Summit Lake State Park

Ever drive by a state park sign on routes you have taken for 30 years and wonder what it’s like? We had wondered about Summit Lake State Park. It is on the 2-and-a-half-hour drive to Southern Indiana where both of our parents live. Only one day after picking up our 2021 Keystone Cougar 316RLS we left for Summit Lake for our “shakedown” trip. It was Easter weekend and we both had responsibilities at church that weekend, so we needed to stay close for both church* and any issues we might have had. Thankfully we didn’t have too many problems except the MaxxAir Fan that wouldn’t run and the automatic leveling system that was hard to figure out in the beginning.

Summit Lake is a quiet, peaceful state park with a very small beach area. It doesn’t allow the larger boats so it’s a great spot for fishing boats, kayaking, and ice fishing. (Yes, we saw some ice fishermen there when we scoped it out in February–camping in tents in 10-degree weather with a foot of snow on the ground. Much braver than I would ever be.) They even have a designated kayak path on the lake. I can’t say how well-marked it is, but some friends may try it out later this year. https://www.in.gov/dnr/state-parks/parks-lakes/summit-lake-state-park/

Amenities:

• It is about 19 miles north of I-70 in East Central Indiana.
• It’s a smaller campground and at this point in early April they had one restroom open with one loop.
• We did have both electricity and water. Indiana doesn’t always open everything up until late April or early May.
• The people were friendly and the bathroom was clean.
• Most of the sites numbered 1-25 and 52-73 will fit larger rigs but are out in full sun and all are on gravel. Be sure to check the length, the lower numbers seemed a little shorter.
• Sites around the lake are a higher fee but some have places where you can stick your boat in the water right from your site.
• There is a boat launch and a playground within the campground.
• Also, we had great Verizon cell reception in the area on our phones.

People here were friendly and there seemed to be several camping together or knew each other. The ranger I had called several weeks before was nice as well. We saw some good ole fashioned potlucks across the road and a 40th birthday party down the way. Nova gets a little excited when other dogs bark at her–especially early in the season. She doesn’t bark back but pulled like crazy and she pulled me right down to the ground while I was on some loose rocks. Three different groups of campers all asked me if I was okay and if I needed any help. Nothing hurt except my pride.

This was a nice place to walk Nova in the early mornings listening to the geese and birds. (I may or may not have been keeping warm in my floral rubber boots and snowflake fleece pajama pants. No judgement! It was cold. Look at the frost on those bicycle seats below. I wasn’t walking through Wally World like that and maybe saw 5 people total. Please try to get that mismatched picture out of your head!) Anyway, there are a lot of different kinds of birds that fly through here and sometimes stop for a while.

Two Things to Do or See:

1. On our way in we had to send our son to pick up 1000 Degree Wood-Fired Pizza in Mt. Summit. 1000pizza.com Let me tell you it was SO good! There can be a long wait but it’s worth it. Our local friends say the atmosphere inside is fun as well.
2. Bald Eagles’ nest! This is a part of the park but not inside the main gate. I’m sure if you asked a park ranger they could tell you where they are. Take the road heading east out of the main gate. Turn left at the next road and go about a mile north. The bald eagle’s nest is in the NE quadrant where the next road intersects. I think it’s E County Road 750N. Oh, forget it. Just look for all the parked cars along the road, the huge nest, and the white heads.

If you love fishing or kayaking this is a great place for you. We don’t love to do either so took a hike instead. Trail #1 and #5 seemed to be good. #1 was right along the water and #5 delved into the hardwoods. It was a little hard to tell where the trails went because there were some unmarked forks. We used our Map My Ride app (https://www.mapmyride.com/us/) to help keep track of where we were compared to the map. Probably should’ve used our All Trails app (https://www.alltrails.com/) but it’s early in the season to remember what we have available. #1 is not great on a hot day around an entire prairie but would be great in the morning. There’s a short handicapped accessible trail near the beach. It was a nice pleasant walk. The shelter houses for rent seemed newer and nice.

All in all, we’ll be back just because we live about 50 minutes away and it is the same distance to our church from here as it is to our house, so when we have Sunday responsibilities we can still camp if we want to and don’t have to check out until 5 PM on Sundays. It’s not really a final destination type of place unless you like fishing and kayaking all week (or ice fishing), but might be a pleasant stop along the way. Maybe we’ll see you there!

*If you are in the area and want to visit our church, camping attire–jeans or shorts and t-shirts–is completely acceptable and normal. https://thegatheringmuncie.org/ (If you ever happen to be a part of the worship band, for Easter no less, maybe remember to bring your garment bag of nicer attire to step it up from your Yellowstone tee and gym shoes or someone will be making a trip back home.)