I’d always heard of Turkey Run State Park, lots of people have said it’s really pretty, but I’d never remembered much detail. I’d never researched it myself either. I always assumed it was a family trap (nothing wrong with that!), but at this point I’m more interested in harder, more adventurous hikes. Little did I know that Turkey Run was EXACTLY that. I can’t believe I’d always brushed it off all this time without even researching it. Let’s just say it will be a regular stop on my rotation now! If you’ve never been, enjoy these amazing pictures.
On November 2, I got kind of a late start out of Indy that day and arrived at the park at about 3:00 pm. This was the last day of DST this year, so I had an extra hour of evening daylight, so about 4 or so hours until sunset. When I first got there, I figured I’d hike an hour or two and leave. Come to find out, I needed every second of daylight I had left to complete this epic hike!
Ok, so the park has the cool factor going for it already. Great river views, and a very cool bridge. Little did I know I was about to be dazzled further right off the bat.
At this point I had a choice. I could either keep exploring these amazing canyons right away, or break off into the forest for 2 or 3 miles for the top half of the park. I decided to do the north forest and river loop first, which I knew would lead me back to the other (bigger) canyons that I hadn’t seen yet. Saving the best for last was my plan.
The trip down the river to complete the forest loop was beautiful. There were rock walls, an old coal mine cave, and beautiful blue skies.
The suspension bridge acted as a “center point” to the north and south sides of the park. I started at the bridge, was halfway finished at the bridge, and would ultimately finish at the bridge. Next up was my trip through the canyons and another forest loop on the south side of the park. The Park map showed that most of the cool factor action was over there, so off I went!
Below is a set of pictures inside a huge bowl I crawled down into. A couple of them are from a viewpoint of looking straight up, hence the wierd angles.
The image below by the river I got by accident. I say that, because I took a very rugged, steep, rock/root maneuvering way of descending down to the river. I thought it was the actual path, I was thinking “man this path just got hard”. Even after getting down to river I had to walk through 5″ of water to get to the sand bar. (Thank you 8″ boots).. Once I got down here I realized that this trail ended at the river. Turns out, I was off trail. I had taken a side jaunt down to the river. I’m glad I did, because the sun peeked out just in time for this amazing Fall shot with river reflection to boot:
If you look close in the picture above, the suspension bridge is just down the way. That’s where I started the day, and where I would end the day. I knew my day was almost over. Good thing, as the sun is getting low now. Since I didn’t want to swim to the bridge, I made my way back up this rock climbing side path back up the main trail. Back up there I took in a couple last sights for the day.
Thank you for reading and looking at all my pictures, and more importantly showing interest in my adventures this year. I’ve come a LONG way since my transplant (it’s been about 1 3/4 years since then, I can’t believe it). I just love this active healthy lifestyle that I’m able to have now, I’m so very thankful. Thankful for being healthy, thankful for my cousin Dennis for giving me this chance, and thankful for all my friends and family supporting me all the way. It sure beats being hooked up to a machine, that’s for sure!
I turn 50 in a little over 6 months. What adventure is in store for that big occasion? Hmmm…. stay tuned.
Terry – November, 2019
[…] visiting Turkey Run State Park for an epic day hike a few weeks ago, I was in the mood to check out another State Park I’d […]