Taking advantage of the July 4th weekend, we decided to open the camper up for a longer haul and took a weekend trip to Turkey Run State Park in Marshall, IN. We picked Turkey Run because it was a bit farther than we had traveled before with the camper, about 3.5 hours from Chicago, and was somewhere we've never camped. Years before, I had gone there for a tubing trip and always wanted to go back.
The Goods
Park Entrance Fee
We stayed at the Turkey Run State Park Campground, which is about a mile down the road from the state park entrance. The $7.00 entrance fee to the campground (in addition to the normal reservation fees) got us in and out of the state park all weekend long.
TREES
The trees were incredible. We got a site that was full shade, with trees standing at least 30+ feet tall. The temperature all weekend was in the 100's, but given the tree cover, it stayed a comfortable temperature all day, and surprisingly cool at night.
Canoeing, and tubing, and hiking, oh my!
There are a ton of activities at Turkey Run- canoeing, tubing, horseback riding, hiking, and swimming to name just a few. The park is a stark difference from the rest of Indiana- the flat corn fields are replaced by deep gorges, sharp ravines, and over-sized trees- giving an entertaining backdrop for any activity. You can rent a tube or canoe directly across the street from the park and campground- half day or more for less than $20. And the pool entrance fee is 2 bucks. Awesome.
Bonus! The campground store has a Slush Puppie machine, there's a great park, and the showers were some of the best camping showers I've seen.
The Not-So-Goods
Privacy
Because of the thick tree cover, there's not much ground growth. This translates to little brush and wide open camp sites. You can see what your neighbor is up to. And, by that I mean, you can see what he's eating for breakfast. And maybe his gold tooth, too.
Travel time from Chicago
There's really no direct way to get to Turkey Run. Google gave us 3 different options, and none of them were nice, direct highway routes. We ended up picking the path that took us through Lafayette (home of Purdue University) because it had the least amount of turns. It was a bit slow moving, and kinda boring, but at least we got to see the wind farm outside of Chicago.
Other Stuff
There's nothing else around there. Really nothing. We had to go on a 30 minute journey for alcohol. We passed the Rockville Women's Correctional Facility before we found a liquor store.
Speaking of Alcohol, that.
No alcohol is sold on Sundays, anywhere. Since we arrived on Sunday, this was not fun. Plan ahead.
Overall, I'd give Turkey Run two thumbs up, but whether i'd put it in the top 10 Midwest Campsites remains to be seen. The drive was long, but the State Park definitely makes it worth your while. Skip on over (with your beer in hand), pull into a nice, shaded campsite, and hike or tube your way through all the natural beauty, nestled in the farmlands of Indiana, that Turkey Run has to offer.
