Ladders, Bridges, and Ravines: Turkey Run and Shades State Parks

I cannot even begin to describe how much I loved these hikes. Right here in Indiana, which you think of as flat and corn fields as far as the eye can see, you've got these two gems. 

We hiked an absurd amount, and I can't believe the kids and Hank held up for it. It's an hour drive from our house, so we geared up, and hit Turkey Run first. 

We started with trails 6, 7, and 11 as a warm-up hike. The kids were super excited when they realized we would be hiking through a ravine and a mostly dried up creek, jumping back and forth over the water. They also very much enjoyed the stairs and the little lookout spot. 

We then combined trails 1, 3, 5, and 10 to create a very wobbly loop around--and we even split up at some points because...

Ladders! Yes! We had to climb ladders! I! Love! This! Hike! What's not to love? Hiking through ravines, along creeks, through creeks, up ladders, past waterfalls, over a freaking suspension bridge... It was The Best. 

Alas, Hank could not hike up a ladder, so we took turns finding an alternate route with Hank, while the other person climbed with the kids. 

After that, which was a solid 5 miles at that point, we headed out to go home except WHOOPS maybe not, we decided to really quick go over to Shades State Park, which is only 15 minutes from Turkey Run. Because we are bananas, we then went on ANOTHER hike of trails 1 and 4, adding on 2 miles. 

JD passed out in the car on the ride back, and I am pretty sure EJ did too. Hank had only been with us for a week at that point, but he seemed thrilled with the entire thing.

Honestly, some of my favorite hiking. It was just wonderful. It was very easy to choose your own adventure--you could keep it easy, or you could make a really hard hike out of it. It's pretty critical here to have good hiking boots or shoes, because you're often doing some light rock scrambling, and the rocks can be slick. I saw more than one person wearing flip flops with blood running down their leg from a fall. 

Some of this was on the edge of JD's abilities--not because he couldn't do it, because he's a climber and loves danger, but because I needed him to listen and do as I said, when I said it. That's a harder skill for him, and he has not yet learned to assess the best path to take, so there were points where I needed to be behind him for safety (the ladders) but I knew when we got up the ladders, it was slick and he needed to choose carefully where to step. Luckily, EJ is quite excellent at finding the best path to take, so she went ahead and assessed things for us while we brought up the rear. 

Anyway, the kids loved it and were already asking to go back.

Upcoming: Indiana Dunes National Park

I am EXCITED for spring break. I know we had a (rather glorious, if I say so myself) trip to the Great Smokey Mountain National Park planned that we had to abandon, but I am excited for our little trip sessions that we are taking. GSMNP, we'll see you soon.

On the menu instead is (1) Chicago (gonna hit some museums, eat some pizza, and stay in a fancy hotel with a pool); (2) Indiana Dunes National Park; (3) Gabis Arboretum (which as TRAILS and TRAINS, could this be more perfect for us? Probably not); (4) Shades State Park; and (5) Turkey Run State Park. The Chicago - Indiana Dunes - Gabis section is all on one loop, so we will take a few days do that. Shades and Turkey Run are going to be day trips, so we will leave early in the morning and return late afternoon. There's an off chance that we will also do a daytrip to Brown County, but I am betting that we actually do one of our beloved Fort Ben hikes instead. 

Indiana Dunes NP and Indiana Dunes SP are right next to each other, so we may go back and forth into both. I'd love to do the 3 dune challenge, which has an elevation gain of about 550 ft--hey, it's Indiana, we take what we can get for elevation gains. We are also hoping to do Cowles Bog Trail, Dune Succession Trail, and/or Tolleston Dunes Trail. Gabis has lots of 1-2 mile trails, but honestly, we are going to have a hard time pulling JD away from the trains. We may take turns with adults hiking while the other does the train thing. 

Shades and Turkey Run are within a stone's throw of each other. they've got similar topography--ravines, cliffs, waterfalls, etc. There are long span bridges, stairs cutting down ravines, and even ladders to climb alongside waterfalls. Depending on how good of a time we are having, we may do two separate day trips to them, or combine into one long day. We'd really like to do the 6 Ravine Challenge--really give the kids a challenge--but we will just have to make that call the day of. They can definitely do it, but it may depend on how well JD slept that night. That's a 650 elevation gain, so it would be a big one, and we might take almost half a day to do. JK and I could do it at a good clip, but our goal with kid hiking is get them to love and enjoy it, not march them along. 

Coming along with us this trip, other than humans: (1) EJ's new backpack; (2) JD using the Osprey Moki for the first time on a longer hike; (3) testing out new water filtration devices; (4) my new Hoka trail running shoes; (5) if weather permits, I am going to try my Chacos and see how they do for hiking; (6) JD's new hiking Keens; and (7) new hiking pants for JK. 

Indiana State Parks and Indiana Dunes National Park

We planned, and the universe laughed. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is off; Indiana State Parks and Indiana Dunes National Park is on!

We decided to put GSMNP on hold for either a winter trip or a spring next year trip. We had a few projects come up that we decided made it smarter to have a shorter time away. We are installing a new master closet in our house all my our own selves, and it's going to take some dedicated, focused time that we will have over spring break, if we aren't gone for all of it. Then, our washer started its Final Cycle Into Imminent Death, and the closest delivery we could get was during spring break (please, Washer Gods, let the washer last until then).

All in all, a smarter decision to have a shorter trip away and make sure we have time at home to get these projects done and settled. 

The Plan. One day and one night in Turkey Run State Park and Shades State Park. This is an easy combo, since the two are only about 15 minutes away from each other, and we will try out the Inn at Turkey Run. We've been meaning to go to these two, especially this winter, because Turkey Run has fantastic rock formations along the creek, and when the creek freezes, you get a hike you can only do a few weeks out of the year. ALAS, our plans were foiled by me and JD getting covid in early February, so it will be a wet spring trip. We've got some neat hikes picked out, and hopefully it won't be too muddy.

From there, we head on up to Indiana Dunes National Park and the neighboring Indiana Dunes State Park. We planned out two full hiking days there, and staying at a nearby hotel. Again, have some nice trail options picked out and we are excited about the water views, even if we are staying far, far away from that frigid nonsense.

As a grand finale, we are going to head over to Chicago and spend the night there. We will hit up hopefully three museums that the kids will lose their minds over, and get some Chicago-style pizza (or... not, if you are JK and allergic to tomato). There will also be train rides, naturally.

We will head home after a full day in Chicago.