Morgan-Monroe State Forest — Attraction in Martinsville

MMSF is pretty much my go-to park for hiking and general forest-bathing experience of any time. It's by far the best CLOSE park to the Indy / central Indiana area. It offers a wide variety of terrain types, trail lengths, plant / tree / wildlife varieties, it's free, and isn't laden with all the state park B.S. It's also never as crowded as any of the state parks & rec areas though recent years have seen significantly increased numbers of hikers.

My favorite area is the Back Country Area at the far east side of the park across Low-Gap Rd. (If my memory is correct). The parking area isn't particularly easy to find but worth the search. The trails, terrain, and beauty of this area are among the best in the park and (hopefully I don't screw it up with this review) also among the least populated by hikers & campers ... Shhhhh!

Just off the main forest road, the Stepp Family Cemetery is always an attraction for the historically minded as well as ghost hunters. There are some great sighting reports the a quick Google search will turn up.

The biggest down-side IMO is the logging that continually is changing the landscape and ruining trail vistas. I completely get (and support) the need for logging both from a forest management standpoint (though that's relatively minor)as well as the need for materials. I just have the opinion that it's not being done well at MMSF and, at the very least, creates a LOT of eye-sore spots along some of the major trails. However it doesn't change my opinion of the park or my desire to be there as often...

Although I grew up not far from here, I can't recall if I had ever been here. We took our dogs down to go try the trails. First of all, there was no charge. We have been going to a lot of state parks and paying $9 to enter. So, this was a pleasant surprise. If you are going for hike or just using one of the shelters, this is a great choice. Note that I found park map online and printed it out before leaving the house. There is park office, but we did not go there. We decided on the rock shelter trail that was listed as three miles. I think this does not count the distance it takes to get down to the trail from where we parked, as the total mileage was more like five miles. This was fine for us, but it did take more time out of our schedule than we had planned. I will also say the maps provided by all Indiana parks seem to be pretty poor. We managed to find our way through though, although we were a bit confused more than once. There were a number of signs to mark the trail, but there were none that we noticed when we got to the bottom of the valley where the creek crossings were. It was not super clear which way to go a few times. We managed though. Overall, I would definitely go again. The trail was fun and absolutely beautiful. Maybe we'll see you down...

I grew up running the forrest the roads are a little rough but its a great place to go fish hike camp take photos of wildlife. I love renting the cabin its a great place for qetting away. Would have given 5 stars but went fishing recently at Cherry Lake my fav. to fish at. While leaving on of the rangers informed me the geese and ducks that were down there were dumped i said maybe i can find them a home since theyre domestic not wild. He said i dont know id have to approve it for he said now they dont want you to feed them. They can stay threre until they becom racoon food his words. That was upsetting to hear from someone who is supposed to take care of wildlife very disturbing to me should be to others as well.... wont be going there as much any more think I'll start going to YELLOW WOOD STATE FORREST boat rental hiking camping fishin beautiful scenery and very nice ataff... No Ranger telling you theyre going to let poor defenseless domestic ducks and geese just get killed or worse starve or freeze this winter dont want to see that. What a shame i used to have the highest reguard for this place and the staff... After that meeting with the Ranger not so much any...