04/25/2020
Update on April 24, 2020: Indiana's Stay-at-Home Executive Order extends through May 1, 2020, so campgrounds, nature centers, playgrounds, and park offices remain closed this weekend but state parks are open for hiking, picnicking and other self-directed activities.
We recommend that you recreate close to home since restroom access is generally limited to portable toilets, and those are primarily for emergency use. Popular parking areas are being monitored, and when lots are full guests should seek another location at the park for hiking or picnicking.
Paved trails are open for hiking and biking. Most foot trails, with some exceptions, are open for foot travel. Closures only impact 7 of our 32 properties (and it is not all trails at any property) so there are plenty of places to hike.
The properties with one or more foot trail closures are Turkey Run, Shades, Cecil M. Harden (Raccoon SRA), Salamonie Lake, Brown County, Clifty Falls and O'Bannon Woods. You can see which trails are open and which are closed at on.IN.gov/dnrcovid19.
All trails normally used for horseback riding and mountain biking are closed to those uses as well. This impacts Potato Creek, Salamonie Lake, Fort Harrison, Brown County, Versailles, O'Bannon Woods and Harmonie for off-road cycling, and Salamonie Lake, Potato Creek, Tippecanoe River, Whitewater Memorial, Brown County, Versailles, O'Bannon Woods and Harmonie for horseback riding.
Campers with reservations through May 1, 2020, have been issued a full refund or provided the opportunity to change dates at no cost.
In addition, closures of shelters, recreation buildings, group camps, youth campgrounds, rally campgrounds, amphitheaters, inn conference facilities and other rentable space for group gatherings has been extended through May 31, 2020. All those with reservations for these spaces have been notified. All special events, both DNR-sponsored and those sponsored by non-profits or other organizations through a Special Events Permit, are cancelled through May 31, 2020. This includes fishing tournaments on our big reservoirs. This also includes all of our Mother's Day Buffets at Indiana State Park Inns.
We ask that you recreate outdoors close to home, maintain social distancing, keep your group size under 10 and make it your family if you can, remember to take drinking water and hand sanitizer since restrooms are limited, and if a trailhead parking lot is full, move on to a different trail.