We had a relatively free weekend so we decided at the last minute to have a short camping trip. After looking at what sites were available north of Columbus we settled on Van Buren SP, a park we hadn’t been to before. The park is named after President Van Buren.
The campground is pretty open. I’m guessing it is relatively new from the ages of the trees. There are two circles – one is for horses and the other is a Family camp. They are fairly close together, so we did hear (and smell) horses. Felt a bit like being on a farm. There are electric sites and non-electric sites. The vault toilets were some of the cleanest I have seen. There are no showers or flush toilets, so this is listed as a primitive camp even though there are electric sites. Space between the sites is decent, but the playground in the center did mean people cutting through since our site (38) was at the entrance to the circle.(No path, but the water refill and the bag dispenser for dog waste was right there).
There are quite a few trails that take you into wooded areas near streams and out to the lake. The mosquitoes were pretty thick in some areas so bug spray is suggested.
A small fenced area for dogs is a pretty new area of the park, as it wasn’t listed on park maps. Several obstacles including a ramp and a tunnel offer a little variety to keep the dogs busy. Small dogs could escape under the fence pretty easily though. We kept the leash on my beagle mix escape artist .
Several shelter houses are available with vault toilet facilities. A small boat dock area is available for electric motor boats or canoe and kayakers, and a frisbee golf course weaves its way through the picnic areas. Basic volleyball and basketball facilities are available (no courts marked out, and bring your own ball).
The equestrian camp had some nice facilities for caring for hoses – tie lines, mini corrals, steps to mount and dismount horses, one site even had an apple tree full of (not quite ripe yet) apples.
It’s a small campground with enough trails for a weekend. If we hadn’t been traveling with the dogs there are three nature preserves nearby that could be explored, but finding enough in the area to stay busy for a week would be hard (at least the way we camp). If we had had a kayak or canoe, and been able to visit the other preserves I could see this being a longer trip for families. Having the playground centrally located at camp would be convenient for families with young children. Sites are big enough for decent size campers, so the lack of flush toilets and showers wouldn’t be an issue for those with their own facilities. I would suggest filling up with water before you get there though. Water is available but has a strong metallic taste. I was happy we had brought enough for drinking from home.
