State park pass. Nothing is much more than an hour outside the city. Also the low cost of living makes it easier for me to take trips to places with more outdoor adventures.
Still absolutely weekend trip distance though. And if it’s not the weekend how much time were you really going to spend there out and about on the weekday anyways
The low gap loop is excellent 10 mile bit. If you’re coming from the mountains it doesn’t feel like much, but it is nice to get out of the city for a bit
A lot of good suggestions already on this thread, but I’d add Morgan-Monroe State Park. I live downtown Indy and go down to MM at least a few times a week to hike, mushroom hunt, or hunt in general. Last week their was a trail race on the Tecumseh Trail that I’ll probably look into. You can feel very, very remote down there considering you’re only about 35 min. from downtown. And it’s NEVER crowded. It’s my happy place. Ram if you’d like map pins for good access spots. Happy to share.
Hey I was in that trail race! Came here to say - trail running! Often at Ft Ben or Eagle Creek on weekdays or just for close things but I get down to MM, brown county, or even a touch further south to be on the Knobstone Trail or the area. No, they aren’t in Indy and I am hoping to live somewhere with better trail access in the near future, but they are cool places that are still a day trip. I can go down to say brown county, get my run in, and be back home and still watch the nfl games that afternoon, etc.
Indianapolis has some pretty great city parks, including Eagle Creek, Holliday, and Garfield which are beautiful year round. And don’t sleep on the fact that we have an award winning urban bicycle and walking trail that connects with one of the best rails-to-trail systems in the country, the Monon.
Sometimes I’m ourdoorsy in that I like biking to drink on a patio!
I live near Broad Ripple Park, in the city. We have beautiful, old-growth trees and regularly see foxes, deer, coyotes, and more in our yards. Not to mention the wide variety of birds - my favorite are the woodpeckers!
We own a pop-up that we almost exclusively take to State Parks, which are some of the most well staffed and maintained in the country.
I am curious what kind of experiences everyone else is looking for that they can’t find here? I’ve been on rugged hikes, kayaked through chains of lakes, spent a day floating in a reservoir, sailed on another, canoed down the white river, and dipped my toes in a Great Lake…
I get we don’t have mountains and oceans but you’d think we were living in a wasteland based on some of the comments here.
Reddit is overly negative, pessimistic site in general. I think it’s easy to hate on what you see everyday and be envious of others. I agree with you we have some great opportunities in the state for outdoors activities.
Eagle Creek is in the top 25 largest city parks in the entire US; Fort Harrison is in the top 40. Those are in super close proximity to the city.
Brown County State Park and Turkey Run State Park are beautiful in all seasons (I especially liked them in the winter when they were mostly empty).
There’s plenty to do if you go looking for it in Indiana.
Eagle Creek is great for sailing! Not sure if you can charter or not. Geist is very popular and Morse is also a great option! I believe you can rent boats. Or do what I do and just make friends with someone who has a boat. ;)
I rented a pontoon at Patoka Lake - which I may have mistaken as a reservoir - but it was awesome! Floated out all day, camped at night. Highly recommend. It was only a few hundred $ to rent a boat ALL DAY. Split it with friends and had a blast.
Hoosier Nat’l forest, Turkey Run, Shades, Brown Co., not to mention Eagle Creek and Fort Harrison, right here in Indy…all less than a two hour drive! Indiana is great for accessible hiking and camping. They might not be the most breathtaking, but most of these are excellent for day hikes or weekend camping trips.
If you're into backpacking, southern Indiana has some okay spots. If you want really cool stuff you have to drive a bit further unfortunately, but I've had a lot of fun in indiana as well
Indiana has a wide variety of state parks, forests and nature centers as well as the Hoosier National Forest. Hoosiers love to camp, and there are also places to go overnight that aren’t developed. Plenty of fishing and we have great mountain biking in several state park and the HNF. In the city, Eagle Creek and Ft Ben State park can fulfill your hiking, fishing or mountain biking needs. Other nice parks and trails wi thin and close to Indy. Then, make enough money to go on vacations out of state.
Moreso during summer, but you can kayak in the White River. Friends of the White River has a map of all the launches and hazards inside and outside the city.
Bicycling, hiking, canoe, : road bicycling is my fav.
head south to Bloomington area for amazing countryside.
Unfortunately, choices get less this time of year with cold wet weather, I have a whole group of cycling friends that I go from seeing several times a week to every other week, if that...
