By:
Submission
I spent many nights camping here during high school and in my 20s. Still my favorite place to go camping. A beautiful area with a rich history and great hiking trails. Camped out there one time in the late 1980s when the low temps were in the teens. A rarity here. Saw actual ice flowers blossoming from the ground for the first and only time in my life.
Abandoned Nissan frontier made parking there a little uncomfortable we only walked half the distance we were expecting to the trail became very narrow and over grown with many trees down. Several Alligator warnings at the lake and a couple geese that seemed territorial I would have gone a little farther but my wives weren't liking the look of the area. The other half of the Tuxachanie trail seemed more well maintained and traveled and seemed safer of a place to hike
Been going to this place since a kid but sadly the state has let it go its overgrown in most places the road is not maintained and also there is a pack of wild dogs there me and the wife had to leave 40 mins after arrival and with no phone service it was a dangerous situation also not wanting to discharge a weapon on public state recreational park we just left very sad indeed I tried to contact wildlife authorities once I had service but no answer and this was a Wednesday
People don't go to these National Forest to camp. It seems they come to the National Forests to party and burn trash, break alcohol bottles all over the place, leaving shards of broken glass everywhere. Then they toss their garbage into the trees and bushes. Other than that if clean and no one leaves a trace, it's a nice peaceful place to camp and go hiking. Please clean up the place when you pack up and leave. Leave it better than you found it.
Overall great experience. Fun hiking trails with cool remnants of the POW camp, a small lake and nice areas for primitive camping. The main trail winds along the creek for a couple miles and it's beautiful scenery. The trail starts to open up a bit the further you walk. Its an intermediate trail overall. A few challenging creek crossings and the trail gets tight in a few areas. We use trek poles and these helped a lot to keep footing in many areas. Twice had to go under large fallen trees to continue on the trail, but hey that's hiking and we don't mind. If you're wearing shorts you might get a few brush scratches so plan accordingly. Make sure you have all your supplies before you arrive because the nearest gas/store is a drive.
