Best Tent Camping in Indiana

This campground is nestled on a ridge above Indiana's Lake Monroe. The wooded sites include a fire-ring, a pole for your lantern and generous flat graveled areas to pitch your tent, as well as a couple of picnic tables per site. There are pleanty of RV sites with electric hookup available as well. Each area of the campground has a knowlegeable courteous full time host, and ice is available at the main gate. Foraging for wood is allowed which is a definite bonus in this era of emerald ash-borer awareness and wood import restrictions. The plentiful raccoons seem almost tame, yet keep a safe distance from campers if you allow them to. There is a small beach to beat the summer heat, and nearby showerhouses (even in the non-electric sites) are kept clean with adequately warm water. There is a small interpretive hike with approximately 300 feet of elevation change situated near the ampitheater that can be completed in a couple of hours.

Pros: Very nice large-size pool with slide, attached playground, green space, and sand-filled soccer pitch all included on the pool grounds. These amenities are great as the pool takes a 15 minute clear-out break about once per hour. There is a concession stand with limited selection, but the benefit is that it takes credit card (and cash). 

The camp store is not the best we've visited. Very limited supply, but they did keep a stock of bacon in their refrigerator and that made my wife happy. 

Cons: Typical Indiana State campground. We visited for a weekend and landed in a terrible spot. The grade was severe and despite using all the travel trailer tricks to level my site, I could not get level. We dealt with it, but I noticed 4 or 5 quality spots that sat vacant through the weekend, however, were allegedly reserved. I had terrible anxiety for the entire weekend that we would roll backward into a ravine. 

We were on an electric side of the park, and the pull-through site across from us was occupied by a tent with a minivan. No judgment here, but they were watching highly taboo movies on a wide screen projector with loud speakers around midnight, well after quiet hours had expired. 

Verizon and AT&T cell phone service were nil, even with a booster and WiFi pack. Our site was littered with cellophane wrappers and cigarette butts. Clearly the previous campers did not adhere to the "leave no trace" doctrine. 

DNR was very, very present at the campground, but at many sightings it seemed like they were watching for rule infractions as opposed to upholding the integrity of the park. I know that seems conflicting, but if you visit this park you will understand. 

Bathrooms were mostly clean. Vault toilets were disgusting, but that's expected for concrete topped port-a-potties.

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. 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!

Located north of turkey run state park shades offers all the hiking and scenic terrain with less amenities and less crowds. Sugar creek cuts through the ancient sandstone floor creating canyon walls. The park is connected to a nature preserve that dose allow backpacking but has designated camping within the park separate from the car camping sites, so you can’t set up camp on the trail. The car camping sites, labeled as family camping, are primitive only with vault toilets. There is a shower located in the campsite with flushing toilets. Campsites are close but most have trees separating them for privacy. Avoid sites next to toilets or dumpsters their practically in your site. There’s no cellular signal in the park so heads up. Ice and wood are located for sale at the entrance. If you have little ones there are a few playgrounds located in the park including one in the campsite which is located a short hike in the woods. This park is quite, shaded, rugged at times and the canyon/creek can be breathtaking. Although I would go early or late in the season to avoid Indiana’s humid muggy summer heat.

Wonderful place. Excellent trail following a nice little stream along the one side. Being in a national forest dispersed camping is allowed if you follow leave no trace principals, but I stayed in a couple of the official sites. The official sites all had rock fire rings and bushcraft furniture.

The one negative was I did have to pack out previous campers trash along with my own. Being close to the college there was evidence that less than mature campers may frequent the area. That being said once on trail I didn’t see another soul past a couple hundred feet of the trail head and only heard a pair of hikers on the trail pass my camp site as I ate my breakfast the one morning.

A wonderful backpacking area!

See all 3

Approx $35 / day

Happy Campers Campground

5.0 (1 reviews)

Directions

Share

Add to trip

Roam with care

Remember to enjoy these campgrounds in a sustainable, respectful way. Clean up after yourself, be friendly with others, and don't overstay your welcome :)

Read more

Got it

Details

Call 812-239-6263 for reservation. Plan to arrive before dark.

5 full hook-up sites, 1 primitive site, and one primitive cabin. On a lake stocked with fish. Port-a-potty and shower house available.

Location

Contact

39.4931, -87.0188

https://happycamperscampgroundinc.com

Cell signal

Verizon LTE

AT&T LTE

T-Mobile LTE

Sprint LTE

Weather

Averages

Forecast

Jan

2.57"

34.6°

16.8°

Feb

2.48"

39.6°

20°

Mar

3.39"

50.5°

28.6°

Apr

3.99"

62.9°

39.4°

May

5.41"

72.4°

49.3°

Jun

4.67"

81.1°

58.7°

Jul

5.19"

84.2°

61.7°

Aug

3.37"

83.2°

60.2°

Sep

3.73"

77.3°

52.3°

Oct

3.49"

65°

41.2°

Nov

3.98"

52°

31.8°

Dec

3.26"

38.3°

20.7°

Seasonal scales

Spring

Summer

Fall

Winter

Crowdedness

Others between 10 and 50 feet away

Fullness

Almost full

Noise

Occasional man-made noise (trains, cars, etc...)

Shade

Mostly shaded, but still some spots with sunlight

Cleanliness

Pristine, no trash at all

Safety

Very safe

Road difficulty

No problems with any vehicle

Features and amenities

Water hookup

Sewer hookup

50A Electric

Showers

Picnic tables

Toilets

Pets allowed

Wifi

Fire pits

randyorsusan

Great place to stop overnight or for a few days. Can hear the highway; but it's not very loud or intrusive. Camp host/owner is very friendly. Plenty of room for kids or pets to roam and play. Very clean and safe.

Stayed in site 43 of the Douglas loop. Douglas loop is all non electric.

Our site was big enough for our tents, a picnic table and fire ring. The bathrooms/showers are really close by which is nice but you do get the lights from the bathroom facing site 43. Not a big deal but if you’re looking for more darkness then definitely choose one of the other sites around 43.

All parking sites are paved for camper vans/trailers but no water or power hookups. All sites have nice huge tent pads that are nice and level. Only noise we heard was the train every now and then.

The showers are individual rooms separate from the bathrooms. And there’s a gas station and liquor store near the entrance of the campground for fire wood and beer.

I didn’t get to stay in the walk in campsites but they are very nice and close-ish to the showers.