I remember (vaguely) coming to Brown County State Park (Indiana) as a kid. I remember the green forest, rolling hills and winding roads, evoking the feeling of being in the Smoky Mountains. In fact, the area is known as the “Little Smokies” because of the similarity in topography and flora/fauna, just without the really big mountains! We found Spring in Brown County was about 2-3 weeks behind the Smokies, with dogwood blooming and trees half-leafed when we arrived.

Since I was here last, the park has constructed a network of renowned  mountain bike trails; they have even been designated as an “IMBA Epic Ride”. Jeff just had to ride them, so we made plans to stay at one of the campgrounds inside the park. Normally we are too large to fit in a State park, but we were pleasantly surprised to find a few big rig capable sites. Only 30 amp hook up (no water/sewer), but that is completely manageable for a one week stay.

I’ll do a full review later, but our campsite was wonderful. Easy to get into, huge, solid and level. Being here a bit off season (early May) meant that the campground almost completely cleared out during the week. We just about had the place to ourselves!

Brown County State Park is just beautiful. The spring weather was occasionally wet, but mostly cool and lovely. It was early enough that bugs weren’t much of a nuisance (summer might be a different story). We could access both hiking and biking trails from the campground, without having to drive anywhere. It felt like we were really camping, for a change. Fancy RV parks are comfortable, but they provide a completely different experience.

Jeff was out on the bike trails at every opportunity and declared them to be “sweet”, flowy single track. He was delighted. I explored several of the nearby hiking trails and found them to be quite pleasant – well maintained, pretty, and not particularly difficult. My brother and his son even joined us for our first night here to enjoy pizza, a campfire, and hiking.

Nearby Nashville had all of the necessary conveniences such as a grocery store, auto parts store, restaurants and wineries. We even were able to catch dinner and a live show at the Nashville Playhouse on Friday night. We saw “Superstar”, a concert sharing the music and story of the Carpenters. Entertaining show, and I knew ALL of the songs!! Our stay was slightly overshadowed by a pesky engine issue (more on that in another post!), but we still were able to enjoy our visit.

We would absolutely stay here again, at the exact same campsite. I’m not sure we would want to do hot summer or frozen winter, but spring or fall would be perfect!