Camping near Monroe Lake, IN

Great spot to tent camp! The showers and real bathrooms were nice too! Plenty of trails and awesome lookout points. The lakes aren’t bad for fishing and kayaking too! Very glad I went!

We followed our RV GPS into the quaint city of Franklin and turned right off of Jefferson Street onto Fairgrounds Street that leads a short distance to the gate. Waze wanted us to continue on King Street coming in from I-65, but there is a sign that says no trucks and the street is not RV friendly. Our RV GPS had us going the right direction to get to Jefferson Street. As we had made reservations on the day of arrival we were texted by the fairgrounds camp host asking for an estimated arrival time. The camp host site is right at the entrance of the campground (CG) area. As they only take cash or check, we paid the host upon arrival and the host walked us over to show us the site they selected for us. Upon arriving at back-in site 34 with FHUs and 50 AMP, we asked if we could change to the adjacent 30 AMP area, so we could have some space and yard. The camp host said that due to the age of the wiring they do not allow 50 to 30 AMP adapters. However, a 5th wheel came in a day later and hooked into 30 AMP with an adapter. The CG has poor site and utility placement with multiple sites sharing water. The sites back up to each other and the utilities are down the middle. There isn't dedicated site utilities like the majority of CGs, you just pick the water and electric that happens to be open and is closest to you. There are no picnic tables nor fire pits. Be sure to have plenty of water hose(we needed 50’) to reach a spigot. Our area had full timers and short stayers. There was another site area across the field that was either long term or seasonal with decent spacing but we weren't offered any of the empty 50 AMP spots and no one else was put in that area. Wifi was very useable for checking mail, Facebook, and such. Water pressure was good. We got 3 bars on Verizon. With an unobstructed view of the northern sky we used our Starlink. There’s plenty of area to walk your dog inside the fenced fairground areas. The next time we are in the area, we’ll pass on this CG.

Cool place

This park is great for a one night stay while getting to your destination. Strong WiFi, complete hookups, all pull throughs and easy access!

We went up in June 2024. There are several spots that are in the shade, but some of them are permanent campers. There is a fishing lake and a small river to fish in or wade and swim in. There is a miniature village for the kids along with 20 playgrounds in the campground. Golf carts are available to rent, and I feel are a necessity to get around this large park. There are also large fields to play in. Didn’t use the bath house. The general store has ice and a few souvenirs. There is cell service (AT&T and Verizon) There is also free wood. They have really cool spiral steps that lead up to a walk bridge. They also have a donkey and goats to pet. Altogether a really nice and clean park. Will definitely go again.

Stayed two nights, tent camping. It was a great time meeting new people and exploring the surrounding area.

The bathrooms are dirty, showers are full of hair, the toilets are dirty, staff can be rude, not a lot to do besides walk/drive around, not a very fun park if u was to bring ur kids to it, there’s not much to see. I wouldn’t waste ur take time comming here and instead go to a better park that’s much better

You can visit this website to search for discount codes to help optimize your vacation costs: https://freecouponsaz.com/

 This is a State Forest campground near Nashville, Indiana. Primitive camping. Pit toilets only. This is by Yellowwood Lake, so boating & fishing opportunities. 

All these sites are first come, first serve. No reservations. 

There's a Forest Office with area information & a small display. 

There's several trails of varying length. 

Believe it or not- gold panning is a thing here! You need a permit.

They rent boats at the Forest Office. Electric motor only.

 There's several camping loops. There's a horse camp also. 

The boat ramp is near the horse camp loop.

 We didn't go down the Red Pine Loop, but did check out White Oak/Redbud& Black Gum.

 Hickory loop is right off the road & the sites are visible from the road. They looked nicely spaced.

White oak loop had several nice sites. Redbud is close to a building they call a camp store. It may have been many years ago, but not open now.

 Several picnic spots by the lake. The best site in Redbud would be 39. Large site with some shade. I would also say 38, but site 37 is directly behind it. This is the camp host spot, so occupied. These sites are near the pit toilets.

The best spot in Black Gum would be site 75. Large site at the end of the loop & right by the lake.

 If you go back to Hwy 46 where the road split on your way in, follow the sign to the dam. Just a large earthen dam, but there's trail heads here. There's the Scarce O' Fat Trail which has been mentioned on the Facebook Indiana Hiking page.

$13 per night regular camping.$16 per night for horseman's.

 We did a drive through to check out the campground. It was $8 for day use, self pay.

This is a beautiful campground. There's 4 loops with 30 & 50 amp. 2 loops with no electric.

 Well spaced all tucked into the trees on a ridge. Also some carry in sites.

 If we tented camped still I'd be in heaven! 

You can reserve sites, or some are first come first served.

Shower/restroom with pit toilets scattered around. 

3 trails. A beach, picnic areas& a boat launch. 

This seems less popular than Paynetown, but a lot quieter!!

 This is a SRA on the shores of Lake Monroe by Bloomington Indiana. This is a boating/fishing park. We went on a hot weekend the 4rth weekend in June & it was completely full. 

There's only 3 short trails. The longest is 1.25 miles. Not a hiking park. 

There's a visitor center off State Road 446. This is NOT a nature center! Just a place to pick up some information. 

The marina & boat launch get the most use. There's also a beach. 

There's a large Class B campground closer to the marina. There's some pit toilets & one flush toilet building. No showers. No electricity.

 There's a large dump station. 

The electric campground has 227 sites. 3 are handicap accessible. There's also 27 pull throughs. Many have lake access due to camper made trails to the lake.

We had site 137 which was a good site due to the fact we had no one on the left. There was a woods view.

Many of these sites have a bad incline & people were putting their rigs sideways on the site close to the road. Our site was no exception, but we were able to make it work. This site also had afternoon sun.

 Restrooms/showers were state park clean. I was impressed with the hard working staff trying their best to give us a clean bathroom!

 The best sites in the campground are 171/172& 153/154. These have a lot of sun, but a stellar view of the lake. 

132-137 have a trail to the lake. Very bad inclines though. 

120-124 have trails to the lake & are in the woods. 

103 is a large site& fairly even with lots of shade. 

The sites from 180-227 are asphalt with concrete pads. The rest of the campground is gravel. 

There's 4 carry in campsites for tents that looked very nice. Campsites in the E area have access to a sandy peninsula that was very popular for swimmers. 

This is known in Indiana as a party park. There's some truth to that. It's VERY noisy & busy on a summer weekend. If you like a quieter experience come Monday through Wed. or wait until the off season.