Brown County State Park, IN - Ogle Lake

ABOUT THE PARK: 

Brown County State Park - Indiana Department of Natural Resources

DIRECTIONS: 

GPS Coordinates 39.160684, -86.248640

Ogle Lake Parking - VERY crowded on a weekend.

TRAIL MAP: 

Brown County State Park Map - Indiana Department of Natural Resources

HIKE DISTANCE:  9.1 miles

THE HIKE: 

This was hike 1 of 2 driving from Missouri back to New Jersey.  Although it was against my better judgement to hike here on a weekend day, it was necessary in order to fit with my plan.  It was even more insanely crowded than I expected.  Half of Indianapolis must have been there on this day.  Just not my cup o tea.

Heading from the parking lot (where I nabbed one of the last two parking spots) to the Ogle Lake dam.

Most people do the loop around the lake. 

Ogle Lake

Bypassing the lake loop to ascend on Trail 11.

Ogle Lake from Trail 11.

This rock hop had a couple of puddles of water.  All of the other creeks encountered were bone dry.

Leaving Trail 11 to the Trail 9 loop where we encountered fewer people than we had so far.

The Merlin Bird ID sound app had picked up a red-headed woodpecker.  There were actually two talking back and forth.  Both were juveniles that did not yet have red heads.  I encountered a red-headed adult later in the hike but he eluded the camera.

The brochure says you have to return on Trail 11 but I wanted to try for a loop so we turned right towards the campground instead of left back to Trail 11.

It's a nice campground with tons of campers and RVs.  This was actually the most peaceful part of the hike.

We made a right on the park road and road walked to...

... a vista.  The vistas in this park are all along the park road accessible by vehicle.

Heading back over to the campground ...

... where we turned right and walked along the campground road that runs parallel to the park road and has a little less traffic.  The park road was almost a constant stream of traffic.

Entering Ogle Hollow Preserve.

Trail 4 exits Ogle Hollow Preserve heading back to Ogle Lake.

Joining the conga line around the lake.

Back at the parking lot where people were circling and circling for a spot.  Once I managed to get out of the park, I sat in bumper to bumper traffic that was backed up from people going in one of the other park entrances.  Hoping for a better hike on day two of the trip.

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