If you are looking to get away from it all, go to a larger park. On both of our hikes, we could hear nearby freeway traffic the entire time. There was also lawnmower noise from the park itself and diesel exhaust from the parks vehicles. I understand employees have to do trail maintenance, but electric vehicles should be used. It was noisier in this park than in my backyard. We went into the Inn to cool down for a bit and the ice machine in the lobby sounded like a Mac truck. There was no indication that the inn has exhibits or a wildlife observation room, so we missed that. When we entered the park, we asked the gate keeper which trails were the most scenic. We were directed to the waterfall and the fire watchtower. The water fall is all of ten feet. We climbed all 106 steps to the top of the fire watchtower only to discover that there is no view from the top. All you can see are the trees a few feet in front of you. The entire experience was underwhelming. read more

The falls are amazing and in the summer they refresh you. The park has trails to fit every age groups. We Owen county residents enjoy our park and events they offer for our children as well as adults. read more

McCormick's Creek State Park is Indiana's first State park founded in 1916. They have several hiking trails, camping, a State Park Inn, and an outdoor pool for cooling off in the summer. In the warmer months it is an excellent place for creek stomping with a small waterfall at the end. Both kids and adults love this attraction. It is hard to go wrong with any State Park in Indiana. read more

McCormick's Creek State Park - McCormick's creek State Park Map - Hiking Near Me - Spencer, Indiana

Here's hoping we knock out visiting even more Indiana state parks in 2021! We kicked off the new year with a visit to McCormick Creek state park and neighboring (15 min) Cataract Falls. During our brief visit to the park we were able to pop by the Inn for a bathroom break, drive through some of the park and walk down to the falls. During non-COVID times, I'd love to explore staying at the Inn or a cabin. I'm a sucker for a simple state park inn. The park features trails, a pool, horseback riding and a nature center. It seemed like some of the bathroom stations were closed down (January '21). The park was free during our visit so I can speak for the expense. If you're visiting g here, definitely do yourself the favor of driving 15 minutes down the road to see Cataract Falls state recreation area. read more

McCormick's Creek State Park - Hiking Near Me - Spencer, Indiana

McCormick's Creek, and Wolf Cave Trail, was a great beautiful-weather day trip from Indy! I opted for Wolf Cave Trail (or Trail 5) for a two-mile getaway hike. It did not disappoint! Crossing quite a few mall creeks, it was pretty easily navigated and gravel-lined trail, one that I can't wait to check out again! It also leads you next to Wolf Cave along Twin Bridges, which was also fun to check out. Would definitely recommend the trail for anyone wanting a longer hike in the park. Additionally, I checked out the falls, however with such warm weather, it was quite crowded and busy. That said, it was still a wonderful scene and absolutely beautiful, all within an hour of Indy. read more

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Great park for hiking - lots of trails to choose from with varying difficulty. We picked Trail 3 on our last one, which goes right up the creek -- the trail is literally the creek, not next to it. A little confusing as it just kind of dumps out into the creek and you just keep walking until you find the trailhead again, but a really fun and scenic hike for the whole family, and you don't have to get wet if you don't want to. (At least with the water levels where they were on our visit -- may not be true after rainy days.) We had done Trail 5 previously, which is a fun one but no water. The kids were a little too scared of Wolf Cave, but it was a pretty hike nonetheless. Much preferred Trail 3 though. read more

