Camping near Cecil M. Harden Lake

Our first night, we arrived just at dusk. We set up right by the water. Mind you, we have a tent. The host asked where our Rv was, and I clearly marked that I had a tent. We woke up the following morning to find the lake is actually a large pond, 10 ft deep that is stocked every 2 years. Okay, I'm thinking the fishing would be good, even out on the boat, NOPE. MOSS EVERYWHERE! Raw sewage next to our camp site in the lake, the lake is filled with moss and black sewage overfill also. They packed the campers and tent within 10 to 15 feet if you were lucky of each other. Some of the parents were out of control, to the point the camp host even told us he wasn't a babysitter, but neither are my own two children. The lack of parenting really surprises me. We were fallowed by the host and workers on many occasions till the troubled parents came with their children. Needless to say, fishing sucked, do to moss even in the middle of the pond. Would have been nicer if we could have caught something, other than trying to pull other people's children out from in front of a MOVING RV!! And we weren't stacked on top of one another. Extremely crowded, stalker weird employees, they do not offer firewood or ice. They do offer an overcrowded experience, moss filled fishing, and free babysitting at other campers expense. We even asked multiple times if we could move spots, even if to primitive, we were told no, they were all booked, yet the spots remained empty. WILL NEVER BE BACK! If we didn't live 3 hours away, my husband even said we would have gone back home.

This park is just other-worldly.  We loved it.  We hiked Trail 3, which has the ladders, and  parts of trail 10, 4, and 2.  Trail 10 was nothing special but was relatively flat.  It was pretty crowded but people were respectful.  

As for our campsite, it was really nice.  We had site 94, which was right next to the bathhouse.  It had almost a whole extra campsite's worth of space next to it for my kids to run around.  It also had a tree for shade and was nice and level. 

The bathrooms were okay.  They were older but seemed to be fairly well maintained.  The only complaint I had was that there wasn't enough counter space to set down items for getting ready, but that is minor.  

Overall, wonderful park.

This campground was reasonably priced, had clean facilities and quite unusual and intesting hiking nearby. There are multiple trails and some quite challenging ones. No water hookups at the site but all except the "youth sites" had 110, 30, and 50 amp power. I was able to charge my ev without issue. Sites tried from all concrete to a dusty dirt and rock tent area, and all had old wood picnic tables. While the hiking was incredible, the maps of the trails were poor and not up to date, with some trails not on map at all. On one trail part of it went through box canyons up an active, though trickling, stream bed.

This was a camping weekend. We've camped here before, but many years ago. It was time to go back. 

So, we couldn't remember much about this state park. We were never compelled to go back sooner. Now I remember why. This is a nice park. Not outstanding. Not special. It's just...nice. 

  There's 7 hiking trails. All are nice walks in the woods. All were muddy in sections. There's an old coal mine on Trail 2. Blocked off for safety. 

There's no beach, but they have an enormous pool. It has slides & everything. 

This is a fishing park. Boating with electric motors, so a quiet lake. Fishing was fair according to my fishing guy.

The Nature Center was inexplicably closed "for the season". Disappointing! 

There's many boat launches & picnic areas. Cabins for rent. Boats for rent.

 We stayed at the electric campground. The sites are great- wooded. This is a well established campground. 

The sites are all flat- ALL FLAT!!! No inclined sites at all! Unheard of in an Indiana State Park, but there you go.

There's some train noise.

 The bathrooms/showers are KOA clean. Also unheard of in an Indiana State Park. I couldn't even find a spider web. Kudos to the park employees& camp hosts!

 We had a site by the lake, but there was no lake view & there was a steep incline to get down to the water.

  This campground has a beautiful fishing pier just for campers. 

Bring an extension cord if you're in a pull through. If you want your door facing the fire pit- the electric box is in an awkward place.

 There's also another campground that has a mix of electric/full hookup & non electric sites. They have a beautiful bathhouse. 

All in all a pleasant weekend. We camped at Shakamak State Park in a Travel Trailer.