Knobstone Trail
Roughly sixty miles of steep southern Indiana ridges, hollows, forest roads, scarce water, and primitive camps create a serious backpacking route without alpine elevation.
Artwork inspired by Franklin Booth
The Knobstone is Indiana’s longest natural-surface hiking trail, crossing Clark State Forest, Elk Creek, and Jackson-Washington State Forest through a chain of steep knobs and ravines. Elevation is modest, but repeated climbs, clay mud, heat, scarce dependable water, road crossings, and sparse services make a thru-hike a genuine logistical undertaking.
Section hiking is often the smartest introduction. Use current DNR maps and alerts, arrange legal parking and shuttles, cache water only where allowed, and treat every natural source. Blazes can be missed where management roads intersect. Hunting is common in season, so high-visibility clothing matters. Primitive camping rules differ by land unit; verify rather than assuming any flat spot is legal.
- Length
- About 60 miles
- Use
- Hiking and backpacking
- Challenge
- Water and repeated climbs
Quick guide
- Solve water first
- Identify reliable sources, treatment, legal caches, and dry ridge distances before mileage.
- Verify the section
- Use current DNR maps for trail changes, road crossings, parking, and camping rules.
How to plan an Indiana backcountry traverse
- Solve water first
- Identify reliable sources, treatment, legal caches, and dry ridge distances before mileage.
- Verify the section
- Use current DNR maps for trail changes, road crossings, parking, and camping rules.
- Expect repeated climbing
- Total gain, mud, and heat matter more than the highest elevation.
- Plan the shuttle
- Trailheads are dispersed and some parking is isolated; leave a clear itinerary.
Good to know
The trail is open year-round subject to forest closures, hunting seasons, and weather. There is no single entrance fee, though camping or local facility rules can apply. Trailhead parking is dispersed and often primitive. No part should be assumed accessible; water, shuttles, navigation, ticks, and steep muddy grades require backcountry planning.
Notice these
- Jackson-Washington knobs
- Elk Creek section
- Clark State Forest ridges