I woke with a serious need to go run off to the wilderness and hike off some stress. Tired of hiking all the same places, I did a quick search and was reminded of McCormick's Creek. I hadn't been there since childhood and it has waterfalls. Winner! Just an hour drive south of Indy, the scenery on the drive was peaceful in itself. After finding it quite easily, I drove thru the gate without having to pay a fee, due to "off season." I was interested in the trail that led to the waterfall and thru the creek bed, so I followed the signs to the park's Inn. Trail 3 starts at the back of the parking lot, across from Canyon Inn. Our hike was absolutely gorgeous. It was also rugged, as the map warns. I had my large dog with me, and did have to pick her up and bring her down to me only once, because I felt the drop was to high for her to jump. Had it been warmer, I would have just crossed the creek with her. The hike was a little challenging for us both but extremely enjoyable. Listening to the sounds of the creek and little waterfalls throughout, as we trucked along, was absolutely blissful. I became confused when the trail seemed to just stop, after climbing the most dreaded never ending flights of stairs. (I despise stairs.) I didn't have a map, so we eventually found a spot that looked safe enough to cut back down to the creek bed, so we could hike back up to where we started. My dog thought it was the best thing ever, bounding down a steep incline with tons of dead leaves. But I was a little nervous she would get hurt. Helicopter Mom Life. She was just fine. Gorgeous hiking spot. I returned home renewed, yet ready to eat some dinner and turn in. I foresee a lot of mental health days taking place here for me. read more

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This place was definitely nice for a quick hike! I really enjoyed the little waterfall area :) Overall, the trails were easy to follow and were well kept. read more

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One of my favorite state parks in Indiana. My family is from Martinsville, IN which isn't far from the park so we grew up visiting here. The park has tons of trails to explore. They have a wonderful campsite with plenty of primitive and electric sites to choose from. They have a pool you can swim at during the summer and playgrounds for kids. We used to ride our bikes a lot when we visited as kids. Today we decided to hike Trail 5 to Wolf Cave which is a popular site. It's about a 2 mile hike round trip. You can explore the cave which is fairly small however very tight and wet. It's always beautiful any time of the year and the trails are easy-moderate so great for all ages. The park does a great job of maintaining trails & facilities. I recommend this park to anyone starting out on hiking adventures since it's easy to maneuver. read more

McCormick's Creek State Park - Wolf Cave - Hiking Near Me - Spencer, Indiana

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My first camping trip in Indiana! DYK it's the oldest state park in Indiana? We got a camp site in June 2022 for around $20 and had such a great time. The campsite was clean, quiet, and easy to get to our spot. The bathrooms were nice and clean and our spot was in great condition when we arrived. There was electric hookup, trees, picnic table, fire pit with grill, and parking spot. We did 2 hikes and even in the heat stayed cool in the shade. The inn was nice and seemed like a cool place to stay in the winter! We will absolutely be back! read more

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Enjoyed so much walking the trails, especially 9 since good for older folks and steps have been installed to the falls overlook.

Fun place to hike. Great trails, and they were actually well marked! You don't get that every day. They have a nice lodge. Great waterfall and place for people to play in the water. This is the oldest state park in Indiana. It's very beautiful read more

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This was the first park I went to because of covid. Beautiful park with lots of trails. I have provided lots of photos of my fav locations within the park. The creek was very dry this year so not much water. read more

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This is a cool little spot about an hour from Indy give or take depending on your location. It isn't crazy, intensive hiking but I still enjoyed it! read more

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Definitely one of Top-5 parks in Indiana. Lots of trails, picnic areas, and parking. There is even a dedicated horse trail and a pool! Unfortunately, due to Covid, many facilities were closed (pool and Wolf Cave), but you can hike your life away here and watch beautiful waterfalls, forest, and its wildlife. Be careful - there are snakes. The park is especially beautiful in the fall and less crowded. Definitely recommend! read more

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Went there with the whole family. Had a great time and enjoyed the park. Trails well maintained and trash is picked up. Recommend as a last minute low budget family outing. read more

I learned McCormick's Creek was Indiana's first state park! It boasts many amenities including camping, an inn, trail rides, rec. areas, shelters, and banquet halls. The campground has both electric and primitive sites. I was pleased that the sites seem spaced out and not too crowded. There are a couple accessible sites available with level asphalt. Most of the trails are short- 1 mile or less. However, they often connect so making longer hikes is possible! We did 7/9 trails in a couple days leisurely. The trail descriptions were pretty accurate. Trail 8 is accessible and paved. What a treasure this state park is! Be sure to visit in fall when all the leaves are on display! read more

