Charles C. Deam Wilderness is a pocket wilderness in the Hoosier heartland

November 3, 6:38 PMChicago Adventure Travel ExaminerTed Nelson

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    Charles C. Deam Wilderness as viewed from the Hickory Ridge fire tower
    original photo by Ted Nelson

The Charles C. Deam Wilderness is a pocket wilderness in the Hoosier heartland. When one thinks of the word “heartland” they think the Midwest, cornfields, flat, and in adventure travel terms boring. A large part of Indiana fits this description geographically, but the Charles C. Deam Wilderness is the exception to this rule.

Indiana is the last place travelers think of when it comes to adventure travel. The state is synonymous with flat and cornfields thanks in part to maybe the state’s most famous citizen John Mellencamp. When thinking of Indiana the songs “Small Town,” “Scarecrow,” “Jack and Diane,” and “Pink Houses” all come to mind. These songs illicit memories, thanks to MTV, of videos showing flat stretches of land dominated by farmland and cornfields.

It is ironic that possibly the best hiking and primitive camping within a five hour driving radius from Chicago can be found in Indiana and very close to Mellencamp’s home town of Seymour, Indiana. The Charles C. Deam Wilderness is located about 20 miles southeast of Bloomington, Indiana off of Indiana 446 in the middle of the Hoosier National Forest.

    Chicago Backpackers disappear into a fiery labrynth of fall color
    original photo by Ted Nelson

The park has over 35 miles of hiking and horse riding trails and well over 20 primitive camping spots and best of all admission to the park and the cost for overnight camping is free. Kettle Moraine in Wisconsin has some good camping closer to Chicago, but charges $12.00 a night to stay in rustic shelters.

The Peninsula Trail is probably the most popular trail in the park, which is why almost half of the camping spots are found off this trail. All of these camping sites along this trail are on the beautiful Monroe Lake with great views of the surrounding bluffs and a great view of the sunset.

Another nice aspect of the trails in the park is there are a lot of loop trails. This makes planning a hiking trip easier as it is more fun and interesting to do a loop than a simple out and back. This way the hiker does not double up on scenery and gets to see other areas of the park.

    Sun sets over the beautiful Monroe Lake
    original photo by Ted Nelson

With so many places to camp it really spreads the hikers out, so it does give a true appearance of a wilderness. The Chicago Backpackers hiked out to the Peninsula on Halloween weekend and there was very little hiker traffic and the group had the Peninsula virtually to themselves.

Next time planning an adventure travel getaway for the weekend and not looking at going too far do not over look our neighbor Hoosier state. The Charles C. Deam Wilderness is a perfect weekend hiking trip with some beautiful primitive camping sites.

Ted Nelson was recently named one of the top 101 Adventure Travel twitterers on twitter.  http://abroadening.com/161  Click on the icon below to follow me there.