Starve Hollow State Recreation Area
Camping, Hiking, Swimming in Indiana
Transcript
Starve Hollow State Recreation Area
Greetings, today I will talk about Starve Hollow Lake, where we camped in the autumn of 2023.
Starve Hollow State Recreation Area is a small recreation area consisting of 285 acres; however it is adjacent to the 18,000 acre Jackson/Washington State Forest for more recreational activities. The recreation area has a modern campground with 55 Class A sites that have access to shower facilities, electricity, picnic table and grills. The campground also has 113 Class B sites, which have access to shower facilities, picnic table and grills. These sites do not have electricity. Water hydrants are located at various places in the campgrounds and there is a fill station near the entrance of the campground. Many of the campsites are lakefront allowing campers with boats an opportunity to keep their kayak or canoe right at the campsite.
For those not wishing to camp, there is a Rent A Cabin area northwest of the camp ground with several cabins available. the Two room Rent-A-Cabins are small, usually under 300 square feet. Inside there is one set of bunk beds and one full size bed. There are no bathroom or kitchen facilities in the cabins. There is 20 Amp electricity hookup available. Vault toilets are available nearby. You will need to bring your own bed linen. Each cabin has a front porch with a swing or other outdoor seating. There is also an indoor dining table.
145 acre Starve Hollow Lake has 3 boat ramps, one of which is in the campground. Boats are limited to electric trolling motors only. Seasonal boat rental is available with canoes, flat bottom boats and kayaks available for rental. Visitors with Indiana State Fishing license are permitted to fish in the lake.
There are six hiking trails of varying skill levels totaling 11 miles in the park.
A Nature Center is located south of the campground and is open from April through October. Check the parks website for hours, or visit the center for posted hours.
There are several full service camping sites, however we did not take one of those. We did not choose a lake front site, as we don't have a boat and I didn't want to take a site away from someone that had one and wanted to have direct access to the lake. We had Site # 70, which is near the center of the campground and was a pretty nice site. The campground has access to Trail 1, which in turn connects with most of the other trails in the park.
While camping there, I hiked Trails 1, 4 and 3 the first day
These are nice trails, listed as "Moderate," except for Trail 3, which is rated as "Very Rugged." There is a bench at the junction of these trails, which I used, as the climb up from Trail 1 is fairly long, but not steep. The little bit of it I hiked, I would say that moderate is an accurate rating. It was a long, steep climb from Trail 3 to the bench that marked the junction of Trails 3, 4 and 2.
The trails are well marked, but you have to use both color codes for the trails and numbers. They don't always have the numbers, but color codes on trail markers and large trees indicate the way you need to go.
Trail 4 is moderate, quite a few inclines/descents, but mostly not too steep.
Trail 3 is marked as very rugged. I only hiked a short distance on it, the section that connects Trail 3 with 1. It has quite steep inclines. There are veiws of the lake and campground through the trees from 4. This one is about 30 - 50 feet above the lake, so they are vistas.
The last day I hiked Trail 1 to the junction of Trails 4, 3 and 2. I had intended to hike only Trail 2 back, but decided to hike to the top of the vista of Trail 3. This trail is listed as "Very Rugged," and that is accurate. From the bench at the junction it is maybe .5 mile to the top of the vista. That is not far, but the climb up is very steep. The last 30 feet or so was on hands and knees. I was out of breath and exhausted at the top. After resting a bit, I continued south a bit, but soon turned around when the trail started to descend. I had been on part of Trail 3 on Monday and did not want to continue. The view from the top is mostly through the trees and not really impressive. The lake is visible in the distance to the south and the knobby terrain to the north. Worth the hike, I guess, but not impressive. I started back down, however I could feel my feet slipping out from under me on the steep trail, so I used the HAF (Hands, Ass Feet) method to get down. This was necessary for about 1/3 of the descent. I continued down and when it started to level, I felt for my phone to check the time. It wasn't there. Realizing it had slipped off my belt when I started to descend, I needed to go back up to retrieve it. Up I went, and found it about 10 feet from the top of the trail. Then back down, again using the HAF method.
I returned on Trail 2, the Lakeshore Trail. It does hug the shore most of the time and the lake is visible through the trees. It is a pretty trail, but I was too tired from my exertions on Trail 3 to enjoy it as much as I might otherwise.
On one of our day trips, we visited the Whitewater Fish Hatchery. We pulled in the parking lot and I went in the office to talk to the manager to find out if it was okay to walk around. She said it was and then took me to the tank room where they had some channel catfish that they had extracted from a pond the day before. They were five to six inches long and ready to stock in a lake or pond, she told me. I let her return to work, after thanking her. She was very nice and the head of the fish hatchery division in the state. This one is the state headquarters. There are several ponds. I photoed most of them and we went on.
The next stop was at the Vallonia Tree Seedling nursery. Here they grow seedlings for any landowner in the state that wants to reforest an area. There appear to be hundreds of acres of trees and more land prepared to plant more seedlings. The lady in the office said it was okay to drive on any paved or graveled road, just be mindful of tractors and other equipment working in the nursery. We drove around the nursery admiring the thousands of tree seedlings there. The rows of trees are interspersed with rows of corn. Not sure if they sell the corn or if is a wildlife food source.
We continued our drive through the country, stopping to photo the Sparksville Concrete Bridge and the Sparksville Public Access Site. Just down the road was an old iron bridge, closed to traffic but open to pedestrian traffic. It crosses the White River. We walked across, admiring the views of the river.
Continuing on, we approached Medora. Just outside we passed the old Medora Brick and Tile Works. The buildings are deteriorating, however they are all there. There is a small museum there, but it is not open.
The Medora Shale Brick Plant was one of fifty-five brick plants that existed in Indiana at the turn of the Twentieth Century. The plant opened in 1910. The plant provided jobs for over fifty people and, at its peak, turned out 54,000 handmade bricks a day. The hills around Medora contained an abundance of the clay and shale needed for brick production. The Medora Shale Brick Plant is under restoration and privately owned not open to the public. However, for more information about its history, contact:
medorabrickplant.org
email info@medorabrickplant.org
http://www.medorabrickplant.org/index.htm
You can find information about the places in this podcast in my book, South Central Indiana Road Trips. The book is part of a 9 book series that details just about any road trip destination in Indiana that you can think of, and many you will not think of. Each book covers a different region in the state and each covers approximatly 10 counties. Destination include parks, museums, drive in theatres, bowling alleys and many, many other interesting places. The books, along with my other 130 plus titles, are found on my web site, www.mossyfeetbooks.com. The books are available in ebook, softbound and audio book formats. Residents of southeastern Indiana can find them at the Walnut Street Variety Shoppe on George Street in Batesville. This podcast will be available as a video in You tube on my Mossy Feet Books channel. Follow me on you tube. You can also follow me on Facebook at Indiana Places and History page. If you follow me on Facebook, you will be notified of when I publish a new book, usually about 10 new books a year. I also post tons of other content as well
I hope you enjoyed this podcast and thank you for listening.
Starve Hollow State Recreation Area
4345 S. County Road 275 W.
Vallonia, IN 47281
812-358-3464