Rock Springs Conservation Area — Attraction in Decatur

If you have never visited Rock Springs Conservation Area you have got to go as soon as possible! It is located in Decatur about a hour from Shelbyville. Rock Springs Conservation has a beautiful Nature Center, hiking trails, bike trails, canoes, camps, fishing when it is warmer, cross-country ski and snowshoe rentals and so much more. Rock Springs looked like a winter wonderland covered in snow. Yesterday Jean, Nancy and I went to Rock Springs to try XC skiing on the snow covered trails. Jean and I met Kelle at Shorelines this fall and she told us all about renting skis and snowshoes at Rock Springs. Kelle is a fellow bucket list lover like us! 😂 Who knew five months later we would have enough snow to try skiing. There needs to be four inches of snow to ski or snowshoe. It only cost $8 to rent skis or snowshoes! We could use them for two hours which is a very long time to ski! They measure you to see what size of poles you will need based on your height. They provide the ski boots in the $8 rental price. The boots are EU sized. All the employees and volunteers were so helpful in getting us fitted for our adventure. We overdressed not knowing what a hard workout we were getting ourselves involved in! Definitely wear layers if you go skiing. We met so many nice people on the trails. Pretty much everyone out there was trying it for the first time. Lots of spills and laughs on the trails. When you get done you will be starving. Skiing burns a lot of calories especially if you have no clue what you’re doing! It was a blast! It was so much fun I decided to go the next day too! Stacy and Cade joined the Grabb family on a winter adventure. The Nature Center opened at 1pm today so we got there a little early to walk around and explore some of the trails. When we got back to the center there was a long line at the door waiting to get in to rent skis. The line moved pretty quickly so it didn’t take long for us to get our gear so that we could hit the trails. I decided to try snowshoes today since I skied yesterday. We ended up getting four miles in which was probably a mile too much! 😂 We had some falls, broken boots and a great day together. We all give Rock Springs Conservation Area a five star rating! We want to bring our dogs next time when there is less snow so they can...

Beautiful area for hiking, picnics, fishing, bird watching, photography and school field trips. A lot of people don’t realize that they also rent equipment for cross country skiing in the winter for really cheap. It’s a fun way to get outdoors and stay active during the winter when it snows. We had the pleasure of speaking to Ritchie on several occasions before he passed away. He was always personable and had a smile on his face. Rest In Peace🌹 We went cross country skiing on 2.6.2022. We’ve been many times over the years and have always had fun. That day there was a line of people out the door trying to cross country ski for the first time. It really took away from being able to enjoy being out in nature. When it came to paying for the equipment rentals that day it might have been nice to know that they do NOT accept Debit cards anymore which is a huge inconvenience to find out after waiting in...

This is a wonderful place for the whole family. We had the pleasure of attending an event with a wonderful professor who spoke on the life of Laura Ingles Wilder and her family. The presentation was even greater than we had anticipated. The only problem was people on the other side of the room not sharing a binder of additional information. In spite of their rudeness it was a great way to spend the afternoon. Rock Springs is a fabulous place with a lot of nice staff and volunteers. There was a beautiful wedding outside as well. Didn't know one could have weddings there, but as pretty as it is it is perfect. If you haven't been there check it out, you'll be...