Turkey Run State Park in western Indiana

Hot, tired and dehydrated, I eagerly anticipated my return to civilization. There were still seventy more stairs up to the parking lot, however...

Finally back to the real world. Now if I could just find my car...

Leaving the park, I headed a short distance west to the gravel road that leads to the Cox Ford covered bridge.

The Cox Ford Bridge is a classic wooden covered bridge, built in 1913, that carries a gravel road across Sugar Creek.

This is the northern portal of the bridge...

Brad_Olson


I see that the Turkey Run Inn is the in-park restaurant.  Has anyone ever eaten there?  I guess I should figure an extra $7 if I stop for a meal...
 
Brad

Brad,
 
I don't know about  the Turkey Run State Park Inn restaurant but the restaurant  at the Spring Mill State Park Inn has an excellent dinner buffet.
 
The buffet has great fresh fried chicken, roast beef or pork roast, some kind of pasta: great homemade salads & a salad bar: a good selection of veggies: hot rolls & a drink.  Best of all a whole separate case of homemake desserts-always sugar cream pie & in the fall & winter, persimmon pudding. 
 
Cost for adults is around $9.00.
 
Most of Indiana state park inns were build in the 1930's by CCC boys & I love the rustic architecture.  The dining room at Spring Mill has a large limestone fireplace & it is very warm & cosy when it is cold outside.
 
 

Great pictures. I know you worked up an appetite.

What kind of camera do you use?

Thanks, Mike. Yep, I did work up quite an appetite. Unfortunately, as you'll see in the next several posts, satisfying that appetite didn't work out the way that I had hoped for. My camera is a Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS. It's a terrific little camera, definitely the best hundred and fifty bucks that I've spent in a long time. 

Clara, thanks for the info.  I'm travelling to Ohio in a couple of weeks and have decided to overnight at either Turkey Run or Fort Harrison, depending on who else is going along and what our schedule is.  The rates for the inns are extremely reasonable.

Unlike Nocarolina, however, I'll probably limit my hiking to going from my room to the restaurant and back again.

Brad

Oh, come on, Brad! You know that you'd have no problem tackling one of those two or three mile hiking trails at Turkey Run, especially the one with the ladders. If a broken-down, decrepit old fart like me can do it, then you can too!        

I second Clara's recommendation RE the food at most of the Indiana (and Kentucky) State Parks. Many of them have "Inns" with reasonable and clean lodging and excellent restaurants in the Inn. We have used the facilities at Spring Mill SP, that she mentioned, and Clifty Falls SP near Madison. We have also enjoyed the General Butler SP and Barren Lake SP in Kentucky. The rooms at the Inns were as good or better than most motels, and I second the "good and reasonable" food comments made above.

Actually the Turkey Run SP Inn dates to 1919 and not the CCC days of the 30s. I'm pretty sure I hiked every trail in that park over the years and can tell you on the weekend there is no private area in the park no matter how remote as I found out at my Senior Prom picnic.

The park has the most impressive old growth sycamore trees probably in the whole state. At the east end of the park and in the park near the old mill is another covered bridge, longer than Cox Ford. Parke County, where Turkey Run SP is located has 31 such covered bridges, the largest concentration in the United States. At one time I had visited them all - 43 years ago. I stopped at a few of them just three years ago.

Speaking of state park lodges, I know a lot of roadfooders take the Indiana Toll Road across the northern half of Indiana. Pokagon State Park has a great lodge and restaurant in the very northeastern corner of the state.

I had hoped to resume this thread over the weekend, but sometimes "life" interferes with the best-laid plans. Anyway, back to the roadtrip...  After leaving the Turkey Run area, I headed south on US 41 to Terre Haute, where I hoped to find a decent indie restaurant for a late lunch. South of the downtown area, I found a promising looking place called JD's Steak Grille & Pub. The sign on the building mentioned barbecue. I didn't get a photo of the building, but here's their menu...  

I saw that they had barbecued brisket on the menu, and since I love Texas-style que, I decided to give it a try. Of course I wasn't expecting the quality that you find in the Lone Star state, but I was hoping for at least a reasonable facsimile. Here is what I got...

