Best RV Campgrounds w/in 5 hour drive from Indy?

[BEisler]

I'm interested to get peoples input on the best RV campgrounds within a 5 hour driving distance of Indianapolis. I am keen to have access to fishing (fly?), walking and nature - not interested in casinos, shopping, amusement parks. The more trees and nature the better. We have a 35 foot class A motorhome. Thoughts?

[soricobob]

I would suggest the Smokey Mountain National Park, with Cades Cove or Elkmont as campgrounds to consider.

[Farm_Camp]

In Ohio (not sure, this maybe outside of your range.)

Check out Hocking Hills State Park/Old Mans Cave (fishing, prolly not fly)...

Also, I just got back from and you should look at Mohican Start Park (I think there are fly fishing opportunities).

Walking and hiking are there at both of these parks. At Mohican you can also Canoe and Tube your way down the river. I've stayed at both. Both are wonderful natural places and very popular parks/camps.

The Campgrounds in Ohio are showing their age, but are generally clean and well kept.

Reservations at this time of year might be hard to come by. Hocking Hills are electric only sites, there's is a KOA nearby will full hookups. Mohican has a limited number of full hookup sites in the State Park, and several commercial RV parks nearby.

I prefer the State Campgrounds, hookups or not.

Also be aware, either of these parks have limited to no cell service depending on your carrier. I use AT$T and had no coverage *at all* at Mohican.

(I had to drive 10 miles or so to get a signal when I fell and broke my nose at the camp store, so I could find a ER and get stitched up - oops! It was a EPIC face plant!) (And, yes, I was sober!) 😉

At Hocking Hills, in certain areas of the campground, if I stood on one leg and held the phone over my head, I could sometimes get a signal...

That said, Both parks are a natural wonder and worth the visit. I'll be back at Hocking Hills/Old Mans cave in October, if I can avoid more injuries!

[Itching2go]

Indiana's state parks are, as a rule, outstanding. From your note, I'd suggest Turkey Run State Park. Some of the best hiking in the state, and 'a river runs through it'. Suggest you fill up your FW tank before you go, though. The water over there is heavy on the sulfur. Took us weeks to get the odor flushed out of the lines... especially the hot water tank.

[ddndoug]

Rend Lake, IL, fishing but no fly fishing.

Doug

[Bob806]

Land Between the Lakes has some great campgrounds. We stayed at Energy Lake, I think its a COE campground. All kinds of fishing in that area, good luck.

[tatest]

Can you get across Illinois to Hannibal (I-74 to I-72) in five hours? I know it fits into a six hour driving day from south central Michigan, have not tried it from Indianapolis.

Places I am thinking of are on Mark Twain Lake, a state park and a couple of Corps of Engineers campgrounds. Fishing is mostly crappie, you can try flies if they are feeding at the surface. There are also bass, catfish, bluegills to feed the bass and catfish. The state park has boat rentals, I think.

Search on Mark Twain Lake Camping for individual campground descriptions and reviews (properties in the area range from public CGs to RV Resorts). Search on Mark Twain Lake Fishing for the fishing information.

If you are looking for trout streams, I'm thinking about SE to SC Missouri and NE to NC Arkansas, and that's a lot farther than five hours for you.

Don't know what is five hours north, but going south that will probably get you to Land Between the Lakes in SW Kentucky. A big area of parklands, with state and federal parks, and some private resorts at the northern end.

What I know from growing up in Michigan, if you take I-69 to Lansing, then follow US-127 until you run out of time, you probably will not have gotten far enough to get to the northern resort areas in the center of the state (Houghton Lake, Higgins Lake) and you definitely will not get to the Traverse City area in that amount of time. Similar problem trying to get into Wisconsin or Minnesota lake areas.