Best Glamping near Cecil M. Harden Lake, IN

Raccoon 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.

One of the best parks in Indiana! If your looking for rugged trails look no further. For the most part campground is nicely shaded.

Turkey Run has the best trails in Indiana with water features, rock, and ladders. Good canoeing, tubbing and the best junk food at Up The Creek.

We have stayed here for several years. The best hiking in Indiana and rent a kayak and take a trip down Sugar Creek! Pictures are from our trip in Oct of 2016.

This is just a beautiful Indiana State Park located near the small community of Jasonville, Indiana which offers simple dining, grocery store, hardware store and fuel. The park has numerous recreational activities to include 3 lakes spanning some 400 acres that are known for spectacular fishing, seasonal family aquatic center for swimming with a large water slide, seasonal nature center, and several hiking trails. The campsites are in a heavily wooded area with fantastic tree canopy for shade and comfort. Sites are mostly level gravel pads ranging from primitive to 30 amp electric, 50 amp electric or a limited number of full hookup; water, sewer and 50 amp service sites plus plenty of clean bath houses. Large rig friendly. The park also has family cabins available. A small camp store supplies firewood, ice, bait and sundries...Indiana fishing license at the park office. Want to relax...enjoy beautiful sunsets on the lake, paddling a canoe or kayak, or casting a line for dinner...this is a perfect place to make that happen.

The campground here is nothing to get excited about, but holy moly this is the best park in Indiana. The sites are so unique and surprising. The trails are a fun challenge and not your average hike.

Much enjoyed hiking some of the trails at Turkey Run State Park near Marshall, Indiana. This is Indiana's 2nd oldest state park, now 100 years old (1916-2016). Visitors can camp in RV's or in tents in campground area that has water/electrical hook-ups, modern bathrooms w/ showers. There is also cabins to rent, or you can stay at Turkey Run Inn. Canoeing down Sugar Creek was great, and it passes through the state park at a fairly scenic section. Some hiking trails are easy to walk along, others trails are more rugged and difficult. Cross over Sugar Creek on a suspension bridge to get to more hiking trails in a more remote section of woods. We ate a very nice lunch in the restaurant in the Inn, and even played pinball in the gameroom. Great state park. Would be happy to go again some day.

Turkey Run is one of my top 2 campgrounds in Indiana! We camped here during the Covered Bridge Festival, which is really hard to get a site, book early if you're wanting to do that. We went during the week so it was easier to get a campsite.

Our site, 226 was on a small loop that was nice and wooded. The campground staff was really good at keeping the noise down, we've had problems with noisy campers before so that was nice to see.

My absolute favorite part though, is the trails. You completely forget you're in Indiana. We went on trail 5 I believe which ran through a creek bed for awhile and that made it even more fun. We normally have our kids (4 and 1.5) but were kid free this time. We wouldn't have been able to take them on this trail at this age.

If you're into kayaking or canoeing, there are several canoe liveries that service the area and a trip down Sugar Creek is always a good time.

Put this one on your must see list!

We love Turkey Run. The campgrounds are clean and fun for all ages. The outer edge campsites provide beautiful views of the woods and are pretty secluded from other sites. The hiking trails are incredible...one of a kind for Indiana. The trails are more like adventures, leading in and out of the creek, up stairs carved into rock, up and down ladders, and across a cable bridge. It’s just beautiful. The facilities are clean, the staff is as nice as can be. You won’t regret staying at Turkey Run.

This was a favorite getaway spot when I was a student at Purdue University. This area is such a drastic difference from the surrounding areas with canyon-like structures and cooler temperatures on the trails. It definitely doesn't feel like you are in Indiana. There are ample campsites (all electric) and a camp store. It is separate from the rest of the rest of the park, just down the road but easily accessible. Personally, the best part for me is the awesome hiking trails, rivaling my favorites in Tennessee!

Turkey Run is my all time favorite State Park in Indiana. It has great camping with both reserved and walk up options (get there early for walk up options). Reservations can be made here: https://indianastateparks.reserveamerica.com/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=IN&parkId=570032&ltcmp=177360&ltclickid=03_51015144_cfbb0fa2-9eb5-41c1-bcb2-f620d18c259e

The campgrounds have modern facilities including showers. Dogs are allowed. We love the hiking trails. The extra bonus for us was to do a covered bridge driving tour!

While this is always listed among the top Indiana state parks because of its amazing beauty and historic sites, the campgrounds are not up to the same level. The shower houses are old. No sinks, no flush toilets, no solid doors for privacy. Just curtains. So yes, that means put/vault toilets only, and there is no light for a middle of the night visit except the flashlight you will hopefully remember. Other state parks in the area do have modern shower houses. If you are disabled or just prefer better hygiene amenities, camp at Raccoon Lake SRA and take day trips to Turkey Run. I’m not sure of the status of nearby Shades Stare Park comfort facilities since we haven’t camped there yet.

Love that this was voted the best campground in Indiana by The Dyrt because that is just how I felt about our stay. Great hiking trails plus a lodge with gift shop and restaurant. 

Many of the sites are a good size and level but not all of them are, so be cautious if you are reserving and not familiar with the sites. In April, we practically had the entire campground to ourselves! The ranger was obviously not busy so he came over to talk to us for a while. We especially liked the hike to the covered bridge and exploring the sandstone canyons. The suspension bridge was fun too! We saw birds, a profusion of beautiful wildflowers and (not so beautiful) wild turkeys. We would love to return in the fall.

