Shades State Park Campground

Stayed here recently and overall the trip was a 10, but as for the campground itself there are somethings that could definitely be better.

First, for all intents and purposes the sites are not marked.  At some point years ago they stencil painted the numbers both on the concrete parking block and on the ground near the entry pad for each site, but obviously over time most of these are worn away.  It's very difficult to find your actual site, even during the day when it's not busy.  At night, or with a campground full of people - not a chance.   Even more perplexing is why it's still like this when it's so easy to fix.

Second, on the back loop, where we were, almost every car we saw was going the wrong way around the loop.  I've never seen this before and wasn't just one car.  There is a sign at the start of the loop indicating it's one direction, so not sure why this happens.

Third, they have a camp store at the entry to the family campground, but it was never open in the time we were there, which was Friday / Saturday / Sunday, during the summer, so not sure what the situation was.

Fourth, while the campground does have functional flush bathroom and shower, they only have one, and the rest are pit toilets, so depending on how far your site is from the building, it could be a very long walk, especially at night.

The front gate to the park did have covered firewood, but the hours of the gate operation were not clear.  The sites themselves were fine, but not particularly deep, and some are basically completely exposed to all the foot and vehicle traffic going to the toilets, the dumpsters, or just driving around, so basically zero privacy.

We did drive into Crawfordsville, which took about 20 minutes, and it was very nice with a local college (Wabash) and plenty of retail options to restock, grab a cold beverage, or refill the tank before driving home. 

Would I stay here again, yes 100%, but be prepared and plan ahead.  Would I recommend this to others?  Meh.

Took my son on his first backpacking trip this week and felt like Shades would be a perfect trial run for us together. I don’t think this camp gets enough love as it’s a relatively short hike for most seasoned backpackers. Great for trial runs and gear testing. The trail was (recently) well maintained in sections, but there are spots that are a little weedy. That’s to be expected I think with a park that doesn’t see as much traffic as another well known park in the area (that doesn’t offer a backpack camp). The camp itself was fantastic. It doesn’t boast great views or any scenic points, but it is fabulously maintained and well thought out. Several awesome sites to choose from and we had our pick as the only campers there. Every site had a fire ring and picnic table, with paths heading to the bathroom and water. The bathrooms were pretty much immaculate and the water was great. We didn’t hike in early enough to take the path to play at Sugar Creek, but I won’t make that mistake again. Next time, because there will be a next time, we’ll go earlier for more downtime around camp. So glad we’re close enough we can make this trip again soon! Park entry: $7 Camping fee: $12 With tax our total was $19.84. If you have an IN state park card you can avoid the entry fee.

This was our first time camping at Shades. The sites were fairly private with nice fire pits. The trails were nice and well maintained, aside from part of the stairs on trail 1 being damaged and closed. (Would have been nice to know at the trailhead, but no big deal.) The facilities, however, we’re poorly maintained. The vault toilets were dirty, needed to be emptied and the women’s stalls didn’t have doors. The shower/flush toilet facility was absolutely filthy and the showers were flooding the entire women’s side. When we arrived Friday, the water was dark brown out of every water source, including the showers and drinking water stations. They fixed it on Saturday, but left us pretty SOL on Friday. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend and I won’t return for camping. I would go for day hikes.

Definitely not the best state park campground in Indiana. Features a lot of sites, but they are all fairly close together with little separation.

There is also a backpacking campground, that is around 2.5 miles from the main campground. It has water and outhouses, but is not very scenic, as it’s on a shady hill up above sugar creek.

Located north of turkey run state park shades offers all the hiking and scenic terrain with less amenities and less crowds. Sugar creek cuts through the ancient sandstone floor creating canyon walls. The park is connected to a nature preserve that dose allow backpacking but has designated camping within the park separate from the car camping sites, so you can’t set up camp on the trail. The car camping sites, labeled as family camping, are primitive only with vault toilets. There is a shower located in the campsite with flushing toilets. Campsites are close but most have trees separating them for privacy. Avoid sites next to toilets or dumpsters their practically in your site. There’s no cellular signal in the park so heads up. Ice and wood are located for sale at the entrance. If you have little ones there are a few playgrounds located in the park including one in the campsite which is located a short hike in the woods. This park is quite, shaded, rugged at times and the canyon/creek can be breathtaking. Although I would go early or late in the season to avoid Indiana’s humid muggy summer heat.

I stayed for a night to do a self camping experience during the week. It was easy to find and had it not been for the raccons a great experience. Becareful with your food/ lock it inside car at night. Raccoons are ballsy and will climb all over to get what they want. They were however entertaining. Other then that it was nice, relaxing, and clean site and park. The only thing I didn't like was the womens washroom had no doors to stalls.

I stayed at site 58 from Thursday through Sunday. As expected, the park was not busy at all, probably 30% full. Friday afternoon into the evening it began to fill up to capacity. Most sites are separated by trees or bushes making them fairly private. There are very few showers so timing will be important. Water is very accessible having faucets all throughout the campground. There is also access to the trail system at different areas in the campground.

Rustic camping; does have water fill station but contrary to the information does not have water hookups for RVs in the sites. Does have dump station and showers. Sites very close together so little privacy. At least one site even next to dumpster. Seems they crammed too many sites into campground. Does have camp store. Hiking trails very nice though-spectacular limestone cliffs. Could use better signage- to get to campground, follow sign that says “family campground”. Showers were scalding hot then suddenly cold.

