Location: take Hwy. 47 southwest out of Crawfordsville. Turn right onto Hwy. 234 and follow the signs; 234 turns north just before the entrance to shades.

Description: One of my favorite State Parks, Shades is Turkey Run State Park’s poor relation. Turkey Run has a swimming pool, an inn, family cabins, horse barn, and a beautiful nature center that is staffed all year. Shades has some camping spaces. As a result, Turkey Run is always crowded (at least during the regular season) while Shades can offer some very uncrowded hiking; I have hiked there on some days when I never saw anyone else on the trail. The canyons are not quite as spectacular as those in Turkey Run, but they’re not bad. There is one very unusual waterfall (Silver Cascade) that’s worth seeing. A lot of the trails follow streambeds, so be prepared. Shades is densely wooded and lies along Sugar Creek. There are not many facilities at Shades, but it is a very pretty spot.

Nearby Points of Interest: Turkey Run State Park , down the road a piece on Hwy. 47. Pine Hills Nature Preserve, just keep going on Hwy. 234 where it turns north before the Shades entrance road. You should also be able to find a couple of covered bridges (one northeast of Shades, one on the road bordering Turkey Run’s east side) and several places selling honey and maple syrup (yum!).

Cautions: Keep to the trails for safety and for the sake of the park; they’ll go wherever you want to go. Several trails follow stream beds and can be slippery. There’s LOTS of stairs.

Ownership: Indiana Dept. of Natural Resources

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