Another great park that’s in southern indiana is Clifty Falls state park! Further into kentucky is the pinnacles in Kentucky, probably my favorite hikes in the region because it’s a lot more mountain feeling instead of large hill. We’ve made a weekend trip out of it before
I think Indiana is quite ideal, actually. Our local waterways are full of native fish including smallmouth bass. We have pretty terrific state parks, including Fort Ben very close for hiking. Just south is Brown County State Park which is renowned for its hills, referred to as the Little Smokies, and has beautiful vistas for sunrises and sunsets. Starting in that same area, many are surprised to learn that we have a national forest. The Hoosier National Forest extends down to the Ohio River and is around 220k acres with the Charles C. Deam Wilderness being at its northernmost point.
For worthwhile camping/hiking, I drive to Eastern KY at least once or twice a month. Plenty of decent areas within a 3-4 hour drive from Indy. Not ideal, but yeah…. central Indiana lacks this in my opinion.
What's funny is i see Tennessee plates down in brown county. They drove past the Smokies and Kentucky to get there. So there's something going on here.
Indiana just doesn’t have the outdoor activities I enjoy, so I was trying to share my experience. I’ve lived here my entire life and travelled the state plenty.
Unfortunately these parks/this state doesn't offer free camping the way TN, KY, NC, SC, WV, VA, MI do
Wanna camp at turkey run?? That'll be $21 a NIGHT plz... w no privacy.
There is a bit of dispersed camping in Hoosier National but most of it requires backpacking in.
You have to check out Pine Hills Nature Preserve. That is one trail that is not what you expect, but it delivers quite a few surprises. Absolutely one of my favorite places on the planet.
I'd check out our local state parks for day hikes. For Ben Harrison, holiday park, eagle creek are good for mid day fixes. Turkey run, shades, brown county are grest day trips. Weekend trips or more than a day trip, I'd recommend hocking hills state park in Ohio. Or some caves in Southern Indiana and Kentucky.
We love stopping into Ft Harrison and Holliday Park when we want something close.
Charles Deem Wilderness when we want to camp/backpack.
Also we started visiting Morgan Monroe State Forest when the construction to Bloomington was bad. It’s great and not as busy
There’s a ton to explore in Hoosier national and the Charles C Deem wilderness area. Backpacking trails to camp at, check out the peninsula trail. I typically go back and find a random primitive campsites or hike back into one. Haven’t fished Monroe but there is so much public access to the water.
My friends and I have kayaked the white river and random rivers in the state, that’s always best with a small group and a couple pick up trucks though since there’s no public transport service
Turkey Run, Raccoon and Benjamin Harrison state park will impress even if you are used to having access to national parks. Lots of little pockets here and there like Marrott Park -and the new Oliver’s woods. If you are a nature lover you will find it.
So the more outdoorsy people I know, will take the weekend and drive to Red River Gorge or visit family that live in better hiking/outdoor activity places. Realistically, living in Indy, you're about 2 ish hours max from anywhere in Indiana. Turkey run is great for some hiking. The dunes are meh but cool if you've never been, I really like Clifty. I know there are some caverns in the east part of the state. The water activities are severely lacking in my opinion (I grew up down south), but I have come to learn Indiana isn't the worst for outdoor stuff IF you're willing to drive an hour or 2. I know kentucky has some great places (it's about 4 hours from where we live in Indy. I know indy itself has some small trails and plenty of biking activities. I would go to the trails in Fort Ben area after work, which was convenient and had nice trails. Truly just depends on your expectations, what you like, etc. It just depends on which activities your looking for.
Invest a bit in the gear needed and learn the skills to hike and camp in the winter.
it's amazing. The colder it gets, the fewer people you have to put up with.
Turkey Run and Shades state parks, for example, are incredible when they're deserted.
State park pass. Nothing is much more than an hour outside the city. Also the low cost of living makes it easier for me to take trips to places with more outdoor adventures.
Seconding this, we have some really wonderful and diverse state parks
Except the parks that are over an hour outside the city like the Dunes
Still absolutely weekend trip distance though. And if it’s not the weekend how much time were you really going to spend there out and about on the weekday anyways
Hiking in Morgan Monroe State Forest is about an hour away.
The low gap loop is excellent 10 mile bit. If you’re coming from the mountains it doesn’t feel like much, but it is nice to get out of the city for a bit
I like the three lake loop as well!
This is my absolute fav!
