There are 29 individual campground sites located near the eastern banks of the 800 acre reservoir. The campground offers a dump station for registered campers. There are vault toilets and electricity at many sites, but no portable water. There is a boat ramp at the campground which allows easy access for canoes and kayaks.
On Sunday, August 10th, campers began to arrive at Nimisila Campground in Green Ohio. Ann, Coleen and Steve and faithful companion dog Murphy were already set up having arrived on Saturday . Soon Ruth, Mary and Eric, Wil and Gloria and faithful companion dog Teddy, Laura and Gretchen, Karen and Joanne, Lynn, Chris and Fred, Harold and Laurie, and Tony joined the group for Camping. We had a combination of travel trailers, vans, RVs and tents. There were folks who came to camp and folks who came to camp and paddle kayaks, canoes, and ride on Steve's pontoon boat.
Sunday was spent getting tents and campers set up, meeting, new friends and old. With the temperature in the 90s and rising humidity we gathered together without a campfire and discussed logistics for the next few days.
Monday morning at 6 o'clock Wil, Tony, Ruth, Steve and Karen put boats in at the campground boat ramp to try to catch a glimpse of the Purple Martins as they leave the roost and resume their journey to South America. It was a beautiful morning to paddle. The reservoir was still, the sky was clear, American lotus was blooming everywhere in the shallow waters, but unfortunately, we missed the birds by about half an hour. So although we had a nice paddle, we didn't see any Martins leaving their reed beds this morning.
Monday was still a hot day with temperatures in the high 80s and 90s. Mary and Eric went for a bike ride. Some folks took walks around the campground and Steve and Coleen offered pontoon boat rides on Portage Lake. Nimisila reservoir allows only electric motors so Steve trailered his boat to Portage Lake. Laurie and Tony headed to Firelands Golf course for the day.
The theme for this outing was "Take me out to the ball game" so when it came time for our community meal at 4 o'clock that Monday afternoon, our group came through with everything you could imagine associated with ball games. There were popcorn balls, and peanuts and Cracker jacks. We had hotdogs and pies, salsa and chips, sloppy Joe's, baked beans, jalapeno poppers and salads. Joining us for our meal were Ted, Connie, Lance, Ron, Jilinda and new potential members Carolyn and Cheryl. Carolyn is a volunteer with Portage Lakes Purple Martin Association. She was instrumental and helping us secure seats for the pontoon boat twilight tour.
Treasurer Ruth purchased an EZ up 10x10 canopy for the Club. It has two side panels which will come in handy during inclement weather. The two side panels for the EZ up and the carrying bag were defective. Ruth will take care of contacting customer service to get those items replaced. Eric had purchased the same canopy for himself so by setting these up side-by-side we have a 10 x 20' space undercover where we arranged all of our food and tables for the Community meal.
Monday evening we headed to Lot C-6 for the Pontoon Boat Twilight Tour. Portage Lakes PurpleMartin Association provides pontoon boat rides on the reservoir at sunset. 15 club members on two boats witnessed a beautiful sunset and thousands of birds descending into the reed beds to roost for the night.
There was a probably a little bit of poker playing down the road at Harold's site.
Tuesday morning we said good bye to a few members as they packed for home. The weather was still hot and rain was forecasted for Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. It was too hot to even paddle so Joanne, Karen, Laura, Gretchen, Ruth and Lance went to Canal Fulton to check out a little bit of shopping and lunch.
Karen and Joanne decided it would be a great idea to ride bikes on the Towpath from downtown Canal Fulton to our restaurant, the Canal Grille. They were pretty hot and tired when they arrived. This is a great place to eat with an eclectic menus, good service and average prices.
On Tuesday at 7:15pm Joanne, Karen, Coleen, Murphy, and Ruth paddled out to the reed beds and waited for the Martins to arrive. We were disappointed that only a few birds were seen. Maybe because of the impending cold front and possibility of rain. We headed back to the dock when we saw repeated lightening. We sat on the dock with Lynn to watch for the Persied meteor shower and again, had a no-show. Nevertheless it was nice to sit on the dock at night.
Coleen, Ruth, Laura, Gretchen, Wil and Gloria were already packed up and left camp Tuesday night to avoid the impending rain event. I'm pretty sure there was more Poker happening at Harold and Laurie's camp as Susan, Ben and Brad helped celebrate Laurie's birthday.
Tally:
Camping: Ruth, Laura, Gretchen, Harold, Laurie, Coleen, Steve, in Tents
Mary, Eric, Chris, Fred, Wil, Gloria, Tony, Ann, Joanne, Karen, Lynn, in Travel Trailers/Rvs
Hotels: Ted, Connie, Lance
Day Visitors: Carolyn, Cheryl, Ron, Jilinda, Craig, Susan, Ben, Brad
Submitted by Ruth Devereaux
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