A C172 PILOT NEAR OPN ENCOUNTERED UN-NOTAMED PARACHUTE JUMPERS AND NO RESPONSE ON CTAF TO JUMPING ACTIVITY.

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I WAS CONDUCTING A 300 NM XCOUNTRY FLT OVER AN AREA THAT I WAS NOT FAMILIAR WITH. RECEIVED PREFLT BRIEFING FROM FSS WHICH INCLUDED NOTAMS OF PARACHUTE ACTIVITIES NEAR MY DEST BUT NOT THIS ARPT. AS I APCHED THIS ARPT; I SWITCHED TO UNICOM FREQ; AS PUBLISHED ON THE CURRENT SECTIONAL FOR THIS AREA. I ANNOUNCED MY INTENTIONS TO FLY OVER THE ARPT AT 2300 FT WHICH WAS ABOUT 1700-1800 FT OVER FIELD ELEVATION. I WAS ABOUT 3 MI SE OF THE ARPT AT THIS TIME. THERE WERE NO ACFT IN THE PATTERN AND NO ONE REPLIED ON THE UNICOM FREQ. I CONTINUED TOWARDS THE OPN ARPT SINCE MY COURSE TOOK ME RIGHT OVERHEAD. I WAS SCANNING TO THE L AND R OF MY PLANE. AT ONE POINT I LOOKED STRAIGHT AHEAD AND MY FIELD OF VISION WAS FILLED WITH JUMPERS. MAYBE 8-10 AT VARIOUS ALTS ALL (THAT I COULD SEE) WITH DEPLOYED PARACHUTES. I MADE AN IMMEDIATE 45 DEG BANK WITH A 90 DEG CHANGE OF HDG TO MY R TO AVOID HITTING THE CLOSEST JUMPER. I THEN WATCHED TO SEE IF MY NEW COURSE WAS SAFE. IT WAS. ABOUT 2 MINS AFTER SPOTTING THE JUMPERS I HEARD ANOTHER PLANE RPT ON THE UNICOM FREQ. HE WAS LNDG AT THIS ARPT. I WARNED HIM OF THE JUMPERS BUT HE SEEMED UNCONCERNED. THIS MAY HAVE BEEN THE JUMP PLANE RETURNING TO THE ARPT. I CONTINUED MY FLT WITHOUT FURTHER PROBS. 1) I DON'T THINK A NOTAM WAS ISSUED FOR THESE JUMPERS. 2) WHEN I RPTED ON THE UNICOM FREQ; THERE WAS NO RESPONSE FROM THE JUMP PLANE AND MY POS RPT WAS VERY SPECIFIC. 3) I AM JUST THANKFUL THAT I SAW THE JUMPERS IN TIME TO AVOID THEM. 4) NOTAMS DO A GOOD JOB OF BRIEFING PLTS BUT THE NOTAMS HAVE TO BE PUT INTO THE SYS. MY FLT COURSE WAS A PRETTY STRAIGHT LINE AND THE BRIEFER COVERED THE ENTIRE RTE BTWN DEP AND ARR ARPTS. AN ACCIDENT WAS AVOIDED SIMPLY BY KEEPING MY EYES OPEN AND LOOKING AROUND. THIS IS PARTICULARLY THE CASE AROUND ARPTS AND VOR'S.