Hemlock Cliffs / Buzzard Roost Recreation Area
Hiking the Hemlock Cliffs Trail in Hoosier National Forest | Camping in Buzzard Roost Recreation Area | May 2024
Once the storms had passed, we were ready to resume our road trip to North Carolina. We had spent a little more time planning our next steps while in the hotel, and had found a few more things we wanted to do in Southern Indiana. And so we packed up and hit the road, heading South on IN-37.
After a couple hours of driving and county grabbing, we went out of our way to go for a hike. We made our way over to the Hemlock Cliffs trail, which is in the Southern part of Hoosier National Forest, and what looked to be the crown jewel of hiking in Indiana. The trail is a 1.2 mile loop that goes down into a canyon and follows a creek, with a .1 mile spur to a waterfall. We chose to do it counter-clockwise, though we didn’t know what to expect from either side. Going this way ended up being a shorter but steeper descent, including one section of the trail where we had to climb down large steps made from boulders — Charlotte got a lift at that point, but besides that she did fine. The way back up was longer and more gradual, and had better maintained stairs, which I think most people would find easier to go down, but since Charlotte does better going up steps than down them, this way was overall better for us.
The whole trail was well-shaded and vibrant, and the small flowing stream gave us hope that the waterfall would at least have some water falling. The cliffs on the other side of the creek were impressive and fun to see, but the real highlight of the hike is the waterfall on the short spur trail. The spur trail also makes a loop, and we took this one counter-clockwise as well. While the waterfall wasn’t very full, the high cliffs that it fell from were truly impressive, and even better, the trail climbs up to a ledge halfway up the cliffs and we were able to walk behind the falls. Charlie did great with climbing up the rocks and was very brave walking through this part. It almost reminded us of hiking on sandstone rock in the Southwest, if you ignore all the green and the humidity. The trail heading back down the other side was narrow and had steps going down — overall, the spur loop is a bit more challenging than the rest of the hike, but definitely worth seeing! If you’re interested, you can see the AllTrails recording for this hike here.
Once we made it back to the van, we had a quick lunch before continuing on our drive. We took IN-66 East from Sulphur, then made our way to Buzzard Roost Recreation Area. This spot has 5 free, first come-first served campsites, and we were lucky enough to claim one for tonight. It’s located right on a bluff overlooking the Ohio River and the Kentucky countryside. There were a couple trails that started from here that followed the bluffs, but the most activity we saw while here was from people in Jeeps driving in and turning around almost right away. Besides that, it was a peaceful spot with great views, and one we’d definitely return to if we ever found ourselves driving through this area again.
