Sometimes you just have a bad feeling and it just comes true. That was our experience with our Ouabache State Park review – – we were due to have some rain and a less than stellar trip. Was it the fault of Ouabache SP? Or was luck just not on our side this time? Read along to find out.
Ouabache State Park Review
Overview
Location
Ouabache SP is located about 30 minutes due south of Ft. Wayne, IN and just a hop, skip, jump from the Ohio state line near Bluffton, IN. It is far enough off of the interstate to pose a problem though if you are coming from I69 and State Route 124 is closed like it was for us. So watch out for summer construction when planning your trip.
General information
At just over 1000 acres of land, this is a pretty small state park. However, it has a very big feature! American bison! There is an enclosure with a nice gravel trail around pen. While we were there we got to see a newborn calf! So, so, so cool.
The park features a small lake with paddle boats, canoes, and a boats for rental. Due to the abundance of geese be sure to check if the lake is open or closed due to e-coli levels. Eww… goose poop. Like how I am keeping it real in my Ouabache State Park review, y’all?
Given its size and location, it isn’t a very crowded park so you can easily get away without being around too many people if that is your thing.
Heads up, along with being small it also has a lot of small friends… raccoons! I had a run-in with one of those little jerks, again. Be sure to secure and properly secure your food and trash.
Trails
The park offers 12.75 miles in hiking trails. Trail 5 loops the whole property and we only covered a portion of it (which I will talk about in just a few…) but it was fairly flat and easy to trek. Trail 3 had a ample amount of shade but a few places that would be impassable during a very raining time. Trail 3 also offers an interpretive marked path so if you snag a guide you can learn a bit more about the trees and whatnot. We didn’t so we just counted the signs to the joy of the 5-year-old.
Ouabache SP also features a 2.68 mile paved bike trail. Unfortunately, I did not get to ride the whole length since my travel partner is still just mastering her pink & blue bike with training wheels but what we saw was very nice and sections of it were quite shady.
We did not get to stay for the full three days we planned so our total hiking distance was a bit low on this trip, we clocked 3.7 miles hiking and another 2.5 miles on our bikes.
Camping style
Dude, it was hot as Hades! I am so, so thankful for the fan that I take on these trips. We again rocked our Semoo tent. Click here to snag a similar set-up for your camping trip! All that being said, we didn’t last long with our set-up due to a strategic tent placement error. What looked like a nice, flat, shady cove turned out to be a landing spot for a pop-up raging river of water during torrential rainfall that lasted for over 20 minutes. Through tears of frustration and sadness and a lesson learned for future camping adventures about what to look for in a tent location we packed it all up and headed home.
Want to know the signs to look for? Drop me a line or comment below. I will hook you up.
Highlights
Thank goodness for bug spray, otherwise, this would have been even more miserable, might I suggest Bug-a-Boo?
| The small human’s highlights | The Busy Llama highlights | |
|---|---|---|
| Favorite things | Seeing the bison, the boats, and the beach area | The flat trails, the bison exhibit, and the bike trail |
| Coolest thing seen | Hiking the trails | Seeing the 4-day old bison calf |
| Final thoughts | Nothing else to share | Raccoons are still jerks, packing up a wet campsite stinks, and some vault toilets smell more than others |
Lowlights
Besides the high temps, this was my beef – – the flies. Oh. My. Goodness. The flies. Okay, part of our problem may have been proximity to the vault toilet but the map that you use to pick your camping space online did not show the scale/distance between the site and the potty very well. Also, not many of the camping sites offer a lot of privacy which is one of my biggest requirements.
Would we go back again?
Hmmm… this one is a hard one to say “yes!” to since a lot of things went wrong. I think I would give it another try but not during July, maybe late spring or early fall.
Let’s hit the road!
Live the life you love, y’all, and do the things that make your heart happy. If you need some tips, tools, and strategies to make your ‘work-life’ easier check out The Busy Llama Business Toolbox so that you can spend the rest of your time traveling and enjoying life!
Have a recommendation for a place for us to go camping or maybe a tip or two? Drop me a line or comment below!
Source: Ouabache State Park Property Map
