Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park — Attraction in Indianapolis

These are notes from the perspective of a hiker, visiting this Park for free.

A good hiking/bicycling 🚶🚴‍♀️ trail entrance is around 4200 Michigan, between the White River and the Central Canal. You can also cross underneath Michigan Road here, avoiding traffic worries; on the other side of Michigan, the trail becomes the Central Canal Connector Trl on the canal's west bank, essentially ending near N. Meridian and 56th Street.

The Ruth Lilly Visitors Pavilion 🚻🐦🏡 isn't far from the Michigan Road entrance. The surrounding trails are beautiful, and the Pavilion "sanctuary" is amazing, too.

You can head down to the Pacers Bike Station. 🚲 Although I'd currently expect the bridge crossing the Central Canal there to be gated and locked. 🔒

Funky Bones 🦴💀 is one place to visit on the trails, and Stratum Pier another. But the best part aren't those specific destinations, but walking the lovely hiking trails themselves. 🏞️ (Women especially seem to enjoy walking the paths with their large dogs. 🐕‍🦺)

The other logical way to hike would be starting from "Free Basket" 🏀, where there is also parking and an entrance from 38th Street.

You may be best off entering from a different nearby location on 38th Street to get to this different section; but Sutphin Fountain ⛲ is pleasant, as are the areas by the Newfields main building.

I don't remember seeing a single ugly piece of litter anywhere in this park. 🚮 🏞️ So if you start messing that up, you're probably going to stick out here, and not...

This is by far a beautiful nature park to just get away. Walking a dog around the lake, seeing the wild animals, nature in its glory - all wonderful. Every time I go I see something either new or that I missed on my previous visit. The other visitors and dogs have also always been very friendly. I do recommend that you bring some doggy poop bags as I always do, just in case they’re out like they were today. A word to the visitors - clean up after your dogs. Some people are disrespectful of the park and let their dogs do whatever without cleaning up but the park staff work hard to keep it the beautiful place that it is. Also, parents/guardians let the young ones be destructive. This is why it’s so hard to have beautiful things. Again - my hats off to the fantastic and ultra hard work that the park staff does to keep this place a beautiful attraction. I highly recommend this place - and give the Labrynth a walk through with the Indiana Grass. It’s definitely mind calming if you allow it to be. I can’t give this place...

Wonderful spot to hike in nature and art. Go all the way back to the visitors center to see a cool building, and use the only bathrooms in the park other than the port-o-lets near the parking lot. Since you can no longer walk all of the grounds of IMA (I refuse to use the new name) for free, this is the next best thing right next door. A bridge over the canal connects this park to the museum grounds if you are visiting there. There have been recent renovations to the park including removing a stand of second-growth woodland in line with the Lily house and returning that portion of the land back to native wildflowers and grasses. They have also shorred up the levee between the river and the park's lake, so you can now go all of the way around the lake again Whether you walk in, bike in from the canal path or drive to the park, it's definitely a great place to spend a few hours. There's is plenty of art to see, places to walk, or to throw down a blanket to read or...