A Camping Weekend at Turkey Run
We tube and hike at one of Indiana's prettiest state parks
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My husband Jeff and I first fell in love with Turkey Run State Park the summer after we moved to Indianapolis in our twenties.
At the time, our church did a yearly camping trip and we decided to join the festivities. We loved our secluded tent site in the trees along the ravine. We hiked the canyons and waterfalls. We made good memories and swore we would return.
Except we didn’t return for several more years. It wasn’t until the month before we moved our family to Texas that we finally took the time to make camping plans with our two small children. We once again hiked the trails, only this time at a much slower pace as we had to help both kids climb over rocks and up ladders. Our kids rode around the loops, one on a tricycle and one with training wheels. We lamented that it had taken us so long to make the return trip.
When we moved back to Indiana from Texas, we were desperate to help our children once again see the beauty of their birth state. We took a day trip to Turkey Run to hike the trails. It was one of the first times they were able to look at an Indiana landmark without disdain. For a few hours, we had our happy, inquisitive children back. They were six years older and far more seasoned hikers. They took to the trails like champs and agreed we needed to someday camp in the park.
The problem is, Turkey Run is one of the most popular state parks in Indiana. It’s not just the miles of gorgeous trails. The large campground hosts plenty of campers. The creek that runs through the state park hosts hundreds of tubers and kayakers during the summer months. It is nearly impossible to get a campsite unless you plan well in advance.
But my amazing husband had put us on the waiting list, and as soon as a spot opened up in May, he made the June weekend reservation without consulting me. He knew I would say yes. Even better, we would be camping for our son’s thirteenth birthday and Father’s Day. We couldn’t have asked for better timing.
Jeff took a half day, which meant we could leave and arrive well before dinner. This was especially important because the construction zones around Indianapolis had made navigating around the I-465 loop difficult, at best. As soon as we were parked, our kids took off on their bikes, ready to explore the campground. After a couple of weeks of summer and ignoring each other, our two (almost) teenagers were thick as thieves. They returned from their exploration to beg us to hike the trail they found in the back of the campground. They had started down the trail on bikes but had to stop as soon as they reached stairs. We agreed to the hike after we visited the camp store and picked up a map.
The map said Trail 7 was less than a mile loop. That sounded easy enough. Except we forgot we were in Turkey Run. There is no such thing as a flat trail in the state park. Our kids took off ahead of us. Jeff and I followed in their footsteps, noticing the tire tracks their bikes had left in the mud only an hour before. We walked down a hill and then a set of stairs to the ravine below. Our kids jumped from rock to rock over the slow stream of water. We eventually arrived on the banks of Sugar Creek before joining Trail 6 up to the Inn.
The hike back to the campground wasn’t any easier. We had to head up stairs and steep hills to get out of the ravine and away from the creek. Both of our kids were still well ahead of us. It wasn’t until we returned that we discovered our daughter sitting inside the camper nursing a hurt ankle. She had stepped wrong and twisted her ankle. I quickly supplied her with ice from the icemaker that had been going since arrival. The scary swelling eventually sent Jeff and I looking for any kind of open pharmacy so we could at least wrap it in a brace to help her move around better.
Before we left for the weekend, Jeff had made it clear that tubing, not hiking, was his primary goal for the weekend. And with the heat wave arriving in Indiana while we were camping, it appeared to be the right decision. There are multiple companies that run trips up and down Sugar Creek, which runs through both Shades (which we have yet to visit) and Turkey Run State Park. We settled on the closest, Sugar Valley, and got the last available spots on the 2:00 trip.
Everyone sprayed down with a layer of sunscreen and we headed down the river, spending the next two and a half hours splashing, laughing, and relaxing as we tubed three miles in the state park.
The time relaxing in the tube was good for our daughter, as she still got to do something fun while nursing her swollen ankle. By the time we returned to our campsite and she rested a little bit more, she felt good enough to play a few rounds of cornhole, proving that an injured ankle wasn’t going to hold her back from winning at least one round.
Before we went on the tubes, we visited the nature center. On our way out, our son discovered the map of a five-mile hike. Then he saw some of the pictures of landmarks on the hike.
We were headed for the river, but he knew what he wanted to do. I wanted to do the hike also, but the weekend was going to be hot and I knew nearly three hours in the sun on the river would sap all of us of our energy.
I agreed to go with him the following morning if he was willing to wake up early. We needed to take advantage of the cool morning and we needed to be finished in time for us to head home.
He not only agreed to it, he got up and was ready to head out on the trail as soon as I woke him up. It was a challenge I really wanted to complete, but it was also one of the hardest trails I’ve ever done, even harder than the hike to the Lighthouse where we were in Palo Duro Canyon. We climbed stairs and up rocky canyons. We stepped on rocks and logs to cross streams. We completed the hike in three hours, and I was thankful for the shade over nearly the entire connection of trails.
When we returned, we grabbed the rest of the family for a Father’s Day lunch at the inn before heading home. Despite a handful of mishaps, I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend camping with my family. And Turkey Run continues to be one of our favorites, a park we will have to return to for more hiking when our daughter has a healthy ankle.
Want to see all of the pictures from our weekend? You can access the full gallery here.
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Beautiful photos!!!