Cecil M. Harden Lake, IN is a great camping destination for adventurers of all types. Camping, hiking, biking: however you want to spend your days near Cecil M. Harden Lake, you'll find great campgrounds with The Dyrt. Get the dirt on all the best camping near Cecil M. Harden Lake. Browse campgrounds by amenities, site types, and more.
$20 - $25 / night
"I have to say it is always nice to stay at a state park in the off season. There are a couple hundred sites in this park and we were one of about 12 occupants."
"This campground was reasonably priced, had clean facilities and quite unusual and intesting hiking nearby. There are multiple trails and some quite challenging ones."
$12 - $32 / night
"Raccoon State Recreation Area | Cecil M Harden Lake is located in the heart of historic covered bridge country just 50 miles West of Indianapolis."
"We stayed in site 93 in the lake view area. The campsite itself was large and clean. The bathrooms were clean and fairly close to the campsite."
$25 / night
"We stayed at site 30, a modern site with water, electric and sewer. Sharing of water and electric between two sites, so come prepared with extensions for water and electric."
"Several water fill locations, dump station. Full hook up sites are very limited with minimal shade. Remainder of campground is nearly always shaded."
$22 - $120 / night
"A port-a-potty was near by, but the shower house was a short drive away. Also, the site, 27C, was alone with timber separating it from the nearest site."
"We stayed in a primitive site but they also have RV sites and cabins. There is a playground for the kiddos if you have them, a volleyball net, and horseshoes."
$35 / night
"Site 91 was tucked away in a more forested area away from RVs. Did a nice kayaking loop using their service. Had everything you needed, very chill experience. Will return fsho."
"Nice campground electric hookups my 34' travel trailer fit nicely"
"Pet friendly; counted three cats and a dog in the office when I checked in. Was given the option of choosing my site out of the seven available for my reservation."
"For a holiday weekend to get a last minute pull through with electric and water for a single night at $50, I’d call it very reasonable!
Grounds are well kept. Shower house is clean."
$30 - $45 / night
"They have RV section, electric tent sites and primitive and those do not mix - no tents at rv section and vice versa. I camp weekdays so I had all section to myself for three days."
"SCC has about 50 full hook sites and several electric and water. There is quite a few primitive areas as well."
"Some of the sites are pretty close together, but we booked site 41 which is a double site. I'd highly recommend this site. It backs up to Sugar Creek which is just gorgeous in the spring."
"This place is beautiful and just a great place to enjoy the outdoors with many options to do (disc golf, canoe,tube,kayak rentals.) Highly recommend!"
$12 - $25 / night
"This is a Great Park, my wife and I camp here all the time. Large sites, because they are very wooded lots of shade, not far from downtown, also close to shopping (i.e. Walmart, Meijer)."
"Prices are a little high compared to when you receive but the park is beautiful.
We stayed at site 1 thinking it would be nice for the kids to be next to a park but the park was pretty dull."
"This is our family favorite camp park in Terre Haute! Has great hiking trails, a covered bridge with historical log cabins for festivals. They have 1 cabin you can rent out."
"Shaded campground sites at lake's edge on east side of park, 53 electrical hookups including 1 pull-thru, 14 primitive/tent sites. Fire ring and picnic table at each site. Water hydrants nearby."
LegendRaccoon State Recreation Area | Cecil M Harden Lake is located in the heart of historic covered bridge country just 50 miles West of Indianapolis. The campground is surrounded by the 2,060 acre Cecil M Harden reservoir offering boating (boat rental), fishing and a large swimming beach with concessions and amenities. The campground is extremely well maintained with many sites sheltered by tree canopy ranging from non-electric, 30 amp, to 50 amp. Fresh water is available at fill stations and a spacious dump station area make for easy disposal. Many of the sites are not level so chose wisely to suit your needs. Easy beach access from the campground via a paved walk/bike path, well stocked camp store at the entrance to the campground, well maintained bath house facilities, active interpretive Naturalist programs, and numerous hiking trail opportunities round out the amenities. This is a beautiful campground; and if you like to explore...take a drive through the area and enjoy the many historic towns, covered bridges and roller mills throughout the county.
GuideThis is our family favorite camp park in Terre Haute! Has great hiking trails, a covered bridge with historical log cabins for festivals. They have 1 cabin you can rent out. Bring your fishing gear, they stock the lake. There's and boat ramp and bank access to kayak. They have some pull through for your big riggs and some sand beds for your tent camping
GuideShaded campground sites at lake's edge on east side of park, 53 electrical hookups including 1 pull-thru, 14 primitive/tent sites. Fire ring and picnic table at each site. Water hydrants nearby. Modern shower houses with rest rooms. Handicapped accessible. Dump station. Pets are welcome but must be kept on leash. Must provide own firewood. Firewood must be purchased from within state. Fishing from campsite. In park, swimming beach (Memorial Day-weekend before school opens in fall), boat ramp, trails, playgrounds, horseshoe pits, pioneer village.
Campground open May 1 - October 15. Park open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. No reservations. Must check-in between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. Night guard on duty. Electrical sites - $20 a night, weekly rate - $120, 2 weeks rate - $200. Primitive sites - $12 a night, weekly rate - $60, 2 weeks rate - $100. Price includes Indiana Sales Tax.
From I-70, go south on U.S. 41 for 7.2 miles. Turn left onto Oregon Church Road and go .8 mile east to park entrance on left. After entering park, turn right to go to campground.
Personal Thoughts and Experience: We had a wonderful time. We absolutely loved the pioneer village. it is a must go especially when they are having pioneer days in the fall. There is a mountain bike park close to the campground that is a premier facility. Beginner to advance trails with a practice course. Amazing! My husband competes in the Dyno series and loves to train at the facility then camp at Fowler Park!