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Plenty of trails here! There are ten trails that are all about a mile long each. The falls and cave are a big attraction for most guests. I grew up coming here and camping. The scenery is beautiful and relaxing. The trip is not far from Indy and a nice drive. Bring water shoes if you want to get under the falls! read more

McCormick's Creek State Park - Hiking Near Me - Spencer, Indiana

Established in 1916 this park is a hidden gem! Not far from Indy the route is easy to follow down to Spencer, IN. We stayed for a short camping weekend in the midst of a teardrop festival and found the campsites both private enough and close enough to our camping neighbors to have a real mini vacation. Lots of shade too! We happened to pick a hot muggy weekend, but weather follows you everywhere. I believe we will make this more of a preference than Brown County State Park, due to its lack of traffic & people congestion and due to the wonderful trails! Relatively short but challenging! Park rangers are amazingly helpful & friendly. Did I forget to say the pool is big? Bigger than an Olympic sized pool? With a couple diving boards? $3/person for all day is worth the price. Also. THANK YOU TO ALL THE OTHER CAMPERS WHO HAVE USED THIS PARK & HELP KEEP IT CLEAN! Looking forward to return trips here during the fall & spring! read more

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This is one of my favorite state parks in Indiana. It's just a short easy drive from bloomington. They have fantastic camping facilities and during peak season they have a lot of family friendly activities. I also am a huge fan of their hiking trails, there are a great variety and most of them are pretty easy but still pretty and exciting. They are very dog friendly as well. We brought our pup and saw many around the campsite and on the trails read more

We loved this state park!! Definitely check out trail 3 if you're up for walking in creek beds and doing some small rock scrambles! We also were able to check out Wolf Cave on trail 5. A must do if in the area!! read more

McCormick's Creek State Park - Wolf Cave - Hiking Near Me - Spencer, Indiana

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Don't go to the saddle barn! We had a reservation for a trail ride but no one was there when we arrived. We had to wait over 45 minutes, only to be refused service because my daughter is blind. I guarantee she's a better rider than the folks we saw get off as we waited, including some with obvious developmental delays. My daughter has been riding for 12 years and is a good rider. This was pure discrimination. Take your business elsewhere- the saddle barn at Brown County is wonderful. It's clean, well-staffed, organized, and inclusive. read more

I've been coming to this park mainly to go hiking. On this trip, I decided to explore a bit more and to stop by the Nature Center as well. Did you know that the park had a swimming pool and a playground? One of my favorite features is a modest waterfall "Canyon Falls" which is just over ten feet in height. I really like that the park has provided parking near the creek for quicker access. Note that even though the actual distance from the lot to the falls is short, there is a significant elevation change which means access requires numerous stairs to reach a location for viewing. From the falls, hikers can travel on Trail 3. It is rated rugged mainly because a part of this 0.8 mile loop walks through the creek bed. So, if the water level is up, you will get your shoes wet (and maybe more) as you negotiate the slippery rocks. I made it part of the way along the trail passed the Creek Cabin, but since I wasn't wearing proper foot wear for getting wet, decided to move on to another trail. Trail 5 is a trail I have been on several times over the years. This 2 mile hike is rated moderate. If you start out from the lot and travel the wide and relatively level trail back to Wolf Cave, you will wonder why it isn't graded as easy. Well, there are two reasons: Walking through the cave is physically challenging (you can easily bypass the cave if you stay on the trail that comes back to the exit side of the cave); and the trip back on the southern half of the loop has a significant elevation change and will get your heart beating faster when you elevate rapidly through the woods. The woods have lots of beautiful views along the way. Since the day was getting hot and humid, I decided to end my visit by checking out the air conditioned Nature Center. The center has several exhibit rooms including live reptiles/amphibians, a nature viewing room for mostly bird watching, exhibits about geology and fossils, and a section about the park history as a quarry, a sanitarium, and private property before becoming the State's first official state park in 1916 (100 years after being settled by settler John McCormick.) Overall, the park has a lot to offer (I didn't visit, but it has a stable too!) As long as I am mobile, I will continue visiting this park. Review #986 read more

