I first visited Grove Lake when I was in high school, in the late '60s. It was about a three hour drive west from Omaha, so it wasn't that far, yet far enough so that we felt we were on a real adventure.

There really isn't that much to do at Grove Lake except to camp and do a little fishing and hiking. The campground (as you can see from the photo above) is pretty shady, although small. It's been close to 20 years since my last visit there, so it's hard to know what conveniences they might have these days. At the time they had a pit toilet, drinking water from a pump, waste cans, and picnic tables. I remember some sort of a fee, but could not tell you what it was. And I'm sure that it's much more now.

Back then, the lake (really a reservoir) had a eutrophication problem and seemed to be silting in. I'm not sure if that's still the case, or if they've resolved that issue in some way. I do remember pleasant walks along the stream and the shore around the lake.

One of the main reasons I visited Grove Lake on so many occasions was the fossils that I found in the area. At the time I was interested in vertebrate paleontology and spent quite a bit of time searching the sandy washes for evidence of fossils. Eventually I found a Paleocene tortoise and most of its internal skeletal structure. In more recent time other paleontologists have discovered a large concentration of fossils from a slightly earlier period at a location not too far north of Grove Lake. It is now a state park of its own. I believe it is called Ashfall State Park.

I have some good memories of Grove Lake State Park.