Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Shelbyville, IN

With COVID, it seems that everyone...and then more people are going camping. It's a bittersweet type of situation. Nevertheless, it's been very hard to find decent camping in Indiana that isn't packed in like sardines, while also trying to escape the city and get into nature - not around more people.

Luckily, a friend and I came here last October and this place was great. We got a non electric site and were in the middle of the sites. We had a great lake view and were very happy with our setup. It was a pull-through site, although not all are like that. We were able to set up in no time. 

We had lots of space, away from our neighbors. The campstore had wood and random items that you might need should you forget. We were just steps away from the lake and enjoyed walking down there every morning. There aren't the best hiking trails around, so you'll need to drive to the nearby Brown County or National Forest to hike on trails that are actually worth the time. 

I will add that the setup is a bit odd for non-electric. You basically had to pull up to the gatehouse, get your reservation info, then do a U-turn and go back out past the campstore in order to get to your campground. Very odd setup to say the least.

This place is pretty awesome. It's doesn't have any of the typical summer amenities like a pool but the ones it does have are in tip top shape. Campsites also don't have fire rings but there are a bunch of communal ones around the lake. Plus free communal firewood. The laundry and bathhouse is really stellar too. Clean and open 24/7. Plenty of washers and dryers. There are easy back-ins and pull-thrus. Think some of the pull-thrus are for group camping too the way it's set up. Dog park, free cable (like 60 channels!) and internet (haven't tested strength yet)! I dig it!

This was my first time visiting. It’s a very large campground with lots of amenities. I’ve noticed a lot of bad reviews on other platforms about potholes and mud, and although some of that is true, it seems to be mostly on the KOA side. The only major potholes I have encountered are upon entering and exiting near the ranger station. The lot is gravel and very large for my small rig which was cool. It was nice and level, so I didn’t have to do much. I have great service here with my T-Mobile 5g internet as well as my starlink. Because it’s off season, there isn’t a lot going on, but I’m ok with that. I also appreciated the dog park that was well maintained to give my pup some freedom to roam off leash. I would definitely recommend.

Update: The only negative things I encountered while staying at this campground were the loud golf carts with their music blasting until late at night on the weekends. It seems like the same person would just cruise up and down the roads all evening. The other thing that wasn’t really an issue for me (due to being off season) were the limited amount of washers/dryers for the size of the campground. I can’t imagine what it’s like during peak season.

I stayed with full hookups, but no cable (don't need it, so don't know if it's available) and we weren't close enough to connect to the WIFI (only close enough to occasionally see 1 bar pop up).

Friendly folks, catch and release fishing pond, and a pond with beach for swimming. Good size playground, jump pad, and off-leash"dog park" available as well.

On AT&T, I typically had 2 bars and no problem streaming music or browsing Facebook. My fellow travelers, on Sprint, said they had poor reception. I'm guessing 1 bar.

Worth noting that my wife said the water pressure in the shower house was fairly low. (I shower in the camper, so can't comment.) Water pressure was fine at our site, though. Also worth noting that many of the back-in sites can be pull-through if you get there when it's not busy.

Indian Lakes Campground is 10 minutes east of downtown Batesville, an hour to the east of Indianapolis and an hour to the west of Cincinnati. With over 1000 sites they offer a KOA section, year round leased sites, Thousand Trails sites and individual sites. We’re a married couple in our forties traveling with two dogs and a cat in our 37 foot motorhome and members of Thousand Trails. We arrived on April 3rd, the day prior to Indiana Covid-19 stay at home restrictions. The property owners were gracious enough to allow us to extend our stay beyond the normal 14 day limit for our personal safety. We were assigned a 50 amp site with water and sewer in loop 4B. This is an open loop with very few trees for shade. Immediately across from our site is a large field about the length of a football field. We can see the lake in the distance past the recreation and pool areas. During our stay we did not access the restroom, laundry, recreation or store areas as we were practicing social distancing. We plan to make many return trips to this campground in the future. Because we were the first to stay in our site since the campground closed for the winter season we had a little site maintenance/pickup to perform but nothing too out of the norm. The noise from the highway can only be heard about once a week. On weekends there’s an increase in golf-cart users and most neighbors are respectful during quiet hours.