Log of our second trip of 2003  

Camp Office:  (330) 638-5700

Park Office:  (330) 637-2856

May 13 to May 16, 2003

Mileage Start 26,513

Arrive 26,641

Home 26,769

Attended:  Dad and Gracie Allen

 

Click any of the images for a higher resolution picture (about 1 meg each)

Mosquito is a fisherperson's park with limited on-road walking.  When it is dry, it offers an interesting array of woodsy paths to explore.  The sites are mostly out of level but not unreasonably so.  Some blocks will fix you up fine.  The recent addition of electricity has brought the park into the range of choices open to people from the Cleveland, Ohio area.  It is definitely worth the trip to hear the fall owls chatting about who's the better of them.  It is about a two hour trip from North Olmsted, Ohio.

A wonderful trip!  They predicted rain.  Tuesday and Wednesday were beautiful.  Even Thursday was nice until evening.  We took long walks but had to keep to the pavement.  Extremely heavy rains have the lake very high and the paths flooded.  We’d sure like to get into the woods but that will have to wait.  We took a car ride to the wildlife area west of West Mecca.  Again, it was far too wet to explore.  Our walks in the park revealed a bluebird and some close alighting swallows.  A bird of prey--I think was a golden eagle--flew across the road just one and a half sites up.  A freshly killed chipmunk dangled from its beak.  Later that day, we saw two VERY large crows giving the business to an even LARGER bird that again looked for all the world like an eagle.  It appeared the crows were trying to guard their nests from this large threat.  I managed to get a picture of the crows but the bigger bird was well into the bush.  Gracie is funny at the dock.  She determines to go in and check out the water.  At the boat ramp she just saunters down the ramp and into the water!  These squirrel things they have here are keeping her busy.  

OWLS are a high point.  During my last visit here I heard them every night, all night.  That was in October.  Now, in May, I've heard them at 3:00 am and at about 8:30 pm.  They are Great Horned Owls and they are very active birds.  Unfortunately, on this trip, they are not near as active as I would have liked and my tape has not worked to call them in ... yet!

Campsite 15 is a GREAT site to be on.  There are a number of interesting looking restaurants in the little town on the east side of the lake.  There are a number on the way to the larger town of Warren as you travel south on State Route Five.  There is also a Topps and Giant Eagle down there which provided a fine bottle of apricot brandy I forgot to pick up before we left.  On the road down to the camper's boat launch is a trailhead for "Beaver Trail".  This trail has MANY side routes and is easy to get lost on.  Take a GPS.  If it is dry, the trail offers much to be explored.

There are military planes that fly by every so often and from the maps it appears there is a military base in Pennsylvania.  There are large cargo planes coming and going at all hours.  The park is REALLY quite except for the LOUD cigarette boats on the unlimited lake and these planes.

The pet area roads, if you walk all of them including the boat ramp and the one dead end, end up being a one and half miles.  We walked them four times a day.

I saved our wood for the last day as this was a reading trip.  I am pre-reading my books for UST 605 - Urban Spatial Structures.  Once I had a nice fire going, the rain returned.  So sad.  Looking out at my blazing fire as I write this.  The rain isn't enough to cause this fire any trouble!

This is a fisher-person park.  Most campers are pulling a boat.  Many sites are booked already through the summer (and don't appear to be VIPs (Volunteer in Parks).  Odd, normal park rules had limited you to 14 days.  Something must have changed.

For up-to-date park maps and information, check the Ohio State Park website for Mosquito Creek State Park