Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!!! We are so blessed in Indiana to have these gorgeous State Parks. Shades is special. Some of the very best natural rock formations I have seen. My son and I had such a great time here. Mostly, the staff here were the best! They helped us at the beginning and helped us get back to our car. Highly recommended!!!

TLDR; Bring bug repellent, bring water, be ready to get your feet wet, and have some fun!!! Trail 7 is my favorite. One of my favorite places on earth. I’d have to say, If you are spending a week or two in the summer nearby, or live in Indiana and want to go camping. You should explore Shades State Park and her sister trail Turkey run. These trails are expansive and diverse. The grading ranges from easy to hard and can require hand work at times. I give this 4 stars because of some of the safety concerns at various points that have not been sufficiently marked by Indiana DNR. The devils backbone in particular is not for children. It is a 200 ft shear drop on either side with no guide railings and is only a few feet wide at it’s narrowest point. IMPORTANT: DO NOT BRING YOUNG CHILDREN TO DEVILS BACKBONE. I am a wildlife photographer and am used to keeping my eyes and ears alert so snakes are a normal part of the job, but be aware that between 1 pm and 5 pm during the summer and 2-3pm during winter, snakes like to bask by the water. So don’t go swimming in the streams carelessly.

In the summer, this is the perfect park to visit! It is vibrantly green, the ravines we’re beautiful, and the waterways throughout the park are stunning. A few notes: the best place to park to access the most trails/the bathroom is Hickory Lot. I would also make sure to bring bug spray, as we made the mistake of not and regretted it. Many/most of the trails are “rugged,” meaning muddy, slippery, rocky, and tight. Make sure to wear appropriate shoes and pants. Finally, some of the ladders and steps were not in the best condition, we walked up one stairway on trail 5 only to discover it was closed on top but not from the bottom. If you don’t like heights and rickety steps, you might want to check in with park personnel about the best route to take.

Just 20 minutes or so from the better known Turkey Run State Park, Shades offers the same kind of trails (walking on the riverbed, not beside it, climbing up and down small waterfalls etc.) The "plus factor" with Shades is far less people. Don't visit this area without a trip to Shades. It's worth it!

Overall good clean park with lots to do for kids & dog friendly. Trail #1 is easy. Beware one set of stairs is closed but only says so at the top, so if you’re on stairs with missing steps that’s the one that’s closed. Trail #2 was more difficult. The trail is LITERALLY the creek. Yes, you think you’re off path, but you’re walking through the creek. I suggest starting the trail on the left from the parking lot so you hike up stream, not down. And don’t take this trail after a heavy rain.

Beautiful, lesser traveled, State Park. Visited on a Monday and there were only 3 other groups of hikers. Clean trails shaded by tall trees adds to a positive experience.

Beautiful state park with gorgeous ravines you can hike up and down. Ladders on some trails, steep spots, just a lovely time!

My first experience here was in the scouts many years ago. I was awesome then and it still is today. Beautiful park and has some outstanding trails. Photos are of trail 5.

I've given the park a 5 (10 if it was available); but trail maintenance gets only a three. Let me explain. My wife and I once lived in West Lafayette, Indiana. Shades was one of our favorite places to hike. That was over fifty years ago. Since then we have hiked all over the country, including the Appalachian Trail. We were spending a few days in Indiana so we decided to revisit The Shades. It was as beautiful as we remember...we would have loved to be able to stay longer. So, what's the problem? Some of the worst trail maintenance I have ever seen, poor to nonexistent signage (one of the trails we hiked had a "tail closed" physical barricade at the end but no indication of a problem at the start). Another pointed to two scenic overlooks. There was only one. It was worth the hike, but there was still only one (we hiked it twice just to make sure). Finally, "user created trails" everywhere that really destroyed the otherwise incredible beauty of the park. Please, park service, get some staff into this park before it's too late...

Gorgeous park and a must visit. It was my first time in this park ( Dec 23$ and I went with about 10 friends hiking. I enjoyed the ruggedness including couple of slips and falls (it wasn’t too bad)😀 There are beautiful sceneries and pleasant surprises. I think it is underrated park.

Very excellent adventurous trails , I recommend going early for all day or splitting doing all the trails over 2 days. Lots of steps , inclines, and wear shoe for water and mud. I do not recommend normal shoes. Also recommend taking lots of water and a walking stick. This place does not have an inn so I recommend taking food also.

