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This recreation area is part of Monroe Lake
$25 - $55 / night
$25 - $40 / night
The Charles C. Deam Wilderness offers 36 miles of trails for hiking, backpacking, and horse riding through scenic hardwood forest and varied terrain with views of nearby Monroe Lake. The area was designated a wilderness in 1982 and encompasses nearly 12,953 acres of the Hoosier National Forest. Wilderness designation places this area in a special legal status (subject to the 1964 Wilderness Act). It is managed to preserve a natural condition and provide opportunities for solitude. Since its designation as a wilderness, visitor use in the area increased to a point that significant damage was occurring. Special restrictions are in place to protect the wilderness character. Visitors to this special place are asked to follow these restrictions to lessen your impact and share responsibility in preserving this unique natural resource.
Primitive camping is available for a fee; campers must register for camping at the forest office. Mason Ridge Campground, located behind the fire tower north of the forest office, has vault toilets and seasonal drinking water available. There is a picnic table and grill located on each of the campground's 19 sites. On busy weekends, overflow camping is available at Oak Ridge Campground. Oak Ridge has 10 sites and the same facilities as Mason Ridge.
Scout Ridge Youth Tent Campground is available for scouts or other groups. The six sites in Scout Ridge Campground are larger than regular campground sites and there are several picnic tables and grills available. Scout Ridge Nature Preserve is located in this area.
Backcountry camping is available. All campers must register with State Forest Office via person, email at morgansf@dnr.IN.gov, at the kiosk, or phone (765-792-4654). Please note the phone is not recommended because the office is closed in evenings and on Sundays. Users must indicate the general region of planned camping. During periods of high fire danger the area may be closed by the property manager. Camping groups are restricted to either family units or groups not exceeding six persons. No campsite may be established within ¼ mile of access points into the area. Use of the area is restricted to a maximum of three nights by any individual. Morgan-Monroe State Forest has a carry-in, carry-out trash policy, i.e., what you carry in you must carry out. Additionally, the backcountry area is restricted to only minimal-impact camping/hiking in order to preserve the natural state of Morgan-Monroe State Forest.
Oak Ridge campground is closed Jan. 1 through March 31.
Scout Ridge campground is closed Jan. 1 through March 31. Special requests can be made during this period through the forest office.
Marson Ridge campground is open year-round.
Water is shut off at all campgrounds and shelters Oct. 31 and turned on in March as weather permits. A year-round hydrant is located southeast of the main office.
Small campfires are allowed while backcountry camping, but the DNR recommends using a portable backpacking stove for cooking instead of a campfire. A portable stove will cook your meal long before a fire is ready. Another advantage is that it helps prevent fire-blackened rocks in areas where people camp. If using a campfire, make sure a campfire is allowed during the time of your trip. Different properties may have different rules regarding campfires. Even properties that generally allow campfires may ban them on a temporary basis because of dry conditions. Use only small dead and downed wood where permitted. Do not break or cut tree limbs or trees, even dead ones. Dead trees provide habitat for many birds and animals. Do not stockpile wood. While this was once considered a friendly gesture in remote areas, today it is one more way of reducing the spirit of solitude and independence that people seek when backcountry camping. Any campfire in a backcountry area should be in a pit 12 inches or less in diameter, and a 3-foot diameter area should be cleared to mineral soil around the fire. Before leaving an area where a campfire was built, mix ashes with the soil (100% extinguished), fill the pit, and cover the cleared area with the humus layer that was originally removed.
Draper Cabin
Draper Cabin is a primitive, wooden-floored log cabin that takes visitors 100 years back in time to the days before electricity, vehicles and modern plumbing. Reservations for the cabin are accepted from the first weekend in April to the weekend before Thanksgiving. The cabin may be rented on a day by day basis, depending on weather conditions, during the winter. Click here for rental information and a picture of the cabin .
Cherry Lake Lodge
Nestled deep in Morgan-Monroe State Forest you’ll find the solitude you seek, while still having a comfortable bed in which to sleep, hot and cold running water, indoor restroom and shower, and full kitchen facilities. This recently renovated lodge is everything you’d expect in a woodland retreat at a very affordable rental rate. It’s a place where the whole family can explore the woods all day, and relax to a warm fire at night. Click here for rental information and rates.