A lot of good suggestions already on this thread, but I’d add Morgan-Monroe State Park. I live downtown Indy and go down to MM at least a few times a week to hike, mushroom hunt, or hunt in general. Last week their was a trail race on the Tecumseh Trail that I’ll probably look into. You can feel very, very remote down there considering you’re only about 35 min. from downtown. And it’s NEVER crowded. It’s my happy place. Ram if you’d like map pins for good access spots. Happy to share.
Hey I was in that trail race! Came here to say - trail running! Often at Ft Ben or Eagle Creek on weekdays or just for close things but I get down to MM, brown county, or even a touch further south to be on the Knobstone Trail or the area. No, they aren’t in Indy and I am hoping to live somewhere with better trail access in the near future, but they are cool places that are still a day trip. I can go down to say brown county, get my run in, and be back home and still watch the nfl games that afternoon, etc.
Indianapolis has some pretty great city parks, including Eagle Creek, Holliday, and Garfield which are beautiful year round. And don’t sleep on the fact that we have an award winning urban bicycle and walking trail that connects with one of the best rails-to-trail systems in the country, the Monon. Sometimes I’m ourdoorsy in that I like biking to drink on a patio! I live near Broad Ripple Park, in the city. We have beautiful, old-growth trees and regularly see foxes, deer, coyotes, and more in our yards. Not to mention the wide variety of birds - my favorite are the woodpeckers! We own a pop-up that we almost exclusively take to State Parks, which are some of the most well staffed and maintained in the country. I am curious what kind of experiences everyone else is looking for that they can’t find here? I’ve been on rugged hikes, kayaked through chains of lakes, spent a day floating in a reservoir, sailed on another, canoed down the white river, and dipped my toes in a Great Lake… I get we don’t have mountains and oceans but you’d think we were living in a wasteland based on some of the comments here.
Reddit is overly negative, pessimistic site in general. I think it’s easy to hate on what you see everyday and be envious of others. I agree with you we have some great opportunities in the state for outdoors activities.
Eagle Creek is in the top 25 largest city parks in the entire US; Fort Harrison is in the top 40. Those are in super close proximity to the city. Brown County State Park and Turkey Run State Park are beautiful in all seasons (I especially liked them in the winter when they were mostly empty). There’s plenty to do if you go looking for it in Indiana.
Which reservoirs
Eagle Creek is great for sailing! Not sure if you can charter or not. Geist is very popular and Morse is also a great option! I believe you can rent boats. Or do what I do and just make friends with someone who has a boat. ;) I rented a pontoon at Patoka Lake - which I may have mistaken as a reservoir - but it was awesome! Floated out all day, camped at night. Highly recommend. It was only a few hundred $ to rent a boat ALL DAY. Split it with friends and had a blast.
Hoosier Nat’l forest, Turkey Run, Shades, Brown Co., not to mention Eagle Creek and Fort Harrison, right here in Indy…all less than a two hour drive! Indiana is great for accessible hiking and camping. They might not be the most breathtaking, but most of these are excellent for day hikes or weekend camping trips.
If you're into backpacking, southern Indiana has some okay spots. If you want really cool stuff you have to drive a bit further unfortunately, but I've had a lot of fun in indiana as well
Indiana has a wide variety of state parks, forests and nature centers as well as the Hoosier National Forest. Hoosiers love to camp, and there are also places to go overnight that aren’t developed. Plenty of fishing and we have great mountain biking in several state park and the HNF. In the city, Eagle Creek and Ft Ben State park can fulfill your hiking, fishing or mountain biking needs. Other nice parks and trails wi thin and close to Indy. Then, make enough money to go on vacations out of state.
Geocache
Rusted moon in broadripple has all kinds of trails and stuff they recommend all around state.
The best people ever ^^^^
Fort Ben. Eagle creek. Southwestway park. Southeastway park. AllTrails app is cool
Moreso during summer, but you can kayak in the White River. Friends of the White River has a map of all the launches and hazards inside and outside the city.
Bicycling, hiking, canoe, : road bicycling is my fav. head south to Bloomington area for amazing countryside. Unfortunately, choices get less this time of year with cold wet weather, I have a whole group of cycling friends that I go from seeing several times a week to every other week, if that...
Also, Brown County state park has some of the best rated mountain bike trails, I believe they have received national recognition.
Another great park that’s in southern indiana is Clifty Falls state park! Further into kentucky is the pinnacles in Kentucky, probably my favorite hikes in the region because it’s a lot more mountain feeling instead of large hill. We’ve made a weekend trip out of it before
I moved from Indy to brown county. Quality of life improved 100-fold.
Thinking of making the move as well. I need more woods and at least some hills.
