Thursday, June 4, 2009

Camping at Indy Lakes, Indianapolis, IN

4001 West Southport Road Indianapolis, IN 46217 (317) 888-6006.

The RV campground we stayed at in Indianapolis, IN is Indy Lakes. I found them a camping guide book and then checked out their website. Our spot was #10. All RV spots are back in. The young couple is the 3rd generation running the lakes.
There are 3 lakes with a road around all of them. The RV sites are on the other side of that road and the edge of the lake is wide enough to allow primitive tent camping. It was lovely after dark when those campers had a small fire and the flames were bouncing off the water
The lakes are mostly stocked with catfish and carp. The Sat. we were there, the stock truck came from Ohio and we watched them put in over 40 carp. None of them were smaller than 15 pounds and the largest was 30 pounds. They actually weighed it before they put it into the water


Even though a license is not required, since it is privately owned, it is pay to fish. They have ongoing fishing contests all season with the top prize of $10,000.00. The fishermen catch the fish and net them in. Then bring them to the office to be weighed and put into a tank. The fish are held in the tank for a few days and then re-released. They say there is still an 80 pound carp in there.

I loved this power line. Folks were just a little ambitious with their casting.

Gene wandered over to talk to this man who is over 90 years old. He lives nearby and has been fishing here for many years. He told Gene that these lakes are formed from ground water in abandoned gravel pits. The deepest part is over 30 feet.



We had 6 tickets to the race and Gene’s daughter Kathy and Ray came from Maryland and my cousin Ed and Terry came from Florida. It was so special that they drove so far to visit and then to enjoy an event like the Indy 500. I was especially good since they are family.


There are more than RVers, campers and fish living in and around the lake. These 2 Canadian geese families would travel together and take the babies down to the water 2x a day and then wander off.

The whole area has lots of trees including female cotton wood trees. We do not have them in CO but know them from NM. They make long clusters of seedpods that look like grapes, only smaller. At this time of year they burst open and the cotton inside flies and it looks like snow.

There are thousands and thousands from each cluster. Each one looks like 1 piece of dandelion fluff, only smaller and more compact. As the wind blows them, they will build up along the curb, or stones or in the grass.

After the race and everyone was gone and the eBay packages were sent, it was time to kick back and enjoy. Notice the white spots on the water? It is the 'cotton' floating.
We highly recommend this campground and anytime we are crossing the country on I 70 we will drive the few extra miles to stay here for a few days.

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