I arrived at Jesse Owens State Park after being turned around three times and started seeing signs for the visitor center, realizing something was different this year. It is all renovated. It is really creepy at night because you do not have data, you are still a little lost, and the modern office and visitor center were closed. All you see is what looks like a lit-up cabin or building up on the hill, which is actually the visitor center, but trust me, from a distance at night it looks straight out of a horror movie. I went to check it out of course, but it was closed. After that, it rained. The entire time, pretty much. It started raining and I did the only thing you can do in a cabin in the woods at night, which is throw on a scary movie. The next day it continued raining, but I checked out the visitor center before it rained again that evening, as it is only open until 5:00 PM. I was able to go inside, look around the second floor and see the buffalo. I even checked out Windy Hill for another view of the area.
I ended up leaving early due to the rain, but I did make sure to check out the Memorial Day Weekend Flea Market, which is an interesting experience; they sell everything and anything. Firearms, pocket knives, switchblades, items that look like they came out of a storage unit, and as-seen-on-TV products with a guy rambling on about how sharp a kitchen knife was. They sell all sorts of animals, from peacocks to bunnies to goats to quails and more. When they opened a cage to get a chicken out, one escaped and I watched two farmers chase it through the entire market for quite a while before they finally caught it.
I will say that this area is far enough out in the middle of nowhere that it draws a certain crowd. I don't know how else to say it, but I did see some hate group symbols at the flea market, so take that for what it is worth. It is definitely a little sketchy, and I cannot speak to how people would act around LGBTQ+ visitors or minority groups. It is something I felt a need to bring up because it is something you should be aware of before going. To be clear, the state park itself and the surrounding wilderness area felt fine and friendly, this was specific to the flea market.