I had heard about Turkey Run a few times but never thought much of it. On my way through we decided to stop in and we were so blown away we stayed the night. This state park is definitely the Gem of Indiana . There are lots of view stops along the river, the suspension bridge is super neat, and the rocks, waterfalls, and streams will have you awestruck the whole time. I cannot wait to return, I’m sure it is breathtaking in the fall. there are lots of inclines and steps , not much of it was extremely easy hiking, but we did see lots of families with kids doing just fine. We camped out of our Jeep and didn’t have any issue. My favorite part about camping is the sunrise and Turkey Run was not disappointing.

I have never been to a campground with so many children. At first it was a nice break from all the old folks at the RV parks, but then it got to be too much. There was constant noise and commotion and kids (and adults) constantly walking through my site. One boy was even riding his bike over my Starlink wire. A lot of the kids had electric scooters and bikes and were zooming through the campground endlessly.  I had a group from across the road come into my site and start playing frisbee golf because they did not have enough room in their own site but didn't say a word to me. Really? The surrounding area is very beautiful with rock outcroppings and small gorges unlike the rest of Indiana. However, the walking paths around this beautiful area were MOBBED.  The area around the suspension bridge was like being in Times Square.  The bathrooms were good….a solid B+.

Turkey Run is arguably the most popular campground (and state park) in Indiana and has its pros and cons.

It is definitely designed to accommodate RVs, as the majority of the sites are situated in an open field. There are a few dozen sites that are in “loops” that are situated in shaded areas. Some camp sites have zero privacy while others have a little. Either way, if you’re here on a weekend, you’ll definitely have neighbors close by. You can see the entire campground via google maps street view, just FYI

This is a very family friendly campground and you will see lots of kids on bicycles flying around. I’ve stayed here a few times, and no matter the day of the week or the time of year, there are always lots of kids.

This campground has a raccoon “problem” due to campers having poor camp etiquette and feeding them. They come out of the woods towards dusk looking for food. They will come right up to you without hesitation, so don’t be alarmed if there’s one next to you while you cook s’mores over your fire (ask me how I know, hah). They will take any food that is left out. Do not turn your back to your dinner table at any time if there’s food out.

On my last visit to turkey run (I’ve camped here 3 or 4 times) I arrived to my campsite and someone had left dog food out for the raccoons in little piles all over the place which was super disappointing. Additionally, my neighbors didn’t put their campfire out when they packed up and left.

Perhaps I’m just used to camping in other areas where you have to worry about bears and burning the forests down…But campers here just aren’t as mindful or respectful of the campground.

The restrooms and showers (at least the one I use at this campground) is modernized and cleaned daily but there’s no dish pit/wash room available if you cook. Just be prepared to clean up accordingly and put trash in trash receptacles. There are a few vault toilets in the campground as well.

You can hike from the CG into the state park (highly recommend. It’s gorgeous!) just wear shoes that youre willing to get wet.

Overall, it’s a beautiful state park with a conveniently located campground. It’s not the best campground ever but for Indiana standards, it’s great. Even with my complaints, I always return because I enjoy visiting and hiking through the state park.

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.

We really enjoyed our visit to Raccoon Lake. Plenty of places to hike, awesome beach, clean restrooms. No cell service but who needs it!

I loved this camp ground, there was a beach which was nice and a building to get food. They have a basketball court, and a few trails. We stayed Thurs thru Sunday and had a very nice time.

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. The “lakeview” title is a bit misleading as there is a view of the lake but it is largely covered by trees. Wish there was a park ranger presence there to ask loud guests to keep it down past quiet hours, but never saw a ranger the entire time. There was a trail that led down to the lake but it was steep and a bit hard to maneuver. If there was an access set of steps to get to the lake it would be much nicer for guests with limited mobility. Over all we would stay here again.

One of the best state park campgrounds I've grown to love with beautiful views, hiking, and boating

A friend and I came here with her pop-up tent for a random weekend in 2020 when the weather was absolutely perfect for camping - in the 70s the entire trip. 

We arrived and were shocked to see that our site was basically on top of our neighbor's and it was not flat at all. Luckily, we weren't tent camping or it would've been a disaster. 

We did have some lake views, although we were in the middle of the road so we didn't have our own private space like other sites did. We were in the non-electric area, but did have modern restrooms.

The restrooms were kept very clean and smelled of bleach at all times (a good thing during COVID). There is also a hiking trail that goes near the lake that is very close to the campground, so good access point for hikers. 

One thing to note is how close the sites are to each other, especially for those in the electric areas. It was as if it was a little city with how many people/campers/RVs/campers there were. I wasn't a fan.

It is a lovely park. Especially if you have a boat. They have a separate swimming area its kinda like its own cove. They have a camp store that is okay. They dont have much to choose from but there is a DG just down the road. Excellent fishing and fun trails to explore. The adorable raccoons are everywhere. They are like a little gang of bandits- they even steal food and drinks out of the cooler. The deer are around to greet you as well. Remember do not feed the critters... If possible.

Love this clean and quite campground. It has a clean lake and clean restrooms.

My wife our dogs and I camped here from 08/20/21- 08/22/21 camping in a Winnebago Micro Minnie 2108 TB. The campground had a nice playground and we really enjoyed the area.

We stayed for the 3 days after Labor Day and the campground was immaculate. No trash from previous campers at the campsites and the restrooms were spotless.

Paved walking trails. Friendly people can book 6 mo. In advance.