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This is such a lovely park! For a mere 7 bucks, you can play in a waterfall, sneak through a cave (all the way from end to end!), enjoy the nature center, play on the fun playground, and hike the numerous trails. There are additional amenities, but these are the ones we explored today. read more

I'm so glad we decided to spring for an Indiana state park pass this year! I've already gotten my money's worth just repeatedly coming here (the pass is $50 for Indiana residents for a year or $7 to come to McCormick's Creek once... so if you're going to come regularly you might want to consider it). Anywho - this place is truly beautiful. There are lots of different trails and there are some really lovely waterfalls here too. You can walk in the creek and even stand near/under the waterfall if you're adventurous, or you can stay on the path (I usually do that since I have kids in tow) and admire from afar. Be forewarned that one path leads to an extreme amount of stairs. But the other paths don't, and there's even a paved path that comes in handy for stroller walks. There's a pool here that seems cool (currently closed - likely due to COVID), and a really lovely gazebo that's perfect for rainy day picnics. It even comes equipped with a grill for non rainy days. The birds chirp happily here and the trees are lush and beautiful. This is one of my favorite parks to visit and the whole fam feels the same. read more

Fantastic park. Friendly staff and great nature and wildlife. Nice staff and easy access. read more

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We visited the park in early November and had a perfect hiking day. The park was much less crowded than Turkey Run which we visit often. The trails were clearly marked and kept nicely. We were able to have a very easy hike and a more difficult path through the canyon to the waterfall. We didn't expect there to be a cave to climb through but it was a nice surprise! Warning though: if you are a taller, bigger person, you may get a little stuck! My boyfriend is about 6ft. and was worried we'd have some trouble lol. For kids though, it would be such a cool adventure in there. Perfect little day trip without the crowd of other parks. read more

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A friend and I came here after we were a bit underwhelmed with the hiking at Cataract Falls. It's just a short 15 minute drive between the two and it was totally worth it! I had never been here before, so I didn't have any expectations. This park was great though. There are lots of activities and nice facilities around the park, spread out. There's tent and RV camping, horse riding, youth camping, hiking, ampitheatre, etc. The park office is also very nice (at least from the outside). The hiking trails are nice and many of them weave in, out, and along the creeks which is always great and makes it a bit more adventurous. The reason for the 4 stars instead of 5 is the fact that the trails aren't marked very well. Well, they are, but they're very confusing and there are many connector trails that aren't labelled or marked, so you think you're on a certain trail, but it's actually a connector trail taking you in another direction than what you planned. It seemed like there were lots of those throughout the park, so maybe having some better connector trail markings would help things go smoothly. Other than that, it seemed like a ton of families with children go here during the summer. The trails were great, especially the one where you're on a wooden platform above the plants and greens...I loved that. A great park that has a lot to offer, just needs to have some better markings in between many of the trails, especially when they're in the creeks. read more

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Great place to spend the day with my family! Absolutely love the outdoors and McCormick creek is a great place to experience it. read more

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We spend the 4th of July holiday at McCormick's Creek State Park. It was our first time camping here. Park is beautiful! Plenty of hiking! Great swimming pool area ($3 per person per day). Great horseback riding...$20 per person for 45 minutes and $4 for a pony ride. Great girls working at the stables. Camping was not our favorite. Lots are very close to others (great for large groups). Bathrooms were not dirty band the showers gave only hot water. Camp store was not very well stocked. Wood was overpriced $6 for small bundle. We still had a lot of fun! Just not the top of my list for camping. We will definitely come back for the activities. read more

