France Park Campground

The website and flyer for France Park are, how shall we put it, aspirational. The campground is very large (200 sites according to the brochure) with a variety of site types and conditions. There are some water and electric, electric only, and no hook up sites. There are also many primitive wooded sites that would work well for tenters. Site separation and privacy varies tremendously based on the area (loops/spaces are not signed or numbered so it’s impossible to recommend a particular area). We were placed in a fairly open field designated for short term occupancy. It was level and grassy with 50-amp service and met our needs for a two night stay.

The biggest issue is the overall condition of the park and amenities. The bathroom I peeked into was dirty and the shower was downright scary. No laundry facilities. The mini-golf was not maintained. There are several areas where long term residents are set up and many RV’s look like they haven’t been moved or maintained in quite a while. Some of the amenities also appear to only be available on weekends. The swimming area is off limits without a life guard on duty and we never saw one. The zip line, dive area, camp store, and concession stand were all closed mid-week.

On the plus side, there is a huge (24 hole) disc golf course and an extensive system of beautiful wooded trails for walking and mountain biking. Unfortunately, the trails were poorly marked and there was litter everywhere. We typically pick up the odd bits of trash we find while hiking, but we’d have needed a couple 30-gal trash bags here. That said, Rog had fun mountain biking about 14 miles on the trails. There are two lakes - one is a flooded quarry for swimming, diving, and kayaking and the other is a shallower fishing lake. There is also a small waterfall near the lower picnic area.

Overall this is a reasonably priced stop IF you are fully self-contained and aren’t interested in using any of the amenities other than the trail system. We left just prior to the Labor Day weekend, so it’s likely the concessions/activities would have been available then – but that wouldn’t solve the issue of upkeep and neglect. While France Lake isn’t a bad campground and we wouldn’t rule out staying here again, we’d probably check out other parks in the area before coming back.

We had 1 bar of Verizon 4G, but there was free public Wi-Fi available that worked well.

Other than the weekend, it was perfect! Great value with lots to do and many trails. It felt like our own Indiana holiday.

I was sick all day as we rumbled across Indiana and was willing to be anywhere short of a Walmart parking lot. This place looked leafy and promising as we pulled in early evening, but it's far from idyllic. Crowded with a lot of families having big weekend fun. We closed up the windows against toxic levels of campfire smoke and ran the AC til the wee hours. It was quiet enough after dark, and the shower I had to have the next morning wasn't the worst ever, and plenty of hot water in a crummy moldy outdated bldg. We could have done worse, but I wouldn't go here on purpose.