shades state park

just East of Shades. very nice. has a natural bridge, unusual rock formations, scenic deep woods, nice bluffs. takes 1 hour to go around the whole thing. I wish they would hve left the parking lot off HWY 324 as now you have to go thru shades to get to it.Is nice to visit in winter too

This is our favorite place to camp in central Indiana. Seems like you can always get a site here (book well in advance for holidays though), the rangers are extremely helpful, and the place is just beautiful. Turkey run has better trails, but it's always booked and all the sites are electric, plus you can always stay at shades and make the short drive over to Turkey run and go hiking, which is what we do. It takes me an hour and 15 minutes from Carmel to get to shades, and we always do a river trip on Sugar Creek while we're staying (I strongly recommend Clement's Canoes...they are amazing). DON"T TRY TO WALK FROM THE CAMPGROUND TO THE NATURE PRESERVE. Made that mistake once and half the group turned around after the 3 mile hike to get to the hike. It is a cool hike though, just drive there. Summary: We love, love, love Shades State Park for camping, hiking, and floating down Sugar Creek (saw 3 bald eagles on the river on memorial day...'Merica).

I was going to Turkey Run SP and I learned about Shades SP by accident. It was the most pleasant surprise. Very nice hiking trails from easy to rouged. Fantastic ,old ,tall trees.People keep dogs on leashes, no running, no screaming 'no leaving a garbage behind. After a hiking I stopped for a meal on one of picnic areas .It was quiet , clean and I decided to finish reading a newspaper.There's a canoeing on Sugar Creek. Beautiful views but canoeing pretty hard because of rocky creek bed. I loved every minute spent there. I passed three covered bridges.

Went to Shades for a long weekend and it was awesome! Love the hiking at Shades and at Turkey Run. I will say I loved hiking around Shades better than Turkey Run but at the time it was Father's Day when we went to Turkey Run so it was quite busy. Shades has awesome places to hike and the camping was perfect. Weather was perfect and the area was nice and clean. Showers were warm and bathrooms were clean. Trails and all were great!! Indiana has many hidden treasures.

This is a great park for hiking, and I consider it the sister park to Turkey Run. Both of which I have hiked many times since I was a teenager. Great trails, easy to rugged. We stayed one night in the campground (a Friday). The campground is right in the woods, and beautiful. The cons of the campground are: 1) ralther small, poorly layed out spaces. Looking at a few of them that were empty, I'm not sure where you would put a tent as the fire pit is stuck right in the middle of the open space. 2) The showers/bathrooms were dirty. Even after they cleaned them Sat morning the shower had the same used Qtips on the floor, & the cleaning person didn't even bother to flush the toilets. 3) While the quiet hours were followed, it was LOUD before and after. $) Only one shower house/flush toilets for a large campground. They need about 2 more the same size. Not sure about the womens side, but the mens side has 3 showers ---for the entire campgroun. We will probably not stay in this campground again.

I am now 73 yrs old and have the most wonderful memories of this park as a child. My parents took my brother and I there several times as children. The trails were just plain great. My memories of this place are as vivid today as they were 60 yrs ago. We lived in Chicago then and a trip to this place was indeed a journey. My daughter has been to the park also, however her daughter has not -- at least not yet. I am soon to become a great grandmother and hope that my grand daughter and her children have the opportunity to see the wonders of this beautiful and magical place.

went in late Oct- trails are a bit rugged and wet, not for elderly or younsters. very nice canyons and bluffs. at least as pretty as Turkey Run

We have been hiking at the Shades for over 20 years. It's such a gem. We just spend the afternoon there hiking and it was spectacular! The fall colors are vibrant!. If you like rugged hiking this place is for you. Trail 2 is one of my favorite all time trails. It follows a creek bed. Go left at the top of the entry stairs because that will lead you up the creek bed and in my opinion that is the most scenic way to experience trail 2. Other favorites are trails 4 and 5 they are moderate/rugged and have ladders to climb. Do the moderate half first and the rugged half will lead back up. Both are short but challenging and simply gorgeous no matter what season. All of the trails are fabulous, but 2,4 and 5 are must do for us each time we visit. Take lunch or a decent snack as there is not any place close by for eats. There is a modern restroom at the Hickory shelter; all others are well kept pit toilets. It's never crowded at the Shades. It is remote and rugged. Great place to really relax and just take in nature's beauty. It's so stunning there that it's hard to believe you are in Indiana. We just went on 11-2 and there are plenty of leaves to be amazed by. Unless there are big storms this week, it should still be really pretty with lots of fall color over the next week or so. If you have not had a chance to get out and hike this fall and you are not into some of the fall crowds at other SPs give the Shades a try. You will not be disappointed.

