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Nature NURTURED BY
Get away nearby at Indiana campgrounds
The restorative power of nature is a recurrent theme in literature, music and art. And if ever Hoosiers could use a little restorative power, it’s right about now. If you are looking to get away this month, but maybe not to a crowded or far away place, Indiana offers a diverse group of public campgrounds. Here is a list of Indiana state parks, state forests, and federal recreation areas within the Hoosier National Forest you might want to consider. Campsites may vary from offering electricity to being primitive and some are listed as being for horse camping. In addition, be sure to go online and check with local visitors bureaus for privately-owned campgrounds, RV parks and cabin rental facilities in areas you’d like to visit. Also, many other of the state forests and fish and wildlife areas also offer limited primitive camping. Also, Hoosier National Forest horse camps offer camping to any Forest visitors.
INDIANA DNR FACILITIES To make reservations, go online to www.Camp.IN.Gov.
Hardy Lake • Scottsburg Hardy Lake has a 740-acre lake with great fishing and water skiing opportunities.
Brown County State Park • Nashville Brown County encompasses nearly 16,000 acres of rugged hills, ridges and ravines.
Harmonie State Park • New Harmony The park brings together the small historic town and beautiful scenery.
Chain O Lakes State Park • Albion This is lake country and a small boater’s paradise with nine connecting lakes. Charlestown State Park • Charlestown The Ohio River is the main feature of this park with many recreational opportunities. Clifty Falls State Park • Madison The waterfalls and fossils are the highlights of the park that offers exciting year-round hiking and scenery. Deam Lake State Recreation Area • Borden A Forest Education Center on property has a full-time naturalist to provide interpretive programming.
Indiana Dunes State Park • Chesterton Indiana Dunes consists of 2,182 acres of primitive, beautiful and unique Hoosier landscape with more than three miles of beach along Lake Michigan’s shoreline.
site, offers hiking trails, lakes, and an interpretive center. McCormick’s Creek State Park • Spencer
Explore the spectacular limestone canyon, flowing creek, and scenic waterfalls that highlight Indiana’s first state park. Mississinewa Lake • Peru
Mississinewa Lake and its surrounding area are rich in American Indian history. Pleasure boating, water skiing, fishing and hiking are only a few of the activities available. Monroe Lake • Bloomington
Six miles south of the main Indiana University campus, Monroe Lake is the largest body of water in Indiana. Activities at Monroe include fishing, hunting, hiking, camping, picnicking, water recreation, bird/eagle viewing, and many others. Mounds State Park • Anderson
Mounds State Park features 10 unique earthworks built by prehistoric Indians known as the Adena-Hopewell people. The largest earthwork, the Great Mound, is believed to have been constructed around 160 B.C. O’Bannon Woods State Park • Corydon
Lieber State Recreation Area • Cloverdale In 1952, Cagles Mill Lake was built as Indiana’s first flood control reservoir. Mill Creek feeds the 1,400-acre lake and is home to beautiful Cataract Falls.
O’Bannon Woods State Park (formerly Wyandotte Woods State Recreation Area) lies in the central and extreme southern part of the state, bordering the Ohio River. It is nestled inside 26,000-acre Harrison Crawford State Forest.
Lincoln State Park • Lincoln City Discover the boyhood home of Abraham
Ouabache State Park • Bluffton
Lincoln. The state park, across the highway from the national boyhood
“Ouabache,” pronounced like “Wabash,” is the French spelling of a Continued on page 34 JULY 2020
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