Battleground Lake State Park Family Hike

5.8 miles of hiking • 1000' elevation gain •

We haven't been here in decades, and now I remember why. The smell at the parking lot and around the lake wasn't pleasant! It was crowded around the lake with plenty of people fishing but the trail system was devoid of hikers, and only a few groups on horseback were seen. We enjoyed the trail system but it was a bit muddy in places. There is plenty of road noise around the periphery of the park which detracts from the ambiance! There are plenty of trails you can wind around but it doesn't add up to much distance. This park might not be too bad in bad weather as it would limit the number of people here and fill the lake with some fresh clean water, but we won't be coming back soon. I would have gone much further but my wife and son couldn't stand the smell in the vicinity of the lake, and I lost interest in continuing. I also had the unfortunate luck of picking up a couple of freshly recharged NiMH batteries that were defective. As a result, I had to paste together the track from two different GPS's, but still lost some of the track (about a 1/2 mile). I've also been fighting a foot infection that has plagued me for about 2 weeks. Today just seemed to be the convergence of many unfortunate factors. Oh well, tomorrow were going to try a much longer hike while the weather is warm!