HIKING INFO & EVENTS:
FEATURED TRAIL

Hemlock Cliffs, Hoosier National Forest   May 9, 2001
Hoosier Times                        by Suzanne Mittenthal

Unglaciated south-central Indiana is a place of high bluffs and glens. Hemlock Cliffs Recreation Area is one of the most spectacular of these areas. There are cliffs of 200 feet sheer drop, and overhangs or "rockhouses," showing evidence of Native American occupation 10,000 years ago. Its beautiful falls in wet seasons and massive ice formations in winter, refreshing shaded glens with graceful evergreen hemlocks, mountain laurel, and diverse ferns give the site all-season splendor. But the creeks, springs, and waterfalls are usually full, the fern fiddleheads adorning all the rocks and cliff faces are freshly unfurled, and there's the largest array of late spring wildflowers on Mother's Day.

The trail here is a puny 2-mile loop on the official marked trail, with another 1.5-mile (one way) possible extension on a track made painfully obvious by frequent ATV use. Why bother coming so far for so little? If the introductory comments aren't enough, it might help to note that backpackers actually come here for a weekend (camping is allowed away from trails, as it is a Hoosier National Forest property) and find plenty to see. Hemlock Cliffs is part of the Shooting Star Cliffs Special Area, a federal nature preserve designation. The area is named after the elegant French's shooting star, observable on many of the cliff ledges; its flower heads grow downwards while the petals bend back upwards, thus resembling the shape of a shooting star. Other colorful flowers in bloom now include the fire pink, possibly still some wild geraniums, and the lavender wood sorrel, with its purple-backed "clover" leaves, tasty from their high oxalic acid content. Also noteworthy is the wintergreen, a protected plant. Though common in northern forests, this is only one of three populations of wintergreen left in Indiana, according to the Forest Service.

There are two main areas to explore. One consists of the two box canyons immediately below and to the left and right of the so-called picnic area, conveniently labeled on U.S.G.S. topographic maps as "Hemlock Cliffs." The other is known as "Messmore Cliffs," and is located in a side canyon that opens downstream from the creek that drains the main cliffs area.

To begin, walk the circle trail clockwise (left) from the parking area. Through the woods and then along the stream, the tracery of ferns against the background of rocky bluffs gives the trail a diversity that is not found in our usual Hoosier woods. The easily visible ferns include the big marginal woodfern, whose leaflets have subleaflets--"thrice-cut" ferns. And the cheery little polypody, a 12-inch long, rock-loving fern, whose 10 to 20 pairs of leathery leaflets grow flat out of the midvein of the leaf and give it a graceful air. Boulders are also covered by masses of the tiny, elongated walking ferns. In moist areas below the many rock seeps, grow my favorite, the elegant maidenhair, with its dark stem and circlet of delicate subleaflets. The one you may not notice at all is found on the bluff ledges: the lobed spleenwort. Perhaps you don't care! But this very attractive, wavy-edged look-alike to the walking fern is a rare find. Here you have a chance to see a fern described as rare though locally common, but in "usually inaccessible crevices."

Part way down the streamside trail a side trail exits to your left, just before a footbridge. Follow it to one of the most magnificent canyons in the preserve (a sign warns of dangers ahead). The dangers are only to those who illegally rappel off the cliffs here, or climb on the slippery rocks. A large cavern looms from the rock wall; in front of this a waterfall tumbles 70 feet into a rocky pool below. The cavern extends back about 30 feet and is over 300 feet across.

Back on the main trail, you cross the footbridge, and then come to a fork in the trail. To the left is the trail downstream through a pine plantation to Messmore Cliffs; ignore this for now. Soon the canyon narrows and you come to the main attraction, a 60-foot waterfall that, after a good rain, rages over the lip of the high sandstone cliff, filling the canyon with its roar. It is difficult to describe the beauty of this scene. At the falls a steep path to the right gives you another view of the falls and completes your circuit of the canyon. A flight of stone stairs (with a railing) leads to the short path back to the parking area.

The Messmore cliffs area is, for those who see it, even more memorable than the gorgeous box canyons of Hemlock Cliffs. The trail takes you to a much larger, horseshoe-shaped box canyon chock-full of wildflowers (where the ATVs have not worn them away). But the major attraction is the series of rockshelters, including a massive rock arch, which line it. Exploration of the area has revealed considerable evidence of ancient habitation here, and extensive cave complexes below the surface. Not all the land on top of the cliffs is in public ownership; stick to the ground level, which is all publicly owned.

Messmore cliffs access is by the trail at the intersection mentioned above. The unmarked trail follows an old wagon track along the streambed for about .8 mile. It passes through pines, past a power line clearing, and crosses the stream at a series of shale "stair steps" in the streambed. Soon an old roadbed leads off to the left and up a hill. (Below this turn is a brush field and a young pine plantation.) Bearing right, this old road, visible on the topographic map, leads around a promontory and into the next big box canyon, known as Messmore cliffs.

ACCESS: Hemlock Cliffs is located a little more than 3 miles west off Route 37 and just two miles north of I64. Most miss the sign to the area on the first try. Follow the road to the first intersection, ignoring lanes to the right and then the left, and bear right at the "t." Then watch for the HNF sign to your right. Park at the "picnic" loop (no tables).

ACTION: If you would like to see an additional mile and a half of trail developed here as a part of the official HNF hiking trail system to help stop the ATV destruction, call 812/275-5987 and leave a message for the Recreation Program Director, and/or connect with the Hoosier Hikers Council, which has been trying to make this trail a reality since 1995.

Author Suzanne Mittenthal: writer, sociologist, and trails specialist, founding director of the Hoosier Hikers Council.