Recently we’ve discovered that the best family vacations for our current family of 5 are spent outdoors in the wilderness. They thrive on hiking, kayaking, and much to my surprise, tent sleeping. With plans to take them on a couple longer camping trips in the near future we decided to test the waters someplace close to home first.

Turkey Run is absolutely gorgeous and crazy that it is Indiana. Almost feels like you’ve entered a whole new world. We typically go once a year to canoe or tube down sugar creek, but this year we decided to extend our trip. I’m not a camping expert, but I will go over what all we did below.

Where we stayed:

There are several camp sites to choose from. The actual park, Turkey Run has very limited camping availability, and they book up fast. They also have a lodge on site, but again you must book in advance. Cabins go quickly too. Have no fear, there are many privately owned sites very close by. We ended up staying at Turkey Run Canoe and Camping, and we were so glad we did! It was super close to the park entrance, plus you could rent canoes and tubs straight from them (this also books super fast, and reservations cannot always be made. It’s a first come first serve basis).

We booked about a week in advance, but I’d say for prime locations, or cabins you must book way farther out than this. Also we got lucky to snag two of the last electric sites, which I felt was pretty important for having a fan at night. Each campsite comes with a fire pit and a picnic table, which was so nice. Just make sure to bring a table cloth because well, the tables are pretty dirty due to them being outdoors 24/7. **I’ll post my packing list below. The electric campsite cost $25 a night.

What we did:

We got to Turkey Run early on a Friday afternoon and went straight to our campsite. Dropped off the tent and most of the things in the back of the car and then headed to the park entrance to hike. It costs $7 a car to enter I believe. You drive around over by the pool and the observation center to park and enter the trailheads. There is one bathroom right before you start hiking so make sure to hit it up. Keep walking, and once you see the swinging bridge you are crossing over to the trails. We chose to do trail 3 because it was a shorter one, but included most of the sites we wanted to see. The trail is considered very rugged, but it’s so fun and our kids did great. You hike through river beds and climb down ladders. Aniston is 5 and had no problems, but I would recommend water shoes. Make sure you pack snacks, and plenty of water. We stopped several times for recharge break.

After we got done hiking we went to the car to grab our fishing poles. Brooks and the kids had purchased a fishing license before we left and were excited to fish somewhere other than the pond in our neighborhood. Unfortunately sugar creek was pretty dry and shallow at this time due to the lack of rain. We did end up catching a few, but nothing of any size. It was still fun, and such a beautiful setting. Now to go set up camp!

Camping was a blast, and the general store on site had everything you could possibly think of or forget to pack. We grilled out, played corn hole and can jam, and even some basketball at their courts. At night the stars were so incredible, like none i’ve ever seen. It felt so good to escape the city for a minute and forget all that was going on in the world. We brought our anker nebula projector and set the kids up with a movie while the adults got a little time. Genius! And I believe we all hit the sack around 1 am. Such a fun night!!

The next day we woke up bright and early with the sun, and it’s a good thing because we needed to go reserve our tubes for that day. This year we decided to tube instead of canoe or kayak because the creek was so shallow. We felt tubing would make for a more relaxing day. This is when it came handy to camp on site because even getting in line early we snagged some of the last tubes for the trip leaving at noon. We then cooked bacon and eggs at our site and packed up for our day on the water.

It was a scorcher and we sure were glad to jump on in. We rented an extra tube for our cooler packed with drinks and lunch. Tubing can take anywhere from 2 hours-5 hours, so you need to make sure you bring reinforcements. Our crew likes to milk an experience for all it is, so we ended up being on the water for the full 5 hours. Floating, pulling over on the beaches, or jumping off rocks. Just the best day with friends and our kids look forward to it each year!

Packing list:

Tent, Chairs, Grill, Grill tools, Canopy, Air mattress, pump, trash bags, zip lock baggies, bug spray, matches or lighter, fire starter, Clorox wipes, tablecloth, sunscreen, flashlights, headlamps, toilet paper, sleeping bags, sheets, pillows, something for dirty clothes, hand soap, towels, blankets, rain tarp, cups, paper products, reusable water bottles, water lots of water, snacks, all food supplies, baby wipes, first aid kit, Swiss army knife, citronella candles, travel projector, string lights.

Turkey run is close enough to us to do a day trip, but I highly highly recommend trying camping sometime. What a fun family bonding time it was. We will definitely be back!!!