Jackson F. Kimball State Recreation Site
Reviewed Jun. 12, 2018

Wanted to love it

Pristine water! It is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. I love how primitive and small the campground is, and it would have been perfect but we set up camp and then noticed a massive, fresh bear scat about 15 feet away from our tent. Ok, not the end of the world. Then other campers came by to warn us there was an active bear who destroyed their food and gear the previous night. Ok, not great. We decided to stick it until said bear showed up at dinner time and had ZERO fear of us. He was willing to get way too close after several attempts to chase him off. He wasn't afraid of anything. Not our car horn, not banging pots and pans, not me aggressively yelling and clapping at him. We tried for close too an hour to chase him out of camp but to no avail. We had a toddler and weren't willing to stick around to see how much more friendly he could be. My problem with this campground is the lack of proper bear boxes and trash cans. Clearly, the bears realize it's easy pickings here and all they have to do is rummage through people's gear to find an easy food source. It's not good for the bears. I'm an avid camper and have had bear experiences before but this bear was entirely too comfortable with humans. I hope this park makes it safer for the bears and campers by providing proper food and garbage storage units. I plan on coming back though. The water was so amazing. And pack the bug spray. The mosquitos were more aggressive than the bear.

Month of VisitMay
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  • Review photo of Jackson F. Kimball State Recreation Site by Amber D., June 12, 2018
  • Review photo of Jackson F. Kimball State Recreation Site by Amber D., June 12, 2018
  • Review photo of Jackson F. Kimball State Recreation Site by Amber D., June 12, 2018