We searched online for days for a place to camp and pitch our tents. Most places were completely booked, too expensive, or had horrible reviews. I finally stumbled upon Mini Mountain Campground in New Carlisle, Indiana. This place is an hour and 45 minutes from where we live but that didn't bother us. We had 4 adults and 3 children in our group. I called to reserve on short notice. The lady in the office was super friendly and helpful. The price was great too. We had 2 sites next to each other in a wooded area with electric and water hook up too, each site was $60 for the weekend. You are allowed 2 tents per site, from my understanding extra adults over 2 at each site have to pay an additional fee. This campground also has a lot of seasonal and permanent lots for camper trailers. Most of the park consists of these lots from what we could tell. There also seems to be plenty of spots for tents or pop ups, primitive and electric sites. We stayed in the tall wooded area (recommend) or they have open spots, little too sunny though. Staff is real friendly and they are really accommodating.
They have some amenities here though we really didn't use any of them.
Pool- Too crowded
Game Room- pool table ($1.00 per game), few old arcade games, T.V., couches, toddler area enclosed with toys, and magazine rack.
Miniature Golf- 9 holes, very small, weeds growing all through it, needs new outdoor carpeting. Didn't seem worth the $1.50 they charge per person.
2 Playgrounds- One was near entrance and was in decent shape. The other was near our campsite but honestly it looked too dangerous for the kids to play on. Looked like it may fall apart. Though we seen a bunch of kids playing on it, I just didn't trust it for my 2 little ones.
Volleyball and basketball- They had balls for rent for free in the office. The court area needed to be cleaned up and more sand added.
Horseshoe Pits/Shelter- There was a party there and people brought their bean bag sets and played up there in horseshoe area. Didn't really check that area out.
2 Small Ponds- We did take the kids fishing. The main pond has a lot of tall grass growing around it but there were some clear areas to get a line in. The other pond is divided by a bridge which was so overgrown, hard to walk over to other side of pond. The 2nd pond did not find any clear area to fish, overgrown. Kids caught 5 fish and we seen a lot of frogs.
Toilets/Bath Houses- Luckily we had a bath house and flush toilets near our site, still kind of a walk though. They did have an outhouse near site but it was closed. I'm assuming they just didn't want to bother with cleaning it and it was kind of a hassle to walk to bath house. Its mostly a camper campground like I mentioned, so Im sure most people have their own facilities in their campers. The bath house has 3 toilets and 3 showers for women and men. Also laundry facility. This building could use an overhaul. In one stalt, the seat was broken. They all leaked water from the tank, making a mess on the floor. Someone also clogged up one of the toilets. Paint chipping on the floor. Not the greatest but hey I don't expect too much when camping. Showers were nice and hot though. There were centipedes on the floor, I just wore flip flops in shower. Bath house at office was in a little better of shape.
Back to our site: was large and had plenty of shade. The ground is hard so I suggest if tent camping to bring a mallet/hammer to get your stakes in the ground. Also an air mattress. There are picnic tables and fire rings. We had some people camping right behind us in tents, friendly, but one woman in their group was either a loud talker or liked to yell early in the morning. So we never slept past 7 to 7:30am. Can't complain too much though. Over all very peaceful and quiet place. Of course there were mosquitos, I expected that with camping. A lot of moths though, they were a little bit bothersome. We even brought one home with us, unknowingly.
First night we purchased 2 bundles of firewood at a gas station up the road, $6 a bundle. 2nd night we bought 2 bundles at front office for $4 and change, beware though it looks like a lot but they use filler pieces (flat plywood) in the middle. Luckily a few sites over someone had left a bunch of wood there on an empty site.
Campground has a small store. Town of New Carlisle is not too far if you need something. Walmart is about 15 minutes away in Laporte as well. I would have given this campground 5 stars if they had outhouses closer to tent sites, bath house was cleaner, and if they cleaned up weeds and repaired something's around the campground. Definitely not a deal breaker and would camp here again. We had a wonderful time! read more