TRAIL BUILDING & MAINTENANCE:
THE ADENA TRAIL

The Adena Trail is a 21-mile loop located at Brookville Lake State Park, 30 miles south of Richmond, Indiana and 30 miles north of Cincinnati. The HHC was invited to design and build the Adena Trail.

A majority of the new trail miles was designed and built between 1998 and 2001 by Hoosier Hikers Council volunteers.

Many features of the trail make it one of Indiana's greatest trails. The exposed rock strata are among the oldest in the state: 600-million year old Ordovician fossils are exposed at every tiny draw the trail crosses. Contours are severe and the soil is poor, so the trail winds and changes grades frequently to avoid impassably steep slopes. This results in some magnificent views of the reservoir from on high as well as some memorable dips to the shoreline. Views are, of course, best in winter and early spring, before trees leaf out. Two big stream valleys add interest and miles of additional trail to the backcountry trail. Spring wildflower displays here are especially noteworthy. The trail continuously crosses slopes, allowing the hiker to look both down and up at whole hillsides of color.

If camping or hiking late, night skies are notable for their vividness and absence of light pollution, due to the area's remoteness from population centers. A cautionary note: in warm weather, motor noise from boating on the reservoir can be instrusive on lakeshore trail miles. In cold weather, however, the day-long gabbling of waterfowl gathering on the lake or in the evening, turkeys settling in to roost along the bluffs can provide amusing and enjoyable background noises.

The trail consists of 11 miles of challenging new trail in the roadless, backcountry area on the west side of Brookville Lake, and a 10-mile mixture of established and new trails connecting campgrounds, beach, and natural attractions of Mounds State Park on the east side.

Part of the established trail on the east side of the reservoir uses a paved multi-use trail, the former Scenic Drive. The Hoosier Hikers Council began work in 2001 to lay out an alternate footpath trail for hikers to replace this section.

For a brochure and map, or to help maintain or improve it, contact Assistant Property Manager Rebecca Fallett at rfallet@dnr.state.in.us or contact the HHC at hikers@scican.net.