March 25, 2026.
11.4 mi. | 1220′ ele. gain |6:10 hr
Indiana does not come to mind when I think “great state to go for a hike.” But, it does have 24 state parks one national park, a national historic trail and thousands of miles of hiking trails. I chose Turkey Run State Park for my first taste of hiking in Indiana.
I had just done two surprisingly cool hikes in nearby states at Starved Rock State Park (Illinois) and Ledges State Park (Iowa), so my expectations were high for this park. And still, the adventure was even better than expected.
The Ladders
In the morning, Aaron joined me for a hike on one of the most adventurous trail. Trail 3 is unofficially known as the Ladders Trail because of the ladders you must climb to scale the canyon walls on this hike. We set out in our Bedrocks sandals expecting some water, mud and scrambling.
The day began with partly cloudy skies and a brisk temperature. We crossed the bridge over Sugar Creek and turned left. A sneaky right turn about a quarter mile from there took us into our first interesting canyon. The moss covered rock walls narrowed and made it even cooler since the sun could barely reach down in there. We found ferns, liverworts and sedges growing in its damp, cold passageways. Footing ranged from slippery rock to deep, slippery mud with some logs and rocks to use to hop across.
We encountered the ladder and some stairs that helped us climb out of the canyon and back into the forest. After a short, mellow stretch, we dropped into one more canyon and parkoured our way through. It was fun to balance and maneuver on, over and around obstacles to get to the other side. I left Aaron at the van and went back out to link up several other trails in the park.
The Perimeter
From the parking area, I roughly made a counter-clockwise loop around the perimeter of the park like so: Trail 1 – Trail 2 – Trail 1 – Trail 4 – Trail 10 – Trail 3 – Trail 5 – Trail 3. Confused? Yeah, me too. I tried to find the biggest loop I could with no trail segment repeats while hitting the most named features, but that was impossible. A few surprise trail closures made me change my route on the fly as well. I highly recommend having a paper copy of the map as well as a map on your phone so you can navigate the many interconnecting paths in this park! Though I had to re-do some sections of the ladder canyon hike I’d done in the morning, I did them in the opposite direction, which was pretty fun.
At this time of year, the deciduous forest was brown and mostly barren. The very first flowers of spring were poking their heads through the dry, crinkly leaf litter. I observed trout lilies, violets, blodroot, toothwort and two species of Dicentra! Plus, I noticed several insects who were excitedly visiting these early bloomers.
Most of the trails I’d hiked that afternoon were much more casual and tame than the canyons I explored with Aaron. But they were peaceful, enjoyable, relaxing. After crossing the Narrows Covered Bridge, I walked to the edge of the picnic are and pulled out my lunch. I sat on the ground, put my backpack behind me and reclined into my bag full of unnecessary layers. By then, the temperature had risen and I was overjoyed to feel the sun’s warmth on my skin.
After that nice rest stop, I lollygagged on the outer trails. The map showed a Trail 12 that would take me around the area of the park I investigated earlier, but alas it was not accessible. That meant I had to repeat two sections of trail 3, one uphill and one downhill. I was not too sad about it. On the home stretch, I noticed a little path that led down to the river and a small beach area. I popped down there for another rest break by the water. I looked and listened for birds as I took a reclining position on the riverbank.
All in all, I spent a good chunk of the day poking around this park. It was beautiful, even before spring had really sprung. It was mostly quiet, especially in the morning. There was plenty of room to spread out on the numerous trails. And, there was something for everyone. My favorite parts of the park were in the narrow canyons because they were fun to explore and the plant life was totally different in there. I’d be interested to visit this park in the different seasons to see what else lives there.
I will not have enough time to visit too many places in Indiana, so I was grateful to see this really cool park in the first few days of our stay here.
