Marshall, IN: Hiking at Turkey Run State Park - Trail 3


From our campsite at Shades, around lunchtime on Saturday we packed up a lunch and headed on the 15-20 minute drive over to Turkey Run State Park.


We've wanted to check out Turkey Run for years now (both of the previous camping trips we've tried to convince our friends to drive the extra distance to go here, to no avail, until this year).


I was half-nervously watching the weather for this weekend, since with all the hurricanes we normally wind up getting some (or a lot) of that rain. Luckily, we had no rain forecast for Friday or Saturday! Unluckily - for those of us who like to be alone in nature - it was beautiful and in the 80s all weekend. We had lots and lots of other people around for nearly the whole time we were in the park.




But we still had an enjoyable time. Turkey Run is beautiful! The 11 of us (pictured below) set off across the suspension bridge (which is awesome) and headed on the first of our hikes.



Two of our group, David and Kathy, hike at TR often and we followed their advice (and the internet's advice) for which trails to do. Trail 3 had been highly recommended as a "must do" trail at the park, so that's what we started with.




We immediately ran into a very large group of Amish (who we would continue to run into the entirety of this hike) and the pace was slow. We were surrounded by people on all sides, little kids splashing in puddles, hikers coming from the opposite direction, and in general a feeling of crowded. I had expected there to be a lot of people, but this was even more than I had thought. I tend to not enjoy crowds much in general, no matter the setting, but especially when I'm hiking. I think of it more as a solo or small group activity, with intimate conversation or just silence, thinking and being in nature. I guess this hike stretched my comfort zone a bit.


But it was really beautiful, when we got to enjoy the scenery.




Rocks, canyons, moss, green everywhere.


This is the Punch Bowl (strategically photographed after waiting many minutes for all onlookers to leave the area). It would be really neat to see with water running. We were lucky that it hadn't rained much in the week leading up to our trip, or else this trail can get very wet.



There is some mild bouldering on Trail 3, where you have to be willing to climb a bit on the rocks, or go up and over them.






It was quite fun to climb and dodge the water and mud.


At one point the canyon opened up into this area, which was probably my favorite view on this trail.









The rock formations all over trail 3 make it worth checking out. You should be comfortable walking on rocks (or through water) but otherwise it's not too bad, aside from the up-down climbs. All the trails in TR seem to have a lot of elevation gain.

I would do this trail again later in the fall, since I'm sure the scenery would be spectacular. Ideally I'd go on a weekday when there would be less people :)
Marshall, IN: Hiking at Turkey Run State Park - Trail 3 Marshall, IN: Hiking at Turkey Run State Park - Trail 3 Reviewed by Maria on 9:54:00 PM Rating: 5

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