Shale Bluff Campground — Hardy Lake State Recreation Area
Cynthia K.
Reviewed Apr. 8, 2021

Small SRA

  This is a State Recreational Area in Southern Indiana by Scottsburg. It's small. The smallest reservoir the state manages, but it's a nice place to camp & boat. My husband fishes & he said fishing was fair. He fished from shore. Boats are a big part of this lake. There are 4 boat launches on the lake! Lots of people were water skiing, tubing& playing in the water. There's also a beach, which looked clean. There's minimal Canada Geese on shore.

 There's no nature center, but there's a small raptor display. The Raptor Rescue is apparently located nearby.

  There's 2 trail areas. Trail 5 goes to the beach. Connected to that, trail 6 makes a .52M loop. Trail 2, 3,& 4 can be done as individual loops or looped together.

  The Shale Bluff campground is nice, but there were lots of sites in full sun. Watch the incline of some of them as well. The bathrooms& showers were great! Clean & had been updated in the last 10 years. Electricity at all sites. Water at places throughout the campground. 

  The best site is site 160 in the primitive campground, Wooster. If you can get by without electricity, it's right on the water. 163 in primitive is also nice. 

  Shale Bluff Campground has 150 sites with electricity. The best site is 122. Private, shady& you get peeks of the lake between the leaves. Other good sites are 119, 120, 123,& 125. Sites 120& 122 are very nice, but there's 2 trails that take you to the water close to these sites. Other campers use these trails & walk by close, but not actually in your site. If this bothers you, sites 119, 123 & 125 might be better for you. IMO, site 122 was the best! We camped at Hardy Lake State Park in a Travel Trailer.

Site122
Month of VisitJuly