I was very disappointed with this meal. The meat didn't look or taste like any barbecued brisket that I've had before; in fact it reminded me more of second-rate pot roast. The barbecued beans and Texas toast were only so-so, but at least the sauce was pretty decent. After I got home, I did a Google search and discovered that JD's had been open less than a month. Hopefully, they'll get their act together in the near future. 

nocarolina


Last week I made a one-day roadtrip from the Chicago area down to Turkey Run State Park in west central Indiana. The park is located on S.R. 47, just a few miles east of US 41 and approximately twenty-five miles north of Terre Haute. Turkey Run became a state park in 1916, and was the second one established in Indiana. What makes the park so popular with visitors are the many deep canyons and sandstone cliffs that seem so out of place in a relatively flat state like Indiana. 

Only the Northern half of Indiana is flat. Southern Indiana is very hilly. Indianapolis is roughly the dividing line.
 
Anyway, I love Turkey Run. Shades State park is also very nice. I enjoy canoeing the Sugar Creek.

Bob,
 
Another outstanding report with great pictures as usual.  Thanks for taking the time to share with us.

Awesome pictures. Have you ever been to McCormick's Creek State park in Owen Co?

Nope, never been to McCormick's Creek. I'm very familiar with southern Indiana, though. In fact, one of my favorite places on this globe is Whitewater Valley in Franklin County; I've driven through it on US 52 hundreds of times ( not an exaggeration ) over the years, and I love spending time down there during the green months. Also Brown County, which I passed through on this roadtrip. BTW, thanks, Aaron and Rob, for the kind words about my report ... more to come. 

Leaving Terre Haute, I headed east on S.R. 46 towards scenic Brown County. Along 46, I found this classic old box truss bridge over a small river. America used to have thousands of this type of highway bridge, but most of them are gone now.

Just a short distance past the box truss bridge, I passed through the tiny community of Bowling Green IN. Architecturally, this little town is a hoot; it's like a trip back in time. 

Late in the afternoon, and still heading east on S.R. 46, I arrived in Bloomington IN, the location of the main campus of Indiana University. I'm not a sports fan, but I know that many of my fellow roadfooders are, so I took a photo of IU's Memorial Stadium...

That's a beautiful covered bridge up there.

I'm very much liking these reports - southern Indiana has really grown on me lately.
Have you been through Story? The whole (very small) town has been turned into an inn.

Memorial Stadium (or as they call it "The House") is really not that impressive though they are making improvements on it.  Assembly Hall is right next door and is home to more memorable sports moments in Bloomington.  Not really a great facility either (it's more like a theater than an arena) but I watched some great games there growing up. 

Leaving Bloomington, I continued east on S.R. 46 through Brown County to Columbus IN, the home of the recently reopened roadfood classic Zaharako's. As Brown County is one of the most scenic regions in Indiana, I really wanted to stop and take some photos. Unfortunately, since I was trying very hard to get to Zaharako's before their 8PM closing time, stopping to take pictures just wasn't a possibility ( next time though. ) 

Luckily, I made it to Zaharako's about fifteen minutes before they closed their doors, so I was able to  have one of their very tasty cheese-br-gers for dinner. I didn't take any photos there that evening, so you'll have to settle for a few shots that I took when I was there in June, just after it reopened...

With dinner out of the way, it was time to point the car towards Chicago and head home for some badly needed sleep, and that's exactly what I did.  As the pig in the cartoons always says, that's all, folks! 

This is an old thread, but I just joined. If the original poster has been thru Franlin County on 52, I would like to recomend the Hearthstone, great fried chicken, in an area where fried chicken is a way of life

Do you have an address for the Hearthstone that you can give for those of us who would like to seek it out?

Thanks, Bob45, for the recommendation, but I have eaten at the Hearthstone a few times over the years and yes, the fried chicken is very good. And since Metamora is one of my favorite places on the planet, I'm more than a little envious of you for being able to call the town home. Louis, the Hearthstone is very easy to find. If you're heading east on US 52 towards Cincinnati, just continue past Metamora for a mile or so and it'll be on your left... you can't miss it. BTW, the little rental cabins on the hillside just above the restaurant were featured briefly in the film Rain Man with Dustin Hoffman.

I'll take a pre-order of that book, too! I live in Marietta GA, close to 41. My middle son goes to St. Joseph Seminary at Loyola in Chicago. Off 41. I'd love to do the 41 run at some point. Hopefully in my '65 Rambler American sedan, hauling my '66 Apache Eagle popup.

Great thread, Bob- as an IU Alum I appreciated even 1 pic of B'ton (aka the Gultch).
There are alot of funny/pretty places around southern Indiana.
Gnawbone, Needmore, etc.