Bloomington, IN: Cedar Bluff Nature Preserve (halfway up)

This past Sunday was the first nice day we've had in ages, so we got out of the house and went on a little adventure to Cedar Bluff Nature Preserve.


Cedar Bluffs is off the beaten track, west of Lake Monroe, and it's imperative you follow the directions listed on the website (we also had Google Maps up, and Eric the Navigator got us there with no mishaps). There is a small parking area that can hold a few cars (there were 5 others when we were there).

There is a well-marked, short, narrow trail that leads through the woods to a creek. It felt so nice to be out in nature with the sun shining (no rain) and we quickly traversed the trail.

There were a lot of wildflowers blooming on the opposite side of the creek. As far as we could tell, the only way to get over to that side was to ford the creek. A couple going fishing, in waders, with big dogs, did just that while we were there.

The next thing to do on the trail is to go up. The point of the hike is to get to the top of a limestone bluff that overlooks this area of southern Indiana. That sounded awesome, so we started climbing.

Well, we made it to this first little landing. It was incredibly muddy and there isn't much to hold on to to climb up this hill. We were wearing hiking shoes, but I still slipped a couple of times and even Eric was having some trouble. (I guess that's what happens when it rains for a month.) We decided to call it a day and slowly made our way back down.

Hopefully we'll be able to try this again when it's drier and easier to climb! If you've been here, any advice?