Brazil Creek Campground,

Mark Twain Forest

2022-05-16

Interesting fact about Sand Ridge State Forest. When I was talking to the superintendent and he was telling me that his campground had NEVER be full, he slowly added that, “What with the ticks, and poison ivy and humidity, some people just don’t know how to survive an environment like this.” I thought, “My goodness, it’s a state park!” I am not sure that that “survival” is the first word that comes to mind when they think about camping.

Still I was happy for the quiet seclusion. Oh, I did have to be careful for the poison ivy. It was literally everywhere! Tics- there certainly was a lot of them too, but I am a seasoned camper—or so I thought. In the end it was the nats that drove me screaming for the exit. They landed in your ears and mouth. I often swallowed them.

So it was a pleasure to move 2 hours south, to the family friendly campground called Beaver Dam State Park. As you can imagine it has a nice lake that was formed when the beavers damed up the stream. I looked forward to photographing the little fellows until I found out that for all their hard work they were driven from the park.

Still it was a Sunday and so except for a few campers I once again had the place to myself.