GuideI have to say it is always nice to stay at a state park in the off season. There are a couple hundred sites in this park and we were one of about 12 occupants. Even if this park had been full, the sites offer nice space. Sites vary from full shade to wide open out in the sun. Bathrooms are clean, but they are pretty spread out. Most sites offer electricity, but no water or sewer hook-up for RV. Water spigots are pretty spread out too. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. I didn't see any camp hosts that sold firewood when office is closed. Park is located right across the street from the local high school, I thought this was sort of odd.
We were just passing through for a nights stay, but it looked like there were some nice trails for hiking. The children playgrounds looked nice as well.
LegendThere is just one thing that keeps me from rating this a 5 star campground. It's the sites! So....4 stars...but read on for my thoughts on the sites.
What's up with these sites?
If you want to be be able to see what your neighbors are eating and hear their conversations, you'll love the electric sites (1 through 189).
If you like to feel like you're alone in the woods, you won't like most of the electric sites.
There is a partial solution. Sites 190-202 have no electricity, but most are fairly private/secluded. Sites 203-222 are additional primitive sites on a loop but they are not at all private; you can see lots of neighboring sites. There's a lot of shade, but you could probably set up solar panels if you require electricity.
If you want privacy in the electric section (1-189), I don't have a great recommendation other than you should stay on the outside of the loops. Then you'll only have people beside you rather than beside and across from you.
Good luck! Stay one night when there aren't many people and scope out sites for your next stay. If you're from the area, this could be a park worth returning to over and over if you are able to stay on a site you enjoy.
I've included a map of sites 1-189 and photos that show some sites I like and sites I don't like. In my opinion, a site is not one for me if I can see 3 other picnic tables while sitting at the table at my site. If you camp with other families, this would be good because you can make your own 'group' site.
Something you need to know: Indiana state parks have a $7 entry fee but you'll only pay it once (unlike some states that make you pay every day). It's supposed to be $9 for non-residents, but we were only charged $7. The hang tag for your vehicle will get you in the main entrance for the rest of your stay.
If you come without a reservation: The registration attendant assigned a site to us but maybe you can choose one. Since it was the day after Labor Day and the park was sparsely populated, there was no one near us. Privacy was not an issue for our stay, but we wouldn't have enjoyed our site on a busy weekend...although there were many sites we would have liked even less.
The basics: picnic tables, fire rings, dump station, potable water, flush toilets and sinks in the bathrooms, separate shower facility. There are vault toilets closer to sites 190-222. Sites 1-189 have electricity.
Activities: Nearby swimming pool and playground. There are almost 11 miles of hiking trails. The longest one is 2 miles, but you can combine some trails and wander in the woods for quite a while. You can also wade in McCormick's Creek; the water was low in early September. You can stay busy in this park for quite a while. And if you want to go to Bloomington, it's only about 25 minutes away
GuideWe stayed in buddy sites 81 and 82. Buddy sites are large, have full hookup, fire pits, and picnic tables. Lots of dogs around, pricing was about $50 a night per site. Restrooms had showers as well which made it easy to rinse off the mud. Great time all around.
GuideThis campground was reasonably priced, had clean facilities and quite unusual and intesting hiking nearby. There are multiple trails and some quite challenging ones. No water hookups at the site but all except the "youth sites" had 110, 30, and 50 amp power. I was able to charge my ev without issue. Sites tried from all concrete to a dusty dirt and rock tent area, and all had old wood picnic tables. While the hiking was incredible, the maps of the trails were poor and not up to date, with some trails not on map at all. On one trail part of it went through box canyons up an active, though trickling, stream bed.
GuideWe stayed here this weekend and had a terrific time. The weather was very hot but there is a river to tube and canoe in to keep you cool. We stayed at site #35. It is in a very quiet, off the main road, in a circle, in full shade. It’s is very close to the restroom but a distance from the camp store and dumpster. The site was clean and well equipped with a fire ring and picnic table. The site is very uneven. It definitely sloops to the back corner. It’s was difficult to level our camper but we got it in the end. The site was huge but given the unevenness it would be difficult for tents. The campground is family friendly and was quiet at night. There is a lot to do at this state park. We hiked the #3 and #5 trails and it took us about 2 hours. It was very busy but everyone was very polite. It was a great stay all around.
LegendTurkey Run State Park. Arguably one of the top 5 state parks in Indiana.
Lots of hiking opportunities, including the fabulous Trail 3 which should be a National Trail IMO. Go hike early before 10 am. This area gets crazy busy after that.
Nice nature center.
2 covered bridges.
A swimming pool in season.
A historic inn with a restaurant. You can rent cabins also.
The Lusk home has tours every Saturday in season.
The campground is a mile or so west of the entrance to the park.
Electric only. 270 sites. Water is available.
There's modern bath houses with hot showers.
We were site 218, which is technically the Turkey Hollow area. The bath house there was clean. We liked our loop for spacious sites( for a state park).
The Twin Oaks loop seemed denser.
There's a double dump near the exit. There's also one dump at the end of a loop by site 60. We were happy the other 4 campers trying to dump forgot about it!
Trail 7 access is also at the end by site 44. It's not marked on the map.
The camp store has the usual camping supplies & gift items. Ice & wood.
We enjoyed our weekend here! Even though it rained Saturday.
Cabin camping near Cecil M. Harden Lake, Indiana, offers a perfect blend of nature and comfort, making it an ideal getaway for families and outdoor enthusiasts alike.
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