We stayed in the campground and it was pretty nice. The sites had much more privacy than most other state park campgrounds we've been to. Most trails were marked pretty well and upkept decently. Trail 8 could do with a few more markers and Trail 7 needs a few steps replaced on the stairs, but overall it was great! We also wished that this park would have had its own Nature Center instead of "sharing one" with Turkey Run. We absolutely loved this state park! From the stunning views to the friendly employees to the beautiful trails, we really had a great trip! Thank you to the staff that make this park so enjoyable!

This is my favorite place to camp, most camp sites here are surrounded with woods and lots of shade, versus turkey run which your in an open field. Mostly quiet, and the trails are nicely marked and the scenery is amazing. Turkey run SP is in close proximity to this park as well

Love the scenery at Turkey Run, but hate the crowds? Check out Shades instead. Tons of ravines to explore and yes, even ladder trails like the popular one at TR. Don't miss out on the great views from Prospect Point...if you can handle heights! My only complaint is the campground leaves something to be desired. We've not been able to see the back sites in-person because they're closed off when we visit (off-season), but the rest of them suck. You'd be hard pressed to get a backpacking tent in most of the spots. The shower house looks decent, though!

Shades is a greatly underutilized State Park. The camping is all primitive and the roads are narrow. There is an overgrown picnic area that could be improved upon. The trails are nice with some great views. There is no nature center, pool, hotel, or other immunities that would attract visitors... must be why it seems never busy.

Very beautiful place to go hiking and see the local scenery! Beautiful in the fall with the leaves and is even nice now. I would check out the website online before going in the winter to see if they are opened.

Had an amazingly great time. Thankfully they take card because we forgot cash, we were provided maps and event pamphlets as well. They had many picnic tables and grills, as well as very clean restrooms, and a nice little playground area for the kids. There was even a water station to fill up your water bottles. The whole area is beautiful. Would not recommend strollers lol take a backpack with water and snacks. Easy trails for you and the kids, and more advanced ones for older kids. Everyone we came across was super friendly and just happy to be outside, super dog friendly. Take bug spray too, those mosquitoes will ruin the whole experience!

Scenic ravines, less traveled than Turkuy Run. The trails marked "rugged" are definitely challenging and not child friendly. There are a lot of stairs and even some ladders leading up and down the multiple ravine. ROUTE: We took trail 1 and then trail 5 to 3 and then did a large loop through 7 and 8. We ended up hiking around 6 miles. It rained 2 days prior to our trip, so there was mud and water. Water proof boots would have been amazing. I definitely had wet socks as I ended up stepping/sliding into the water at different points. The view near the river is probably the most beautiful of what I saw.

This is my favorite state park in the area. Any level of hiker can find something to do here. We used some of the trails a few years ago to break in some backpacking equipment for a bigger trip to Canada. I just recently went back for some solo hiking and it’s still awesome! Like its larger brother down the street, Shades does have some trails that require the use of a ladder due to cliffs. These are really easy to avoid if you’re willing to look at the map provided, though. There’s also some great camping as well as a backpackers’ walk up area. If you pay for entrance to the park you’ll also gain entrance to the Pine Hills Nature Preserve. This is a great loop to go through to see some unique geological sites. There are A LOT of stairs so if that’s going to be an issue for you just remember that what goes down must come back up.

This was a very cool park to hike. Beautiful trails with lots of change in elevation . Stunning views. Gorgeous river near the backpacking campground. Walking the paths, there is so much vegetation to find, easily passed by if you aren't looking.

Boondocks here 3 days with a 35 ft fifth wheel. A lot of large campsites but a lot of them have low limbs. Would definitely return it was very quiet and not crowded at all. A lot of great hiking trails.

Trails are marked extremely well! Great terrain for hiking and not as much traffic as nearby parks. Great for a family outing or just when you need a day away from your hectic schedule! Can't wait to go back, really enjoyed our visit!! Make sure you dress for the occasion, the trails can become very rugged!

We love to go to Shades and hike. We typically take food to have a meal there as well. There are lots of nice little spots to picnic with grills and tables. The rangers have always been so helpful and kind. It's a nice place to take the grandkids to blow off some energy too!

Shades was a great day trip hiking adventure! We hiked part of #2, all of #4, #5, #7, #8. We will go back another time for the rest of #2 plus #1, #6. The back side of #8 was our favorite but the signage needs updating. It's very easy to miss the back side and just return to #7 almost immediately. The backside of #8 made our day. You literally scramble op a Boulder river bed. So fun! We keep dry feet but in normal rain amounts you would get your feet wet.

We spend about 4-5 hours hiking and absolutely loved it. I got some beautiful pictures and a picture of my little dog as a leaf flew into her face. She's a good sport and I'd like to think she was laughing with us 🤣.