Best Glamping near Carmel, IN

I've traveled across the US and this is the best campground I've stayed in. First of all it's very clean which is surprising for Indiana. Back up to the river. Great views. Free hot showers! Quiet. Feels secluded though close to town. Good price too. Free wifi that worked so well we could both work online and stream TV! It does not get any better. Dog friendly. Nice playground for the kids. Fire circles and clean picnic tables at each site. If I lived here, I'd come here often. Great place. Walking and biking trails. Canoeing and kayaking. Historic bridge.

White River Campground is a county owned park within 15 minutes small town Indiana (Cicero) complete with a small town grocery and dollar general. Within 20 minutes or Walmart and Grocery stores. Campground is divided up into A-B-C sections. A is accessible. B is full hookup with sewer and C is water/elec only and tent camping. Park next door is great for hiking, has walk bridge over river to trails, horse backing riding, high ropes course. Campground is on the white river, offers boat launching. Bathrooms are decent. Playground is newly remodeled. Laundry onsite, wood for sale, and some wifi. We found the wifi only reaches in sections A-B even though it’s advertised as reaching the entire camp. Camp office and IT support were no help.

This is probably the best state forest in the state of Indiana. The property is well maintained. There is a new visitors center built a few years ago. There are some picnic areas and a couple of shields and 2 cabins for rent. There are a lot of trails to hike 2 of them are over 10 miles (lower gap and three lakes). The Tecumseh trail (40 miles) starts in Morgan Monroe State Forest passes through Yellowwood State Forest and ends in the Hoosier national Forest. There are some shorter trails also. The trails are very nice and well maintained. There is a paved bicycle trail approximately 5 miles long one way Three small lakes are on the property for fishing and kayaking. There are three campgrounds on the property. The main campground has around 20 sites. The overflow campgrounds as about 10 more sites. There is a youth campgrounds to. Each campground has pit toilets and wash station with water available to take to camp site. There is also camping on the some of the trails. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is, we are RV campers and there are only about 5 sites we could get in to. Our camper is about 25’ and it was tight get in and out of the campground. If you have a small camper (15’ or smaller) there would more sites. There is a dump station, but I barely got in to dump. So not real RV friendly.

Ranger Review: Grubstick at Holiday KOA Greenfield, Indiana. Campground Review: So, I’ve said it before, KOA’s are not my kind of camping. However I find myself once again with a KOA yearly membership. Why? Because several of the people whom I camp with enjoy the WiFi and other perks of staying at a KOA. I met my brother and his wife at the Holiday KOA https://koa.com/campgrounds/indianapolis/ right outside Indianapolis, Indiana for a very wet tent camp out. I towed my redneck “tent platform” and brought along plenty of tarpage. No kayak, the weather actually dipped into the high thirty’s and I am not a cold weather kayaker. Perks of this KOA are a very nice playground and wading pool area. So if you have younger children, ideal for you. There is a nice size dog park and you can get a nice walk in around the campground. They have delivery style pizza right on site and some planned activities on weekends. There is the aforementioned WiFi and the latrine is newer but lacking in hooks ( I’m a big hook person, where else am I supposed to hang my bathroom bag and clothes while showering or grooming at the sink?) The other issue with the latrine is there is only ONE for the entire campground. This is a nice size campground and it can be a good hike from the backside to the latrine, I know this because I had to make that hike more then once. The other issue with that is not everyone is willing to walk that far when they need to go, so where do you suppose they take care of their business? .... exactly! And then there’s my same old complaint of they fit a camper or tent into every square meter of this park, it can get very full and crowded. Excuse me while I look in your window or can over hear every word you say. Holiday was very well maintained to the point of mowing while I’m trying to set up my area and blowing grass all over everything, please don’t run over my dog...Otherwise we had fun looking for area happenings and shopping. I visited Fort Harrison State Park which was nearby. Product Review: As a Dyrt Ranger I get the opportunity on occasion to review outdoor oriented products. I had the chance to try out Grubstick https://grubstick.com/ and I can say I was excited! I am a campfire cooking kind of person and have tried out many contraptions, the Grubstick is a long time in coming. I say that because this ain’t your grandma’s wiener roasting stick or your moms wicked pointed metal fork that can put your eye out or trip you when it slides down the side of the chair leg. The most phenomenal part of the Grubstick is that the handle is.....RETRACTABLE!!! No more wedging the fork in the most inconvenient place or trying to fit it in your cooking box. The handle when not expanded can fit easily into your pocket, day pack, backpack, fannypack !!! To me that is AWESOME!! Revolutionary! Seems to be sturdier then ones I’ve seen in camp stores. Along with the handle comes two attachments and a easy open handle in a nice, durable carry bag, LOVE IT. Christmas gifts all around! And this was before I checked it out. I have two “sets” and unfortunately one of the sticks broke after only a few retractions and extensions. Perhaps I was too vigorous in my extension technique? So carefully extend your grubstick when using. Otherwise it worked like a dream! And the other stick had no issues, so maybe just a flaw in that one stick? I haven’t contacted the company yet, but I will see how they are about returns or replacements. I roasted some sausages and we toasted some marshmallows for s’mores. The pack up was easy too, nice carry bag to put it all in, I usually carry or reuse a freezer type bag for “dirty” silverware etc. I removed the fork head off the Grubstick and it went right in. No MESS! No Long Pointy Stick with goo at the end to wrap and store. Love it! I didn’t use the Grubstick basket while camping so I pulled it out at the house to add some footage and testing. If Grubstickadds a pie pan attachment, I’m one of the first in line to get it!! Happy Camp Cooking ;)