Cherokee Sage Woman

We are so blessed. Just a few miles from our home is Indian Boundary State Park. I could stop the review right there & it would be complete.. but you know me better than that.
For those of you who are unaware, we have moved to southeast TN, from our home in Sarasota, FL. So our camping venues have changed dramatically. We are loving this time of exploration to find wonderful new places to enjoy nature.
Indian Boundary is a jewel of a park, and probably the nicest facility we have had the pleasure of camping in. If the sites had had individual water facilities, rather than the every 4-5 sites water spout, it would have won hands down. Each site was spacious, clean, & beautiful. Lots of colorful trees, natural shrubs & brush to maintain privacy, while not cutting you off from your camping neighbors. Since we always rent 2 sites, we have had problems in the past with the 2 sites not communicating. Not a problem at Indian Boundary.

We arrived at the park about 5 pm on Friday. We would’ve arrived sooner, but Dan had to stop for a fishing license, which turned into the Inquisition (nothing goes smoothly when you’re dealing with a computer generated license!) Anyway, we knew we’d have to step up the pace in setting up camp, since we wanted to beat the darkness that arrives about 7 p.m. And we worked out a pretty good system of getting it all done in a timely manner. I did take a 5 min break to walk down to the lake’s edge & watch the sunset.. glorious across the water! Our set up time was a record 2 hrs & 15 minutes.

Across from us, we met some very nice people from Knoxville, Charley & Shayna. They participate in a great camping group called Tennessee PopUp Campers. Visit their website at; www.tpuc.com By the end of the wk-end we were having serious ‘Pop-Up’ envy and if all goes well, we may be joining their group one day. Enjoying a/c & heat.. in the great outdoors..wow.
Thanks for being such great camping enthusiasts, Charley & Shayna! Hope to see you again next spring.
*This was the last wk-end of the camping ‘season’ at Indian Boundary, sadly. I could see going there every couple of weeks, even during the winter.

Friday evening, we settled into the ‘dining’ tent w/ bbq pork (2 kinds) , corn on the cob, and a mustard potato salad that complemented the pork very well. Then it was time to sit around the campfire & watch the wood burn.. oops. Folks, with 4 acres of available wood, can you believe we forgot to pack any? And given that, we still forgot to buy any? You just can’t get a roaring fire from charcoal. So we put on the trusty ‘fake’ log & enjoyed the glow. Then we started to add more & more layers to our clothing line. I was at 2 coats & gloves, when we decided to surrender to the cold & go to bed.
The good thing about the cold was that there were no bugs; what self respecting mosquito or fly could exist in that temperature?

We all know the term, ‘..cold as a witch’s tit in a brass bra in an ice storm..’ ? It’s a true saying.. no myth there! By the time we got into bed, our breath was writing messages in the air, and we were shivering like an indoor dog, left out in the rain. Folks! It was danged cold! We tucked blankets around us, put our heads under the covers & prayed for survival. My hips ached like they did years ago when I slept on an unheated waterbed.
But Saturday dawned clear & sunny as a bell, and eventually the cold night was a distant memory (sort of). The sounds of feuding crows is a nice way to wake up to a new day.

Dan fixed a hearty breakfast of sausage, eggs, & biscuits. We took a good walk around the entire camping area, and over to the beach of the lake. We had sites 12 & 14, which butted up to the lake.. excellent places! Next time we might try 16 & 17, & be right by the dock, for easy access to the water for canoeing.
Dan fished the afternoon away, while I finished my book, ‘A Fine Balance’ (good read).
Later on, we walked the lake’s edge to the dam.. saw some great fish (on the wrong side of the dam, of course)

Dan found lots of good wood for sale at the Camp Store (love those facilities!), so we had the obligatory roaring fire for the rest of our stay.
For dinner, he grilled Cajun chicken & Italian red peppers & wild rice. Yum..
With foreknowledge of the cold night ahead, we were prepared for the witch’s boob. I went to bed fully dressed, coat & all. And slept under several coats laid over my feet. Toasty warm at last.
Mental note; get a tent stove!

Another sunny morning to greet us on Sunday. I thought I’d ‘slept in’ a vulgar amount of time.. but the time change saved me. Dan had the fire going well, & breakfast was superb. Eggs, links, fried potatoes, biscuits & the usual Sunday morning ‘soda pop’ of champagne. How civilized!
We had set out some Halloween decorations, thinking the kids of the campgrounds might come by ‘trick-or-treating’ the way they did in FL last year. But no.. So we are stuck with 3 bags of candy. Any takers?

Everyone in the camping areas were friendly & helpful. The host family was very amiable (we have been to areas where we never even knew our hosts existed). But Indian Boundary has some lovely people in charge. We broke down camp at our leisure.. so no time records set there. And the sun was warming to almost 70 degrees, so the layers were coming off as we worked. Unfortunately we were too tired (lazy??) to go canoeing this trip.. but the lake was certainly inviting for such activity.

Definitely a 4 Star campground, and we would recommend it most highly. Just please, let us get our reservations in 1st, okay?