The hiking trails at Shades are not to be missed. My kids (aged 2, 4, & 10) especially loved hiking up the creekbed. A few of the trails were challenging, which is exactly what we were looking for as we are an active "outdoorsy" family. The trails were not crowded at all, even on a beautiful summer weekend. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure the reason the trails were deserted is that all the other campers were still zipped up in their tents, sleeping off their hangovers. The campsite we had was pretty nice (#17 if I remember correctly) and it was good-sized and clean, but the other campers were really obnoxious. The quiet hours were not enforced AT ALL. Stereos blasting, someone with a guitar playing and drunkenly slurring the same song over and over, a dog that barked literally nonstop, and a little kid that screamed for hours. I saw a park employee pass by on a golf cart once or twice, but he didn't seem to be asking people to quiet down. I'd recommend the campground to my college-age friends, but not for families with young children. We will most likely return to Shades State Park for the awesome hiking, but we won't be camping next time.

Almost gave this park a 5 star review, but the campground did have some issues that you do not see in other top-rung campgrounds. The Shades campground is non-electric, but that does not stop RVs from entering and running a generator. We had one across from our site the entire weekend. Also, I would choose your site carefully if you are reserving online- some sites near the main roads can be tiny and high traffic. The outer loop sites seem the best- although they are closer together than the 5 star camgrounds we've visited. All campgrounds have short picnic tables, and trash was left at our camp site and the three others our group reserved. The hiking here is first rate- some of the trails meader up through streams and seem perfect for children. We had a group that included kids ages 4 to 14, and all where "wowed" by hiking through the ravines. We also took a canoe trip on the river, another extremely fun activity at this park. All in all, a fantastic weekend for families.

We were on our way to Turkey Run and decided to check out Shades on the way. I am so glad we did! We wanted a secluded spot to camp with no electricity, good hiking and quiet. Except for a couple of nights when someone could not live without their radio. Shades was the perfect spot. Plus there are flush toilets and showers. The trails range from easy to rugged.

Shades State Park has a great campground. They have a modern restroom, but no electricity at the campsites. This cuts down on RVs and makes it a great place for tents. The hiking trails are beautiful - our boys love the rugged trails through the ravines and up and down the ladders.

Shades State Park - very nice, less crowded park! They have a nice, non-electric campgrounds, a real nice day drive through picnic area (Hemlock) - first come first serve "camp site" complete with picnic tables and grills for your own family day campsite/picnic area. Playgrounds and modern restrooms at main trail head. If you like to hike, you should add this park as a place to go. Also if you like to play in the water, there is public launch for canoes or rafting down sugar creek just up the road. We complete 4 trails (1, 4, 5, 7) rated Moderate - Rugged all the a 4 yr old girl in tow. Much more hiking to be done that we didn't get too so looking forward going back to explore more. If you are looking for a more quiet park, than this is where you should go...avoid the crowds of Turkey Run as hiking scenery is very similar.

I am sorry we did not go here, we spent a night at Clements Campground in the most horrific of cabins I have ever stayed in, and we stayed a pretty filthy one on Lake Barkley a few years ago. I and my two daughters rented a cabin sight unseen for about a hundred a night. My little one cried all night because she was freaked out by the creepiness of the place. I must say that someone was nice enough to stay late because we were late arriving. However after I saw the cabin I tried to go back to tell them it wasn't going to work. Don't know if Shades has cabins wish I would have stopped, because cell service is poor in the area.

Shades is a well kept secret among Indiana State Parks. There are not any extra amenities at this park, but if you seek peace and quiet, you'll like it.