States are definitely getting smaller now: it seems every three days is a new campground in a new state. Salamonie Lake is another reservoir created by the Army Corps of Engineers. Because the damming of the Salamonie River flooded towns along its banks, the lake bottom is considered an archaeological site, and removal of artifacts from the lake is prohibited. The reservoir has numerous islands, inlets and coves: it would be a wonderful place to explore by kayak or canoe (note for a future trip).

Sunset over Salamonie Lake: the view from my campsite.

There are LOTS of hiking trails around Salamone Lake, and a wonderful nature center with lots of information about the wildlife and history of the area. There are even several live raptors on exhibit! A group of area Master Gardeners have created beautiful educational gardens, including medicinal, herbal, dye plants, and everlastings, among others.

The dogs and I spent some time exploring the ”Tree Trail,” with its many identifying signs. I was astonished at the diversity of trees in this small area: in addition to the usual maples (red, sugar and silver) and oaks (red and black), there were beeches, Ohio buckeye, birch, alder, ash, honey locust, basswood, sycamore, sweetgum—there were even some I’d never heard of: mockernut hickory, bitternut hickory, and American hornbeam.

And then we walked out into the marshes, with their abundant fall wildflowers.

And MUSHROOMS! I came across these monster giant puffballs as we were heading back:

I harvested half of one of these, and there was so much meat that Russ and I couldn’t eat it all when I sauteed it with rice for dinner.

We spotted a black cat skulking around the campgrounds, then a half-grown, black and white kitten appeared at the edge of my campsite. Of course, I fed it, and was concerned enough about it to ask one of the rangers on leaving if they knew about the cats. She assured me that they stayed reasonably well fed throughout the camping season, and that the rangers looked after the ones who could not be tamed and captured over the winter months. Russ was just worried that I’d be bringing home another cat.