Recently, my wife and I camped out at Big Lake State Forest Campground. The amenities included fire rings, picnic tables, a water pump with good-tasting water, and bathrooms.
The bathrooms were very clean and did not smell all that bad. You can expect some smell from outhouses.
Here is a map of the sites located here. Some of them are tent only, while others can have RVs and campers.
We stayed there for a little over a week, and I was able to take pictures of each site. #6 was where we camped. Unfortunately, there was a bad thunderstorm that knocked over a couple of trees, and it ended up tearing our canvas canopy.
There is a great beach there. In the beginning, it was cool at first, but you got used to it fast. In a few days, when the temperature went up, you could walk right in, and it felt like bath water. You could walk out quite a ways without the water going over your head.
While exploring and hiking the area, I found these edibles.
- Blueberries
- Raspberries
- Pheasantback mushrooms
- Fiddleheads.
The only ones in season were the pheasantback mushrooms that we picked to eat. The other edibles were out of season.
Here are some scenes from our campsite. The second picture, with what looks like a bright star, was actually the moon. If you get up early enough, you can see the fog over the water.
My wife caught some bass that we ate. Great fishing here! She was able to catch 16 and 18-inch bass from the shore!
While I was walking, a dragonfly landed on my finger. I quickly tried to shake it off, not knowing what it was, and when I looked, I discovered it was a dragonfly.
It stayed with me for about 1/2 hour. I was smacking mosquitoes and feeding them to the dragonfly while I was reading a book.
I had to physically push him off my finger onto the picnic table. The next morning, the dragonfly was still on the picnic table. I thought that maybe he couldn’t fly. I let him jump on my finger again and sat with him for about 15 minutes until he flew away.
I guess he could fly after all. I tried to feed him some more mosquitoes, but I guess he wasn’t hungry this time.
The North Country Trail (NCT) runs through the campground. I walked it for a while, but didn’t go far. It is over 4,800 miles going through 8 states after all.
That’s it for my little review. We have found that the campsites next to the water had the least amount of bugs and mosquitoes to deal with.
Michael Rock signing off. When we explore new areas, I will put up blog posts on this website.
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