+daggy Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 The Fall Picnic Planning Team wanted to celebrate the Picnic’s 10th anniversary in a big way. So, to start with we will be bring you to one of Indiana’s most beautiful state parks, SPRING MILL. Beautiful Spring Mill State Park offers visitors many things to do and it does not all involve nature trails and playgrounds. Located in Mitchell, Indiana, the park contains a pioneer village, caves, astronaut, Gus Grissom's memorial and of course hiking trails. There is plenty to keep a family busy for the day at Spring Mill even if the entire family has different interests. The Grissom Memorial honors Hoosier astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom, one of the seven Mercury astronauts and America's second man in space. The Memorial tells the story of Gus Grissom's life and contributions to the space program. Exhibits include Grissom's space suit, one of the space capsules he flew in and many artifacts from his youth and adulthood. Step back in time while strolling through the Pioneer Village. This pioneer village has a large water-powered grist mill that the park uses to produce corn mill. The 19 buildings in the village offer a look at many types of businesses that were in a village during the 1800's. There is a school, mill office, garden house with a live garden, mercantile (with many types of products available for sale), residences, spring house, carriage house, blacksmith shop, meeting house, saw mill, apothecary shop, distillery, tavern, pottery shop, leather shop, Granny White's house, and a weaver's shop. There are three nature preserves inside the park: Donaldson Cave, Donaldson Woods, and Mitchell Karst Plain. There are five caves inside the park; Donaldson, Bronson, Hamner and Twin Caves. The caves are currently closed due to the White Nose Syndrome that is affecting bats in other parts of the United States and that Indiana is trying to keep from infecting the caves here. Hopefully, we will see them reopened in time for the picnic. If it is hiking you are looking for, there are 8 trails inside the park which range from easy to rugged and range in length of .375 miles to a long rugged 2.5 miles. Each of these trails offers a unique look at the park. The longest trail is a long loop trail which passes the Donaldson Cave overlook, passes through dense woods, to Bronson Cave, through the Donaldson Woods Nature Preserve and back to the Donaldson Picnic area. Other activities that you may take part in are boating on the lake with a private boat, camping, Twin Cave Boat Tours, fishing, biking and of course the nature center always has programs available. And yes, this is a geocache friendly park. Jill Vance, Park Naturalist, hosts an annual geocaching event in February. Mark your calendar now for Fall Picnic weekend, September 9 – 11th. The cache page and website will be available in March. Quote Link to comment
+Indy Diver Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 Count me in. Let me know when the next meeting will be held and I will try my hardest to make it where eve it will be held. Cache On! Indy Diver Quote Link to comment
hoosier guy Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 Wonderful description of the park! It is one of my favorite places. Quote Link to comment
+501_Gang Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Looking forward to this, been to Spring Mill before and it is one beautiful park! Quote Link to comment
+Turtle3863 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Great place for the picnic. looking forward to it. Quote Link to comment
+daggy Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 (edited) Caches pages and website for the 10th annual Indiana Fall Picnic have been published. Check out GC2MY3Y, GC2MY4H AND GC2Q486. Spring Mill has a wonderful campgrounds. Mark and I will be on campsite 107. Edited April 5, 2011 by daggy Quote Link to comment
+lakedawgs Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 We've got our campsite... #110! Can't wait!!! Quote Link to comment
+Kepnfit Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 Hi-Hills and I will be there. We have campsite 131. Quote Link to comment
+KRnlKilR Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 I will be in site 105. See you in September. Quote Link to comment
+BaylorGrad Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Wish I could go, but there's that little thing called graduate school getting in the way of even a mini-vacation at that time of year. Quote Link to comment
+Torry Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Hmmmm.... If I can find a paying job.... Will try to bring IndyDiver, regardless. Quote Link to comment
+lakedawgs Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Is anyone (*ahem* 501_Gang! LOL) creating a campground map for this year's picnic? I've had a few folks ask me where everyone is camping, but other than a couple noted on this forum thread, I have no idea! Quote Link to comment
+Gary and Mary Adventurers Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Wish we could make it this year, Spring Mill is a great park. But unfortunately (fortunately for us) we will be in Alaska for the first 2 weeks of September. At least we get to add another state to our list. Thanks for all the Adventurers Quote Link to comment
+lakedawgs Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 Wish we could make it this year, Spring Mill is a great park. But unfortunately (fortunately for us) we will be in Alaska for the first 2 weeks of September. At least we get to add another state to our list. Thanks for all the Adventurers Sorry, G&MA... can't feel sorry for you one bit. LOL Quote Link to comment
+Morgue Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 Looking forward to the events of the weekend! We will be camping at site #101. Quote Link to comment
+Team Shydog Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Looking forward to another fine Fall Picnic. The Tank Hounds and I will be camping on site #115. Quote Link to comment
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