My long drive from Sellersburg to Anderson, Indiana, was made more reasonable by the possibility of visiting 2 state parks in one trip. First, I drove to Mounds State Park which I describe here in Part 1. Then, I traveled 30 minutes to Summit Lake State Park which I describe in Part 2.
Name: Summit Lake State Park
Location: 5 miles north of New Castle, IN
Established: 1988
Size: 2,680 acres
Known For: The very large 800-acre lake which has 2 marked kayak routes.
The Day
After visiting Mounds State Park in the morning, I drove cross-country the 30 miles or so to Summit State Park. I was surprised this was a State Park and not a State Recreation Area as most of the State-run lakes are. The 800-acre lake covers most of the park with camping, fishing, swimming, and two separate locations to launch boats. In the southeastern corner of the park is Zeigler Woods Nature Preserve, which is where I headed to do the majority of hiking.
There are two trails here: Trail 5 and Trail 1. Together they make a figure 8 with Trail 5 making the small circle and Trail 1 adding a larger loop onto the top. Trail 5 is primarily old-growth forest, while Trail 1 skirts the outside of a large wetland field filled with flowers and plants taller than me. I found the small trailhead parking lot which had 5 spots, all of which were filled. The next parking lot was within sight, down the road. So, I parked there and walked back to the trailhead.
The trail started as a large grass path through heavy overgrowth. Immediately, I felt the heat of the day and a dozen buzzing bugs were flying around my head. Soon, the trail split and I turned into the old-growth forest. The number of bugs dropped, but there were still one or two flying around my head at any time. This led me to hike faster rather than put a lot of thought into my surroundings. Hiking faster seemed to keep the bugs at bay.
It was in this heavily forested section that I saw my one non-flying creature. As I was hiking I saw a small flicker right in front of me. As I stopped I saw nothing there. I bent down to take a closer look and saw one tiny frog/toad. His coloring matched the trail he was sitting on. He stood absolutely still as I lowered my camera and got this shot. Then as I shifted my feet he felt or saw the movement and quickly hopped away. He was no bigger than the size of a quarter.
I walked along the west edge and the south of this forest. When I came to the center path of the figure 8, I was transitioning from forest to an open meadow. I thought, ‘oh boy, here come the bugs again,’ but actually, the open sun kept them completely at bay. There were plenty of bees and others flying around the flowers, but none around me. The sun on the other hand made this part of the trail quite hot. More than half of this hike was out in the field. It was so heavily grown that I could only see into it in a few locations. I was basically walking between a wall of trees on my right and the wall of flowers and plants on my left.
I took pictures of at least five different flowers. One of them was a berry, though I was not sure what kind, blackberry perhaps. These were red with just a few turned black. I also saw several birds including a cardinal with its bright red wings. I also saw another bird only for an instance which was bright yellow and deep black. An American goldfinch fits the coloring, but I am no bird expert. At first, I thought it was a giant butterfly because the colors were so striking, but it flew like a bird and disappeared. An oriole is another option, just looking at the pictures.
The trail took me along the lake where I saw ducks and geese swimming, as well as a family that had docked their small boat and set up a picnic. What I didn’t see in the entire hike was other hikers. Despite the parking lot being full, I didn’t come across anyone else until I was 30’ from the trailhead where another family and their pets were just starting their hike. All of the cars had left and one or two new ones were in their place. There was plenty of parking now.
In the time I had left, I headed over to hike Trail 6, but at the trailhead was a big sign that said No Entry. It might have been for cars, but it looked like it was for everyone, so I decided just to skip it. The park was nicely laid out, though the only real place for hiking was in the area I explored. The only other trail of any significant length was solely for the campground. If I ever get a small canoe or kayak, this would be a good place to take it out. Hiking in the winter without the bugs might be nice, too.
Hiking the Indiana State Parks 