Miami Whitewater Forest

This camping hiking area is just 3.5 hours from West Lafayette not far from Cincinnati OH. We made one stop in Westfield IN to deliver a photograph to a Longtime customer. Arriving midafternoon, we found our site, collected firewood, and enjoyed dinner under tulip trees. We had purchased firewood at the visitor center — it was manufactured wood — a first for us.

On day one we walked the inner loop of the trail from the visitors center. This paved trail followed the lake shore then took us into a forested area and around a meadow with many wild flowers. We then drove to the parking for the Oak Leaf trail, An easy, well-maintained trail with views of a wetland full of dead trees and turtles. The beginning of the lollipop trail is quite steep, but most is level. We returned to our campsite for A steak, potatoes, and onions dinner. Manufactured wood does not make great cooking coals, but David managed.

The sites at this campground have picnic tables, fire rings, and electric. They are not terrible private, but with few people here on our weekday, early season stay, that is not a problem. There are two sections to the campground, one up high and the other down low nearly at lake level. In the upper section, the sites are quite tipped, more suited for tenters than RVs. Our site in the upper section worked for us with a few leveling blocks under our tires and the legs of the picnic tables. Sites 113 and 116 are very private sites suitable for tenters who want to set up in a wooded area.

Day two we hiked the Badlands Trail. Actually a very pleasant 2 mile trail with many ups and downs, but nothing I would call badlands. It is not as well-drained as our previous trail, so there was a bit of mud. The temperatures rose throughout the day so we were glad to return to our chairs in the shade by the van. Dinner was grilled pork and a vegetable medley cooked over the fire.

Day three we walked from our site to the Timberlakes Trail. This 2-mile trail took us through beautiful forests of beech, oak, maple, and tulip. We walked along a high ridge before descending to lake level and then, of course, ascending again. It is a figure eight trail with a sour taking you to the trailhead parking we had used on previous days. Temperatures had risen to the upper eighties with high humidity. We ran the van air conditioner to cool things down. Dinner was leftovers with a salad.

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)