Legend-ary Travel: Findley Lake State Park

Choosing to go camping for an extended weekend twice a month has been a successful experiment for us. Bruce enjoys the long weekend after a long hard week at the Handyman business. Our trip preparations for our camping weekend the second week of August felt a bit rushed though. Campsites start booking up six months prior, especially the full hook up sites. This weekend was a “last minute” decision as I only booked it 2 weeks prior to the trip. Finding a State Park with electric was a challenge. Welcome to our lives Findley State Park Campground near Wellington, Ohio. On the same day we were leaving, our daughter was moving back to Columbus after residing with us for her Master’s Degree internship in Cuyahoga county. Bruce was chomping at the bit to go, but I wanted to regain some semblance of my reclaiming of our lower level of the house. I want to clean and put some items back in place that were moved due to my daughter’s cat's interest in knocking them over. She pulled out of our driveway at 11 a.m. I cleaned and reset the rooms until noon. Packed the camper until 1 p.m. and then hopped in the shower so we could be out the door by 1:30 p.m. so we could arrive at the camp ground at 3 p.m. when we were permitted to set up camp. Wait! I didn’t finish buying the last minute groceries for camping. No worries we will stop on the way.

Other than a misunderstanding in our GPS directions and accidentally taking the turnpike for an exit, the trip went smoothly. Bruce’s initial disappointment in our unresearched site changed when we got out of the truck. There were a few puddles from the bad storm that went through earlier in the week. The site was tucked back from the road and was surrounded on two sides with trees and woods. We loved the discovery that our woods joined a walking trail. Turn right and we could walk to the lake. turn left and we joined another trail that would take us on the spillway trail. We loved the quiet location that offered us protection from the lake wind, but also provided us with a large open sky that we could watch the Perseids meteor shower.

When camping, we each have our roles of both set up and tear down that we perform. I was so tired from my light speed cleaning and pack up, that I did not conduct my role in a very professional manner. I forgot the simplest of tasks, none related to safety. Let’s just say Bruce got a glimpse into the magic that is setting up the trailer for a weekend. Ok it is not magic, but there is a rhythm to making the origination of camp seem flawless. Yep, I for got to set out the hand towels, placing the dish soap on the counter and making the pantry look like a turned over apple cart. All crucial moments for camping. LOL

After a good night sleep, I organized the trailer and was ready for the weekend. We hiked the Spillway trail trail to the dam. We took a couple rides around the large camp grounds on our bikes. It was my first real test of my new e-bike. I am proud to say that 90% of the time the bike was powered through by my own two legs. We took a kayaking paddle around the 3.3. mile lake. I even managed to take Kenobi on his first paddle of 50 yards. He did good except that he faced me instead of looking off the front of the kayak. Then there was his curiosity of looking in the water where he would put his legs on the edge of the kayak. He had his life jacket on and we were close to the shore, but still didn’t want him jumping in the water from the kayak.

The evening weather was cooler than we have experienced since May. We started the campfire earlier, usually around 6 p.m. We went through a lot more campfire wood than the 12 pieces a night. Luckily, we were able to to extended the life of the fire wood to last all three nights. We listened to the radio, talked and watch the meteor shower and witnessed over 30 shooting stars, though we missed the aurora borealis. I was unaware of it, but I am not certain we could see it in our location. As has become the norm, we were surprised to be some of the late nighters by going to bed at 10 p.m. That final walk around the camp circle before we head to bed is always quiet and dark only lit by the glowing embers of sleeping camper's campfire coals.

Findley Lake State Park was a beautiful camp ground with lots of trees and a beautiful lake. It was an added plus to have a boat launch right in the campground. We launched the kayaks from the slippery boat ramp and I pulled in using the kayak launch. I still need to find a graceful way to get out of the kayak in the kayak ramp with out almost falling back in the lake. It was close. The loops in the camp ground were huge and we would never have walked the full campground, but it was perfect for the bikes. The nature center and/camp store were well stocked and interesting with it's various nature activities and hands on activities. It would be perfect for kids. I picked up my Ohio State Park Passport book. We have decided other than 2 longer trips we have planned next summer, we will be trying a new state park for our long weekend adventures. We were very happy with our decision to cross “the river” and camp on the other side. The area is beautiful, though the small town had little to be offered beyond ice cream. No winery this go around.