I find myself possibly having to travel for work in 6 months to a year spending several weeks in wakarusa indiana anyone know of some good trails near there?
I find myself possibly having to travel for work in 6 months to a year spending several weeks in wakarusa indiana anyone know of some good trails near there?
welcome to planet earth no one gets out alive
That's just over an hour east of where I live. This area is the black hole hiking if you like anything over 4 miles long and want to drive less than an hour to get there. Right near you is Potato Creek State Park. I've never been there but I heard the car camping was nice; I haven't heard about the trails. If you drive towards Valparaiso you have the National Lake Shore and Dunes State Park. The State Park is nice and look up Cowle's Bog for a nice 4+ mile loop.
LaSalle Wildlife and Fish area is on the IN/IL boarder and has about 5 miles of trails; I haven't been there but some in my hiking group like it. Other good ones in IL are Forest Glen, Waterfall Glen, and Starved Rock.
If you are willing to drive 2 hours or more the region is great. You have Hoosier National Forest, Browning State Park, and a few other good spots.
Oh and I forgot Turkey Run State Park. I've heard a lot of great reviews on it.
If you ever go to Meetup.com look for Northwest Indiana Outdoor. It's a local hiking group in the area and you might find a few trip reports there about local hikes.
Turkey Run is a great park. Very, very beautiful. Lots of short hikes, but nothing long.
I like big hammocks - I cannot like.
Turkey Run is a great place for hiking. I live about 45 min. away. There is also Shades State Park about 10 min. away from Turkey Run. Shades actually has a trail specifically for backpacking. It's only a 5 mile round trip though. There are more trails at Shades as well that can be pretty strenuous at times. Turkey run is way more popular that Shades, so if you're looking for seclusion Shades is the better choice. And as said before, just south of Indianapolis has indiana's " hill country" and there are some great trails there. If you have any other questions just let me know. I live about 15 miles west of Indy and have lived in the area my whole life.
I think the future of backpacking in Indiana will be in the hands of the mapsmith.
The HNC for example has many trail systems, that due to Multi-Use or MU and lack of enforcement even in the proposed back country areas, have become broken up or useless to foot travel except in very dry conditions. Even the proposed 140 miles of the "Tuckstone", is mostly an endurance test to see if one can manage to navigate, the many private corridors and road sections, that connect areas of legal open primitive camping, with one another.
There is a very interesting video of a 40 mile "Around the Lake" hike by members of HF, that was done at Lake Monroe. As far as I know this is not an actual established trail, but rather one that was pieced together, using sections of existing trails and old abandon logging paths.
To me this seems to be the future of backpacking Indiana. Probably hasn't been anyone using the exact same way around the lake since they used it. It makes me wonder what sort of feat of circumnavigation might be needed traverse Patton Cave and avoid the horse trails of Saddle Creek? Probably a full lake assault when the water is up.
The opportunities are out there, and they do abound, but more and more I feel they are moving toward, what you can make out of them, rather than what the IDNR can and will provide for us.
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Try Shades State Park they have a backpacking trail to a backcountry campsites it is only a 2/12 mile hike. They have picnic tables, fire rings, a well, and some pit toilets.
What is the HNC? I'm not seeing anything in Google that really jumps out at me for hiking.
Sorry my bad. HNF-Hoosier Nat Forrest Purchase.
I have a badly mended left wrist(crooked as a dog's hind leg)and just enough actual technique that when it does get a little out of line, I am capable of typing anything.
I've been derailing google for years with it
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thanks for all the post sounds like i should just head home and hang near there since would have to drive that far for a good hike anyway. The wife will be happier well maybe . Was hoping to get some new trails shooting 2 birds with the same stone.
welcome to planet earth no one gets out alive
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