We parked out by an old log cabin and found the trailhead. It was about a 2 mile hike which went Northeast and rapped around the Youth Tent Area to come back South. We saw alot of nice scenery, quite a few creeks and an old coal mine. The hike took us about an hour and a half.
We got back to the camp site around 2 and decided we’d relax until dinner. We were having ribs and corn on the cob for dinner! Yum! I pulled my sleeping cot outside and took a short nap while the girls ran to the camp store to buy some more firewood and fresh ice. Around 6pm we had our feast! Afterwards we relaxed and digested.
Around 7:30 pm we headed out to try some more fishing. We decided to try Lake Lenape again. I took the boat out and went up and down the southern shore line. Still using the Senko baits from earlier. I didn’t have a single bite in over 2 hours. The weather was wonderful and it was nice to get out and do some rowing though. Other fishermen on the lake weren’t having any luck either. It just wasn’t the right weekend for bass fishing I guess. About 9 pm we got back to the camp.
We spent the rest of the night with a huge camp fire (we had 4 bundles of wood to burn off by morning). We also tried out the modern showers. They were the push button showers that you have to hold in to keep a constant stream going. There was also no temperature setting. The water seemed to going from warm to hot almost randomly. It had been in the upper 80s and humid all evening, so we were hoping for a cold shower, but that didn’t work out. Still, a warm shower was better than nothing.
The next morning we packed up and said our good byes. It was an awesome weekend. Plenty of relaxing, but also lots of exploring and fun. We loved the park and plan to come back. Other than the confusing camp store and warm showers, everything was great!
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