Clifty Falls State Park (Madison, Indiana)

FILMED IN HIGH DEFINITION
Clifty Falls State Park is the waterfall capital of Indiana! It has 4 giant waterfalls, ranging from 60 to 83 feet tall, with many other smaller waterfalls. It’s a nature lovers paradise!
This film covers all 4 waterfalls, many micro falls, the nature center and observation tower.
A wonderful place I’ve visited, since I was a kid, it’s amazing that more people don’t know about it! It’s just over 90 minutes from Indianapolis, and a wonderful day trip for families.

[@shanephillips144]

I really enjoyed this place as well. Indiana has great hidden gems

[@AdventureswithRoger]

It really does!

[@d.aardent9382]

I thought you'd mention the weird story of the abandoned railroad right of way tunnel project from the old days. Another one of those folly engineering projects. Lol they spent ...or wasted ....more money without even finishing it than it was worth to begin with or that their original estimate was.

[@AdventureswithRoger]

Did a video about it! 😀 This is the tunnel they didn’t close. According to park history, there were two, and the other was sealed after the project ended. I’ve been all over that area, haven’t found the second one. Brough’s Tunnel, Clifty Falls State Park (Madison, Indiana) kzbin.info/www/bejne/oXmsaKhprZhjqck

[@onehot57]

Last fall we were there camping and there was no water and a fire ban! What’s camping without a campfire?

[@AdventureswithRoger]

I went last week and it was pretty dry. You have to go after a good rain to see decent waterfalls at Clifty. This Wednesday will be perfect.

[@aeromedical6750]

This is a really nice park for a day trip. I live just outside Louisville, KY and my wife and I visited there yesterday. The Falls are all relatively easy to get to and very scenic. The best views are down in the riverbed itself if you are up for a more moderate hike over rougher terrain.

[@AdventureswithRoger]

I hiked to the bottom of the falls when I was several decades younger. Those trails are really tough on me now! My cousins and I once illegally climbed straight up the rock face, to cut the time of a long trail: I nearly fell 75 feet straight down! I tell everyone that many people have died here from getting off trails and getting too close, don’t be that person!

[@ChadWesselman]

Nice job on putting this together!

[@AdventureswithRoger]

Thanks Chad! It’s a labor of love to show people Southern Indiana

[@chrisblack8390]

That was good. We could hardly see the falls so now i really saw them. We went to the tower and my mom who just had cancer removed from her leg went right up those stairs. I got to the top an froze in the middle of it. Couldn't go to the edge. Haha. I'm a little afraid of heights. Thanks

[@AdventureswithRoger]

There are a few trigger points in this park, if heights bother you! I’d like to get better shots of the falls. from the bottom.

[@chrisblack8390]

@@AdventureswithRoger i can go by cliffs. But not close to the edge. Theres something about towers an maybe roofs. I don't like cleaning the wood burner pipe. I froze trying to climb down a 80 foot cliff at France park. My friend went behind me an helped me reach the next rock. I was ok for most of the climb

[@AdventureswithRoger]

@@chrisblack8390 When I was in my 20’s, I did even dumber things than I do now. My two cousins and I were at Clifty, I can’t remember if it was Hoffman or Tunnel Falls. We were at the bottom, and my one cousin suggested climbing straight up the rock and cutting a bunch of time off our day. We scaled up, and I was about 20 feet from the guardrail, when I started to slip. My cousin with long legs, grabbed my other cousins ankle, who was holding the guardrail, and offered me his ankle. If he hadn’t, I would’ve probably dropped a good 50 or so feet to solid rock. If I had, I wouldn’t be typing this today. Moral of story: stay on the trails, don’t rock climb at Clifty Falls.

[@WoodArtAndWoof]

I wish they had shown it in the winter when the falls freeze over. It is magnificent and I stood among the huge ice formaiton at the bottom a time or two. I grew up in Madison.

[@AdventureswithRoger]

I’m considering a larger film about the Falls, including winter scenes. We think alike! 🙂

[@AdventureswithRoger]

Hi Velma! I took your advice and filmed during the winter! Link below: kzbin.info/www/bejne/amXIlaGjjcSNjtU

[@deejayimm]

I went there once or twice a week over covid. of course the falls are awesome if you show up after a heavy rainfall, but if you're there on normal warm day the best thing to do is to take Trail 8 down and walk the creek up Trail 2. If you show up in the winter when there's snow and ice everywhere, walking across the bridge at little Clifty Falls and down that trail a little ways shows some very pretty ice formations, but be careful because you could literally slide off the edge of the cliff.

[@AdventureswithRoger]

I’ve done the creek trail, several times, when I was younger. I never thought anything about it, jumping rock to rock, until someone later said it was ranked, “the most difficult trail in Indiana”! Maybe it would kill me now, but it seemed ok 25 years ago. 🙂 A few winters ago, I went to film the frozen waterfalls. Except for Big Clifty, all the roads were blocked as they were so icy. I imagine the trails were too, and extremely hazardous.

[@deejayimm]

@@AdventureswithRoger yeah I'm 40 and not in great shape, but not in bad health either. It was definitely easier when I was younger and actually worked out, but it's still doable if you're not in poor health, it just might take you a little more time. It's mostly just watching your step as you walk on slick and jagged rocks. Like I said I went twice a week every week during covid and there were a couple times the ice was so bad that I used yaktrax on my boots. It is absolutely beautiful when the ice builds up like that though, you just have to be careful.