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Such a great weekend spent here. This park is full of history and hiking. We camped for the weekend and was a fantastic time. We were in tents and most sites I saw easily accommodated 2 tents. There was plenty of room for RV's too. The camp store is basic but had what we needed (hot coffee in the AM when our stove broke!) The town of Spencer is nearby so easy to stock up on anything you need. The horse barn was the best. We went on a trail ride and it was so much fun! The guides made everyone feel super comfortable regardless of riding experience. The trip is about an hour around the loop. The cost is $20 and worth it! read more

McCormick's Creek State Park - Headed on down the trail! - Hiking Near Me - Spencer, Indiana

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So many pretty trails here!! I absolutely loved it. My co worker told me to check it out and I was highly impressed. I did 3,5, and 10 because they all kind of intertwined. I like to do my hiking in the morning so I was there at about 8 am and it was pretty dead. I left a little after 11 and saw a lot more people coming in. I wouldn't recommend these trails if you have knee problems. There are a ton of stairs and trail 3 is really rocky. I'll be back to check out the other trails for sure. Probably one of my favorite parks in Indy read more

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It's a good place to take a family or just hang with the wife. Always friendly people and staff.

Tried to make reservations so I wouldn't have to drive an hour to see my loved one at McCormicks Creek Nursing and rehab. I have to be at work by 2:15pm so this would give me time to visit him. He has had Covid, Pneumonia and a severe stroke to his frontal lobe of his brain. They refused to let me check in before 4:00pm so I had to cancel. They kept 108.00 dollars of my money. How inhuman can you get? I'm struggling enough just trying to see him. If you want to be treated like your money matters and you don't by all means, go If you don't care about giving your money away to greedy people. read more

Spent a great afternoon at McCormicks! Always love coming here with family friends and dogs. They don't have any trails longer than 2 miles so we combined a few and got a great few hours of hiking in. Beautiful and well kept trails. Well marks. Great for dogs. Highly recommend the falls to let kids or dogs swim! It's $7 a car to get in....will definitely be here again read more

McCormick's Creek State Park - River, swimming, dog - Hiking Near Me - Spencer, Indiana

Absolutely beautiful and so much to see. Nature center and Inn our amazing. The people and charm of place is super relaxing

I love the idea of the restaurant in the back in the park, beautiful building, nice little gift shop and hotel. Friendly staff, but I hate to say the food is nothing special, disappointing. read more

My wife and I stopped by for an afternoon hike with our friends and dogs. Perfect weather and great trails! We did trail 7 and trail 3 to see the waterfall. Potentially some poison ivy surrounding the edges of trail 7 near White River, so keep an eye out, but no issues besides that! Dogs loved swimming in the creek bed leading up to the waterfall. read more

McCormick's Creek State Park - Hiking Near Me - Spencer, Indiana

What a great State Park for Indiana. Most if the campsites in the campground are very spacious and in the shade (which we like). There are several playgrounds for the kiddos and lots of activities going on in the park. For instance, the weekend we were there they had a 10a hike with a guide, 2p craft at the Nature Center and 7p music at the Ampitheater on Sat. Then another craft at 2p Sunday. They have a nature center, Inn, swimming pool with 2 diving boards, baby pool and concession, and an ampitheater. There are several hiking trails for all levels and also horse stables for riding. There is a lot to do at this park and its so close to Bloomington, which adds even more stuff to the agenda. read more

McCormick's Creek State Park - Hiking Near Me - Spencer, Indiana

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I'm on a mission to make the most of my state park pass this year, so I recently made a quick side trip to McCormick's Creek. We arrived in the evening and didn't have a ton of time before dark, so we drove around for a bit and then went to the Falls Overlook for a brief hike down to the falls. After recent rainfall, the falls were looking quite impressive and the canyon felt like an oasis on a 90 degree day. It was really awesome to be able to stand down by the waterfall and look up at the layers of limestone surrounding us. Plenty of great boulders for picnicking or drying off after wading in the creek if you're so inclined. I'm excited to return for more hiking this summer! Electric and primitive camping available in addition the park's inn. Pool, horseback riding, tennis courts, nature center, hiking trails, and more. Check it out! read more

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