Guide
The site we stayed in was lovely. It was backed up to the edge of the woods which made for a lovely view. Driving through the campground it looks like there are some sites pretty close together but ours wasn’t too bad. I would say pay particular attention to the size of the site you’re booking as some were pretty small. Also, some sites were fairly sloped as well. This site was a slight slope and overall I would book it again. We have a full size truck with a small travel trailer that fit perfectly. Camp store was stocked nicely. Staff was friendly. The campground itself was very quiet and you could enjoy being out in nature. The site was walking distance from showers/bathroom. The park as a whole is beautiful and there’s a trailhead that’s walking distance from the campsite that leads down a beautiful trail to a lake.
Guide
Open areas with pit toilets and water available. Shade and sunny locations. Pick a spot and set up with hammock-large rvs spots. No fee, no reservations, no problems. Officers from federal, state, and local patrol. Cell service by various providers is 1-2 bars. Highly recommend.
Traveler
A staple of our state here in Indiana. Unfortunately due to some storm damage, trails were rerouted or straight up inaccessible.
Great places to find and set up camp. We even discovered a few extra hidden sites just by being forced off trails due to the damage.
Every dispersed camper should add the hikes to the lake to their checklist.
ScoutCool place
Guide
Very long secluded road. Took a bit to find the first spot to camp, once we found it the other spots weren’t too far past.
Scout
We are here for just one night as we are headed back to Georgia. I used the Dyrt search and in this area I looked at this place and boy am I glad I did. I wish it were closer to home. We are next to the river and we are loving it. Beautiful sites and family friendly. Staff are great too.
ScoutThis would most likely be a last resort for us. Went to our campsite only to find someone else using it. Not what you need after driving 400-500 miles. Had to go back to the office and ultimately took a different site after dirty looks from the poachers.
Then the staff told us there was music that night after we told them we just wanted a peaceful nights sleep so we moved to another site further away from the jam session. Whew a lot of work to be here. Cannot recall being impresses with the bathrooms/showers.
Guide
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.
Legend
Shade, grass, and gravel sites. A lot better than most KOAs. They ask that you not put outdoor rugs on grass; no problem as grass is nice. Sites 1-10 are your best bet for Starlink if that’s what you have; best opening through tree canopy of the northern sky. 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. A mix of long term residents and travelers; some of the long term resident sites were a little junky.
RangerThe perfect dispersed site for my way through, quiet and peaceful. Good spot for tent camping , we enjoyed our stay.
Scout
Definitely a little dated. Picnic tables cracked plastic. My site was missing fire ring but many had them. Most sites really wet but gravel pads were close to level, needed to raise one side 1”.
TravelerWe really liked the set up of this campsite. The fire rings were spread apart amidst a green hill. There was some shade available around the edges. Plenty of room to spread out from your neighbors; it wasn’t too busy when we were there (a Thursday). Camp accesses two trailheads directly. There were two bathrooms, a place for garbage, and potable water. Screech owls and active birds made it an exciting evening.
Scout
Stayed two nights, tent camping. It was a great time meeting new people and exploring the surrounding area.
Traveler
We were so fortunate to have found The Retreat at Hickory Hills and stay there for a month! There’s two pools, a pickle ball court, a basketball half court, farm animals, golf cart trails, kayak/canoe/row boats, exploring creeks, fishing, a dog park, several playgrounds, Gaga ball, tether ball, volleyball, frisbee golf and several weekend activities for everyone. Saturday mornings were our favorite where we could get biscuits and gravy, coffee and the kids had craft time. It’s definitely worth bringing mountain bikes or renting their golf carts to explore their golf cart trails! We went out on these several times and it never got old! Staff and campers were welcoming and friendly. We still haven’t stopped talking about how CLEAN they keep everything. The sites were large and they’re still expanding and adding more sites. There’s a seasonal campers area and an overnight or monthly area. We stayed in the overnight/monthly area. It was peaceful and relaxing throughout the week and lively during the weekend. It was a wonderful balance!! We’ll definitely be back.
TravelerBeautiful secluded site that is pretty far off of the road, but not too far. There was no traffic or other people in site. I have a promaster conversion and had no trouble making it to this site, however the road was gravel and steep at times. I have lived in Indiana for ever and have made many trips this way, but I never knew sites like this existed.
Scout
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LegendFirst off- Brown County is a lovely park. This review is only for the campground.
The only time we ever camped here was in 2003 when we had 3 kids & a popup. New to the park I thought the Racoon Ridge Loop looked good & picked site 121. Bad mistake! We stayed 3 nights & every night we had a weird thing happen. The worst was the bat that found it's way into the popup one night. None of it was in any way Brown County's fault, but we never went back.
