Green’s Bluff South Trail

If you are looking for a rugged, quiet hike with bluffs, sinkholes, waterfalls, and a big creek, the Green’s Bluff South Trail in southeastern Owen County is for you. This 6.4-mile loop explores the southern portion of The Nature Conservancy’s Green’s Bluff property, where Raccoon Creek flows along the transition between Indiana’s limestone karst country and its sandstone hill country. The trail passes through a number of rich habitats: forested ridges with large oaks, hickories, and beeches; ephemeral creeks lined with ferns; and open fields with blackberries and pollinator plantings.

From the parking area on Porter Ridge Road, near a TNC tree plantation, the trail quickly leaves the planted trees and dives into older hardwood forest. You’ll wind through steep, narrow drainages where countless thin rock layers are exposed and spring water trickles down the slopes. The trail passes under and above a seasonal waterfall about eight feet high in a lush ravine.

Eventually, the trail comes right up to Raccoon Creek at a sharp bend where the creek has undercut more resistant bedrock and created a steep, shady bluff. Here the water slows and deepens, often reflecting the sheer bank above, and, in spring, the pink blossoms of surrounding redbuds. Eastern hemlocks grow on the cool, north-facing slope, a species more typical of northern forests, here a remnant of colder times from the last glacier retreat. In other stretches of the loop, you see Raccoon Creek again from high above, especially in winter, when views open up across the valley to the broad floodplain and tall sycamores along the water.

Along the western portion of the trail, if you look carefully, you’ll spot a small quarry, just the size many early farm families needed. A quarry like this likely supplied stone for a foundation, chimney, spring house, or small bridge on a nearby homestead. You will also leave the forest for brief stretches of open areas. The Nature Conservancy is planting some of these openings with pollinator-friendly species for bees and butterflies.

The variety of habitats makes for an especially rewarding hike for birders: Barred Owls, Hooded Warblers, Cerulean Warblers, Worm-Eating Warblers, Summer Tanagers, Swamp Sparrows, Brown Creeper, and Fox Sparrows are all reliably found here in season. The rich soils and varied moisture also support many species of ferns, mushrooms, and wildflowers. Fall brings excellent color, and winter reveals the full shape of the bluffs, ravines, and Raccoon Creek below.

While the views are rewarding, this is a moderately strenuous hike by Indiana standards. Expect steep hills, uneven footing in spots, and narrow ravines, especially when the ground is wet. Good footwear, plenty of time, and careful footing are recommended. The loop is approximately 6.4 miles, and most hikers will want several hours to explore it at a relaxed pace.

To find the trail, park along Porter Ridge Road at the designated pull-off near the TNC tree plantation and look for the signed trailhead leading into the woods. A printable map can be found here:https://www.hoosierhikerscouncil.org/assets/Greens-Bluff-South-Trail-Map.pdf, and a GPX file here: https://www.hoosierhikerscouncil.org/assets/GB-South.gpx. Directions to the trailhead are below.

For more information on the larger Green’s Bluff preserve, including its northern trails, visit The Nature Conservancy’s website https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/places-we-protect/greens-bluff/

The Nature Conservancy’s Green’s Bluff Nature Preserve is located in Owen County, about five miles south of McCormick’s Creek State Park. The Green’s Bluff South Trail and the Raccoon Woods Trail share a trailhead on Porter Ridge Road, about two miles west of SR 43.  See the map below for directions.