This is a great, quiet campground during the week. Being non electric there is usually a good mix of tent and trailer types. I prefer camping solo during the week because this camp can be virtually silent thanks to no electric hookups. The hiking here is some of the best topography around, certainly matching Turkey Run, but you don’t have to deal with all the people! There have been times I’ve come to hike and felt like I had the entire park to myself. Take this as you will: little to no cell signal through most of the campground.

This is our favorite state park to camp at.  We started here in tents, and moved up to a travel trailer.  We have stayed here at various times over the past 5 years.  Camp sites are all non-electric.  The park is typically pretty quiet except for the sounds of children playing during the day.  The park roads are easy to walk, and trails abound!  Trails range in difficulty, so read the park pamphlet before setting out.  Views are amazing from the trails!  Turkey Run SP and Raccoon Lake Rec Area are close by, and the campground pass from Shades gets you into both.  Camp sites vary in size and shape, and most can get really muddy after a rain, so check the weather and plan accordingly.  There is only one shower house that can get crowded on a busy weekend.  Overall an amazing park and a great campground.  Pictures attached are from site 102.

Loved the trails and nice wooded area throughout. Great to have bathrooms, drinking water, firewood & ice available at the gatehouse. We stayed in sites 9 & 10, which didn’t have as much flat grassy space as we saw with some other sites, so maybe would choose a different site in the future. Lots of families, not too noisy at night.

Camped here with my wife and sons. We had a blast hiking Shades State Park and nearby Turkey Run State Park. We enjoyed that not every site was packed and we had some privacy.

My boys enjoyed the playground and my wife enjoyed the modern showers.

Shades State Park is a great place to unplug and reconnect.

We experienced a strong thunderstorm while we were at the campground but because of how well the canopy is above the sites we stayed with a fire the whole time. Some sites have a lot of privacy and some have a little less. This would be a great place to have a few groups go together as little pathways between sites would be nice. We did some hiking and it was enjoyable for us as there were some nice views and we didn’t run into too many people. This campground is a bit away from Turkey Run. It was nice to be in a primitive campground as people actually got out and talked to one another.

Neat geological features and water features. More than enough trails to explore and adequate camping. Went in mid-september, probably a little too late in the season it was starting to get too cold at night but the trees were pretty.

Nice quiet campground with spacious sites. Canopied by the big beautiful Indiana trees. Close to some good hiking trails.

Nice campground to visit,decent sites and close to turkey run for tubing, canoeing,hiking,etc.

Much less popular than Turkey Run this state park is great for hiking! Many trails lead to gorgeous rocky cliffs, the river and a gorgeous waterfall. Love that it’s much less populated giving you are your crew more space and less noise.

We stayed at site 60 for a weekend. We got lucky and was pretty quite, since we didn't have any RV's running their generators next to us (there is no electricity at any of the camp sites) . The modern bathhouse is clean and well maintained, didn't look at the pit toilets since we brought our own. We had plenty of room at our camp site for all of our stuff. There is a lot of good short trails at Shades, that connect to a central picnic area with a modern restroom. There is also Pine Hills Nature Preserve right next to Shades with turkey & devil's Backbone (natural land bridges), and other neat rock formations.

So the campground itself is all primitive camping regardless of tent or rv. There were several people with generators, but we chose to stay off the grid. There are also dump toliets along the way, but in the middle they have a comfort station with restrooms and showers, also a few plug ins inside the comfort station. Raccoons were a serious problem when we were there, worse than anywhere I've ever been. The hiking is nothing short of amazing, and be sure to drive a few miles and get some trails in at Turkey Run.

This is my favorite spot in Indiana! It has the best trails, both rugged and moderate, and every one is unique in its own way! I love this place, I’ll never get tired of coming here.

Hands down my favorite campground in Indiana. Large campground with lots of space between sites. Privacy allowed my friends and I to play cards late into the night without bothering anyone. I flew from LA to Indianapolis one year, just to be able to make our annual girls camping trip.

Be sure to visit Turkey Run, Clifty Pines and Sugar Creek Canoes for a jam packed weekend full of fun.

no electric. plenty of trails to hike tho.

Lots of really nice campsites...

Beautiful wooded campground neat Sugar Creek. Deep ravines and moderate to rugged trails encompass the area. There are multiple pit toilets, water pumos, and also an electric bathroom.

This a great primitive campground. It is a short distance from Turkey Run SP if you are looking of a modern campground experience.

A nice Indiana State Park that has about a hundred basic camping sites (non-electric), along with restrooms and bath house. Note that camping season is April through October here at Shades. No overnight camping Nov-Mar.
The big draw at Shades State Park is hiking the great trails, canoeing/kayaking on Sugar Creek, and seeing a covered bridge or two. Pine Hills Nature Preserve (on east end of park) is also open to park visitors for hiking and wildlife viewing. A few pics attached.

Great sites that offer decent privacy with brush & trees as a barrier between sites. Paved parking pad, steel fire-ring with steel grid to cook on. Restroom/showers are fully plumbed and have electrical outlets, but they're not really the cleanest I've seen. Plenty to do - good trails, right on Sugar Creek, 15 min from Turkey Run, about 2 miles from a private canoe/kayak outfitter that offers a variety of trips & rentals. I would definitely recommend staying here!