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Mirado View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Hardin Ridge, Indiana
    Posted: 07 Sep 2018 at 2:57pm
We went to Hardin Ridge Recreation Area near Bloomington, Indiana over the Labor Day Holiday.  It is in the Hoosier National Forest and is managed by the USFS.  The campsites are quite large and most can handle just about any size RV.....except for the site that we had reserved.  We found our site to be a narrow pull-off along the drive, with a small area with a picnic table and barely enough room for anything else, and no possible way to park the pod off the road.  The campground host was right across the road, and I went and talked to her.  She was extremely understanding, made a few phone calls, and was able to locate another vacant site in the next campground (still within the same rec. area), even though the campground was officially full for the holiday weekend.

The new site was huge!  We could have parked about six rpods in it.  The entire area is heavily wooded, lots of shade, lots of privacy, nice shower facilities.  It contains a mix of walk-in tent sites, electric rv sites, some with water hookup, walking trails, access to  a large lake with boating, fishing etc.  I cannot express enough about how helpful the campground hosts were in getting us situated.  It is a place we definitely plan to go back to.  Advice: avoid sites 101,102, 103 and 116 as they are pulloffs like I described - there may be a few others too.  But most of the sites are spacious.


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Sep 2018 at 9:14am
A great place to camp!  (And do a little fishing too)Smile
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Sep 2018 at 2:23pm
Thanks for this great report! We're in California but between us we have relatives in Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kentucky and Illinois so I archive these great tips when I see them. 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Sep 2018 at 2:39pm


Thanks for the write up and picture. I'm glad you enjoyed your time in the Hoosier State. I'm embarrassed to admit that I have never been to Hardin Ridge. Judging by your post, I need to put it on my list - near the top.



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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Sep 2018 at 2:53pm
David....There's plenty of places we've not been to in our own state of Ohio.  But we've got kids living in Indy, so we get over there a lot.  We used to stay at hotels, but now we can take our own with us.  This was our first visit to Hardin Ridge.  You live close enough that you could drive down and check it out first.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Sep 2018 at 4:39pm
Originally posted by Mirado

David....There's plenty of places we've not been to in our own state of Ohio.  But we've got kids living in Indy, so we get over there a lot.  We used to stay at hotels, but now we can take our own with us.  This was our first visit to Hardin Ridge.  You live close enough that you could drive down and check it out first.


Cool! You are always welcome over here.   

I do volunteering with the Indiana DNR (though not a lot this year) so, I tend to end up at those places. I need to get out and snoop around more.

If you like that area, a little further south is Spring Mill SP:   https://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/2968.htm
The Gus Grissom museum is good to visit, if you like space stuff. There is no additional cost, just a voluntary donation box. The Village is a must see, when there.

Nearby/general area, North and East there are Brown County State Park (cool but busy) and Yellowwood State Forest (no hook ups). Brown County gets extremely busy once the "Leaf Peepers" start coming out in force.

I'm always happy to offer an opinion on a place if you wish.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Sep 2018 at 5:30pm
David, We visited Brown County SP while we were down there and toured the campground - a nice place, but we like Hardin Ridge better.  We checked out Yellowwood also....I like it a lot, but we're not ready for the dry camping just yet...maybe some day.  I've heard of Spring Mill, but haven't been there.  Thanks for the advice.
--Doug
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Sep 2018 at 10:27am
We stayed in Hardin Ridge last year during our eclipse tour and it was one of our favorite stops on the trip.  Our site was also large and heavily wooded and well separated from neighboring sites.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Oct 2018 at 10:14am
Hardin Ridge truly is hard to beat!  Another is Mounds State recreation area near Brookville IN.  In loop "C" they have full hookups.
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