[@AdventureswithRoger]

@@deejayimm Another awesome, and equally dangerous place in the winter, is Hemlock Cliffs. Getting to the bottom is very sketchy, but once there, there are tons of waterfalls in the canyon, that freeze over, and some of them are monsters. The only problem is getting back out of the canyon!

[@deejayimm]

@@AdventureswithRoger yeah, Southern Indiana really is nothing like the rest of the state. I grew up close to Madison and I moved away and lived in cities all over the state, and it's amazing how people from Shelbyville and north have absolutely no idea that the land in southern Indiana is hills and cliffs and caves.. It really is like being in a completely different state..

[@AdventureswithRoger]

@@deejayimm Total agreement. Just two hours north, most people have never heard of Clifty Falls, West Baden Springs, Spring Mill State park, or any of the world class showcaves.

[@ohioalphornmusicalsawman2474]

Wow!!This place is gorgeous☺Excellent video Roger

[@AdventureswithRoger]

Thanks! Four of the tallest public waterfalls in the state, and it has the most rugged trail in Indiana for the more adventurous. This and Spring Mill are my two favorites

[@buckshoth585]

I've hiked it in both summer and winter. Dry and wet. It's amazing the different things you notice each time. And ya some of them trails are real ball busters!

[@AdventureswithRoger]

I filmed Hemlock Cliffs during relatively dry weather. As I descended that first section between the split rock, I could not imagine doing that with any water or ice! Yet, people put on their spikes and do it all the time!

[@jerrydeem8845]

Being an avid day hiker l can tell you this trail system has to be the most rugged in the state. I've humped quite a few, but this one put me to the test. In 2017, I did 7 of the 9 connects in 90 degree heat and was glad to get up that stairway to heaven on my exit. Did l mention I was close to 60 years old at the time.

[@AdventureswithRoger]

100%! I’ve hiked Clifty’s trails since I was in my early 20’s, and as recently as a few years ago, in my early 50’s: definitely a lot harder now, and those stairs are a killer. I’ve read where the trail along Clifty Creek is considered THE most rugged in the entire state. I never even gave jumping from rock to rock on that trail a thought, but 30 plus years makes a difference! 🙂

[@carolbirch6695]

I want to see the haunted house.

[@edwardh1591]

One of the places I never made it to. Great tour Roger.

[@AdventureswithRoger]

Thanks, Edward. Even at the top of the trail, you see very little of the waterfalls. When I was a lot younger, I climbed to the bottom of the waterfalls, but it took some time to do it. Today, there is no fee in the winter, and a view of Big Clifty falls is accessible via a wheelchair path.

[@insertnamehere9997]

Love this park … many years of fond memories!

[@AdventureswithRoger]

One of my favorites! Lessons I learned when I was younger: stay on the trails, don’t rock climb, bring extra clothes shoes and flashlights if you do the tunnel.

[@muthoni632]

Is it safe tho?

[@AdventureswithRoger]

Staying on the trails: yes. Going off trail and walking the creeks, to the edge of a slippery waterfall: no. Many tragic stories of people risking it for a photo.

[@mares3841]

💛

[@strokingoutloudpodcast]

Super cool man. My dad is a Hanover native so I spent a lot of time in that area. Although I’ll have you know there is indeed a bigger waterfall in Indiana just miles down the road. It’s in Hanover Indiana and it’s called butler falls. It’s hidden in the patch woods behind the local elementary school.

[@strokingoutloudpodcast]

Butler falls is told to be over 100ft

[@AdventureswithRoger]

I love all of the falls, especially after a good rain! Never heard of Butler Falls, did a quick search after you mentioned it, and someone guessed it at 70 feet. Could not find another estimate. That’s a very good sized falls no matter! I had someone tell me about a very tall one on private property, “in the woods”, somewhere near Madison. I hear there are three at Hanover. If you do a search on “tallest waterfalls in Indiana”, Fremont Falls, over at Hanover, comes up. It’s 108 ft, on private property, and in the woods. I think it’s the one they meant. I’ve never seen it, except for a video someone did. It was nearly dry and did not seem that tall in the video though. I joined a few nature Facebook groups and love it when people share caves and waterfall pictures that are on their property, ones that no one else knows about. It proves that there’s still much to explore out there!

[@strokingoutloudpodcast]

@@AdventureswithRoger hey that’s awesome to have a little more info on butler. Didn’t know the height. Only what I’ve been told. I only know of a couple falls in Hanover but they are super cool. I wouldn’t doubt there are more on peoples private property with all the hilly terrain there. Some others I know of if you’re bored and want to check them out In Hanover is crow falls. It’s a short walk off a side street and I mean short walk. Maybe 5 mins or less from the road. Also hearts falls and chain mill falls. Thanks again for the info you found.

[@strokingoutloudpodcast]

@@AdventureswithRoger hahaha well found some info. Harts falls is the one that’s on private property. Now I have never been there but My dad has years ago. I would imagine it wasn’t private back in the day. Happy hunting sir!

[@AdventureswithRoger]

I am an adventure junkie! Thank-you for the names of the falls, maybe I can dig around and find some more about them! I’ve got this one friend that’s like a walking encyclopedia of little known places. They might be able to help.