We were staying at Paynetown recently & decided to visit Brown County & the campground. The mirror tag helped with this. We visited on a Saturday morning in late June. The whole campground was full & it was jumpin'!
We skipped Buffalo Ridge. Raccoon Ridge is the smallest loop. Close sites. Our former site 121 has a pit toilet right next to it now. There's several sites along the main road, also very close to each other & right on the road.
I thought that Taylor Ridge was the best loop based on my memories from 2003. It's really a long warren of close sites, some with terrible inclines.
I was able to write down a few sites I thought would work- Sites with no one close by: 193/194/266.
265 was the only pull thru I saw, but there may be others.
End of loop: 317/318
Ridge view from your site: 310/311/312/313/314
Random sites that looked ok: 179/188/215/223/225/242/259/260/265/277/280/287/422- these sites are just what I eyeballed while the husband was cruising down the main road.
We decided we were never going to camp here again. The sites are too close together. There's too many people crammed in a small space. If you go be aware that summer weekends & leaf peeper season will be very busy. The middle of the week or shoulder season would probably be your best bet for a more relaxing experience.
Legend
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.
Legend
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!!
Legend
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.
TravelerWe traveled to Indianapolis for the Olympic Swimming Time Trials. Stayed here 2 nights with our 2 grand-daughters. The area we stayed was directly adjacent to a bike path. It was separated by a fence and there was a gate right next to our site. The gate was locked however the gates were far enough apart that someone could get between them. Our first night, someone actually did this and walked right behind our site.
The shower house was in serious need of some improvements! Old, dark, leaky pipes.
The area was OVERLY well lit, to the point we were hanging sleeping bags over the windows to try and make it somewhat dark inside the camper!
Getting to the sites took some figuring out also. We entered at the main gate to the fairgrounds and there were no signs directing us to the sites. Had to use GPS with satellite view to figure our way there.
For comparison, we've stayed at the Iowa State Fairgrounds and this is a night and day difference. Iowa Fairgrounds sites are $20 less per night, very nice shower facilities and plenty of room between sites.
We would stay here again but we'd need to exhaust all other options first.
BTW, the price listed is wrong. We paid $50/night.
Guide
This was my first time at a campsite, so I don't have other sites to compare to. Overall, my experience was great. Clean area with lots of amenities. They stack free firewood at your campsite to burn. I'm military, so the gunfire, canon fire, and helicopters didn't bother me at all. Those things don't happen all the time though.
Traveler
We stayed pretty much on our site. Generally, we aim to do a bit of exploring, but we used their camping as a rendezvous. I was slightly disappointed by the site selections being mostly on a slant, but we did find one on the overfill site that suited our needs and we ended up loving it. I do plan on returning specifically to update a better review on the available views.
Scout
The owner came up hot headed and very upset. I don’t know if they were having a bad day. The place looks like trash and has a very poor layout
Guide
Turkey Run is a fabulous state park with a nice campground. My only complaint about the campground is that many sites are in an open, level area without a lot of trees or bushes between them. You don’t have a lot of privacy. Two sections of the campground, with the higher numbered sites, are much more wooded. If I go again, I will try to be there!
But the campground has two large modern bathrooms that are cleaned regularly. It also has clean well maintained vault toilets throughout the campground. Best of all, from the back of the campground you can access Trail 7, a moderate level trail that leads unexpectedly to a small stream running past a recessed cave. It’s a peaceful spot.
Be advised that a “moderate” hike at Turkey Run can be challenging, with plenty of steps up and down the hillsides. Many of the trails go along stream beds, so you often need to make your way across the rocks to avoid wet feet. Be prepared with hiking boots and sticks.
There are two covered bridges on the edges of the park. Be sure to check them out!
ScoutFor those of you who don't understand disperse camping this is the perfect site for a tent to camp without anything but what you bring in and take out understand what dispersed camping is and then there won't be any complaints about can't get a camper in or whatever I always see the complaints this is dispersed camping at its best
GuideTurkey 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.
Tent camping near Plainfield, Indiana offers a variety of scenic locations and outdoor activities for nature enthusiasts. Whether you're looking for a peaceful retreat or an adventurous getaway, there are several well-reviewed campgrounds to explore.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular tent campsite near Plainfield, IN?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Plainfield, IN is Paynetown Campground with a 4.6-star rating from 29 reviews.
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TheDyrt.com has all 18 tent camping locations near Plainfield, IN, with real photos and reviews from campers.