Family Hiking at Clifty Falls State Park – Madison, Indiana
The girls and I spent a day at Clifty Falls State Park. We came in through the south gate. We started by checking out the nature center. It’s small but cute. It has a decent bathroom. There’s an outdoor area with feeders where you can watch birds and squirrels.
The parking lot for the nature center is at the start of trail 1. We started our day of hiking with part of this trail. We walked down it to the observation tower. The view from the top of the tower wasn’t very nice. It overlooked a factory of some sort on one side and the other side was trees. We came across some kids carrying a huge caterpillar back to their mom. They were kind enough to let us check it out.
Next up was Hoffman Falls. We parked near an access point for trail 3. We went to an overview area to see the falls. It wasn’t the best view of the falls. It has been very hot here so it was barely flowing. The overview is likely more impressive during rainier times. Spring, perhaps? I think there has to be a better viewing point further down but it was hot and my kids were getting hangry so we went back to the car. We were parked next to a playfield and decided to stay there to eat.
After our snack, we drove around the rest of the park to check it out. We have a bit of an odd situation. Our youngest two girls haven’t spent nearly as much time as they probably should’ve in parks with campgrounds considering that we will be living in a camper full time in just over a year! Wow! The thought of this getting closer all the time is both exciting and terrifying at this same time. We are trying to expose our girls to as much as we can so it’s not complete culture shock when we leave even though I know that no matter what we will all go through the shock of being out of our comfort zones. That’s part of the fun after all!
We did the easy hike to see Big Clifty Falls. Unfortunately, the path to Little Clifty was damaged by a recent storm so we were unable to see it. We looked at Big Clifty from the top and bottom viewing points. I think the path area to the lower viewing area of Big Clifty is almost as pretty as the waterfall. It has an odd manmade being overtaken by nature thing that is interesting. We hung out taking pictures and enjoying this area for a while.
After we finished this short hike, we stopped and played at the playground near the trailhead parking lot. We met a lovely couple and their daughter. Our girls enjoying making a 5-minute friend (this is our term for a person that you connect with quickly but don’t continue a relationship with). They were very nice people who had recently moved to the area because the wife got a new job as a professor. Octavia rarely plays with other kids so this was a welcome surprise. The girls had a blast on the tire swing, giggling and squealing with delight.
When we had finally had our fill of the playground, we loaded in the car and were off to see the last waterfall in the park. There is a pull-in parking area at the top of a set of stairs that lead to Tunnel Falls. We walked down first to the viewing area which was pretty but blocked by a lot of greenery. We walked further down the path and were rewarded with a beautiful but very dangerous view. There is a straight drop-off at the edge of the path that overlooked Tunnel Falls. The top picture on the post is Tunnel Falls. It was my favorite of the whole trip.
We really enjoyed our day at Clifty Falls State Park! We stopped for an early dinner in Madison after we left. You can read about that Here.
Price: $7-9 per car