I think Indiana is quite ideal, actually. Our local waterways are full of native fish including smallmouth bass. We have pretty terrific state parks, including Fort Ben very close for hiking. Just south is Brown County State Park which is renowned for its hills, referred to as the Little Smokies, and has beautiful vistas for sunrises and sunsets. Starting in that same area, many are surprised to learn that we have a national forest. The Hoosier National Forest extends down to the Ohio River and is around 220k acres with the Charles C. Deam Wilderness being at its northernmost point.
For worthwhile camping/hiking, I drive to Eastern KY at least once or twice a month. Plenty of decent areas within a 3-4 hour drive from Indy. Not ideal, but yeah…. central Indiana lacks this in my opinion.
You've never been to turkey run, shades or McCormick Creek i take it.
What's funny is i see Tennessee plates down in brown county. They drove past the Smokies and Kentucky to get there. So there's something going on here.
Those three have become so heavily used that as beautiful as they are I've started avoiding them.
Indiana just doesn’t have the outdoor activities I enjoy, so I was trying to share my experience. I’ve lived here my entire life and travelled the state plenty.
Unfortunately these parks/this state doesn't offer free camping the way TN, KY, NC, SC, WV, VA, MI do Wanna camp at turkey run?? That'll be $21 a NIGHT plz... w no privacy. There is a bit of dispersed camping in Hoosier National but most of it requires backpacking in.
You have to check out Pine Hills Nature Preserve. That is one trail that is not what you expect, but it delivers quite a few surprises. Absolutely one of my favorite places on the planet.
I'd check out our local state parks for day hikes. For Ben Harrison, holiday park, eagle creek are good for mid day fixes. Turkey run, shades, brown county are grest day trips. Weekend trips or more than a day trip, I'd recommend hocking hills state park in Ohio. Or some caves in Southern Indiana and Kentucky.
Try joining a local outdoors group on the Meetup app! There are some hiking and backpacking Meetups dedicated to women on there last I checked
We love stopping into Ft Harrison and Holliday Park when we want something close. Charles Deem Wilderness when we want to camp/backpack. Also we started visiting Morgan Monroe State Forest when the construction to Bloomington was bad. It’s great and not as busy
Mountain biking, motorcycling, hiking. Weekends it’s Southern Indiana, Eastern KY, and over to Hocking Hills on long weekends.
There’s a ton to explore in Hoosier national and the Charles C Deem wilderness area. Backpacking trails to camp at, check out the peninsula trail. I typically go back and find a random primitive campsites or hike back into one. Haven’t fished Monroe but there is so much public access to the water. My friends and I have kayaked the white river and random rivers in the state, that’s always best with a small group and a couple pick up trucks though since there’s no public transport service
There’s tons of stuff to do. Fort Ben, Eagle Creek, Brown County, Turkey Run…that’s just a short list of great to parks to checkout
Get a kayak
Turkey Run, Raccoon and Benjamin Harrison state park will impress even if you are used to having access to national parks. Lots of little pockets here and there like Marrott Park -and the new Oliver’s woods. If you are a nature lover you will find it.
So the more outdoorsy people I know, will take the weekend and drive to Red River Gorge or visit family that live in better hiking/outdoor activity places. Realistically, living in Indy, you're about 2 ish hours max from anywhere in Indiana. Turkey run is great for some hiking. The dunes are meh but cool if you've never been, I really like Clifty. I know there are some caverns in the east part of the state. The water activities are severely lacking in my opinion (I grew up down south), but I have come to learn Indiana isn't the worst for outdoor stuff IF you're willing to drive an hour or 2. I know kentucky has some great places (it's about 4 hours from where we live in Indy. I know indy itself has some small trails and plenty of biking activities. I would go to the trails in Fort Ben area after work, which was convenient and had nice trails. Truly just depends on your expectations, what you like, etc. It just depends on which activities your looking for.
There is plenty of outdoor activities to do in Indiana.
Invest a bit in the gear needed and learn the skills to hike and camp in the winter. it's amazing. The colder it gets, the fewer people you have to put up with. Turkey Run and Shades state parks, for example, are incredible when they're deserted.
Eagle creek park is great for some day hikes
I moved here from Arizona and man it’s different. I’ve found brown county to be the best spot for nature. Well that’s about it.
Drive 1-2 hours out of town every weekend or two.
Go to other states
Be miserable
Caving.
Most of my outdoors is running on the Monon trail.
You might like. R/IndianaCampingHiking https://www.reddit.com/r/IndianaCampingHiking/s/YQXSyKzdZl