Legend-ary Travel: Mosquito Lake State Park

The second weekend in September brought another camping trip to a new Ohio State Park Campground, Mosquito Lake State Park. Mosquito Lake is one of the largest lake in Ohio at 7,850 acres. We were lucky to book site #45 after a cancellation. As previously stated in past blogs, Ohio State Parks book up 6 months out, but this is the 2nd time we had luck that someone cancelled 2 weeks prior to our stay. We absolutely loved the large campground with over 200 sites and paved roads which are a plus for dog walking and bike riding. Since we were limited in location, we were in close proximity of the playground with a bell for kids to ring once they climbed the gym, though we saw more parents than children banging the bell.  "I guess what a campground needs is more cow bell." my husband bemused. One thing we did note was that with larger sites come people walking through the grounds closer to your trailer than we are used to.  We tried to spread our area wide using the hammock, but that could only redirect traffic so much. It wasn’t really bad, but I did feel for the older lady taking the non descript path between ours and our camping neighbor‘s trailer. Her and her small terrier got quite the shock when Kenobi jumped out of the camper as we prepared to go for a walk. Kenobi was awesome and stayed right with us (untethered). The other dog pulled his owner and barked until we left the site. That was the last time she cut through our site. Yet even with the clanging of the occasional bell and site wanders were happy with our full hook up site.

Kenobi and I are raising money for the American Cancer Society by walking 30 miles in the month of September. It is a great cause close to my heart, but it also helps me to keep moving. Walking everyday is not in the cards for me, but with the added miles on camping weekends, I hope to stay on goal. This camping trip also offered me the longest opportunity I have had to ride my new electric bike. The Greenway trail is 5 miles from the campground and we rode 8 miles along the trail on Saturday and 10 miles on Sunday. It was a picturesque fall day with sunshine and fall leaves all around. After a short rest back at the campsite after our Saturday ride, we drove to the Country Porch Winery, another dog friendly winery. He was perfectly behaved as we sipped on our semi sweet and dry flights of wine. We were hoping to purchase our favorite to enjoy our outside table in the grass, but the amounts were large so we decided it was best to bring a bottle back to the trailer. I am always a little wary when wineries advertise their unique blends and flavors, but all the wines were tasty. Our two favorites were the Sauvignon Blanc and Apple “Celebrate d’vine” wine. Since my wine fridge is stocked with Sauvignon Blanc, my Summer of 2024 go to wine, we decided to bring home a bottle of the apple wine. It is smooth like cider, I don’t expect it too last long on a fall afternoon. After our 2 flights of wine and delicious margarita pizza, we drove to our next stop.

The state park and state park campground are next door to each other connected by an employee road. We stopped at the marina and came across a dog park and dog swim area. Kenobi had fun on the agility course. Obviously, the jumping bar on the highest level was his favorite, but he also liked the raised tunnel, A frame and teeter totter, even though the challenges were new to him and took a little more coaxing. He also did great on the agility pole, but lost interest after 2 rounds. The large dog area was well, large. It was a lot of sniffing. When I opened the gate to the beach, I was a bit taken back that by the time I closed the gate Kenobi had walked the 20 feet to the edge of the lake and went in. He doesn’t really swim, but skims the water with his nose as he is chest deep in water. After playing in the water, we returned to the campground to relax. Every trip we make little tweaks and updates to the camping.  While I made some slight adaptations to the food pantry and refrigerator. Bruce installed adhesive door stops in the air conditioning vents to help divert the cool air more efficiently. We were among the lucky Ohio State Park campers as most state parks have a fire ban order for drought conditions. So we spent our evening beside the campfire and watching the stars above. Does it get any better?

 

Our favorite day at the campground is Sundays.  Most people pack up and pull out by 1 p.m. especially when school is back in session.  The campground is extremely quiet on Sundays.  This is one reason that when we are able, we like to camp Friday afternoon to Monday afternoon finishing the weekend on a quiet note.  After riding the Greenway trail, Bruce came back to set the television outside (yep we are now those types of campers.)  While he watch 6 hours of football, I took a another bike ride around the campground.  My first stop was getting my passport book stamped at the campstore.  They were sold out of campground stickers so we will have to visit next year to see if I can get one for the camper.  Then I was back on my bike. The large campground was a bit confusing for me and I road over 5 miles around the various loops.  I likely added 2 miles to my trek as I know I visited same camp loops two or three times.  I spent the rest of my lazy Sunday in the hammock reading a couple chapters in my book,  The Mother's Promise by Sally Hepworth, and then listening to the book until it's conclusion.  We finished our night around the campfire enjoying the fresh popcorn we made on the Blackstone grill.  The popcorn has surpassed smores in our liking.  After looking at the stars and watching a half dozen satellites pass through the sky, we dreamed and discussed our 2026 big adventure maybe Hawaii or maybe Africa.  Time will tell.

This is a campground we will definitely return to! The question is “Did it live up to its namesake?” For me it did. My first morning discover 4 mosquito bites that is not including the 2 I had before we even left the house. What can I say? I’m sweet!