If you’re looking for a lake escape close to Indianapolis, Hardy Lake State Recreation Area offers a family-friendly environment with classic activities — boating, swimming, fishing, and camping. It’s a good choice for families with diverse interests looking for non-screen entertainment. Reviewers on The Dyrt appreciate the beautiful lake, the opportunity to see bald eagles at the birds of prey center, easy hiking trails through Indiana hardwoods, and good camping sites with clean bathrooms. Hardy Lake is located 80 miles south of Indianapolis and 45 miles north of Louisville, Kentucky.
The lake itself is a water-supply reservoir surrounded by rocky bluffs and limestone. Day-use visitors with in-state license plates pay $7 per car, while out-of-state visitors pay $15. Overnight visitors pay the entrance fee once, then display a receipt or hang tag for the rest of their stay. Campers at Hardy Lake generally favor RV or trailer camping. The park offers 143 electric sites and eight tent sites, with a maximum of six people per site. Most of the sites are in Shale Bluff Campground. Primitive sites start at $14 per night, while sites with electricity typically cost $40. Fishermen and people who want a more backwoods experience can book one of 11 sites at Wooster Primitive Campground.
Wild critters of Hardy Lake — fish and birds of prey
At 741 acres and about 38 feet deep, Hardy Lake is the smallest reservoir that the Indiana Department of Natural Resources maintains. Anglers appreciate the many types of fish here, including crappie, bluegill, largemouth bass, catfish, redear sunfish, several types of muskellunge, and walleye. One Tripadvisor reviewer said he’d been fishing at Hardy Lake for most of his 66 years and called Hardy Lake “a good place for Hoosiers to relax.” He favored the bluegill, crappie, and bass.
The nonprofit Dwight Chamberlain Raptor Center at Hardy Lake opened in 1998 and originally ran a rehabilitation center to treat injured owls, hawks, and other raptors. Now the center focuses more on educational programming at Hardy Lake and beyond, introducing raptors to churches, schools, and scout groups around the state. Visitors might get a close-up look at a bald eagle or other bird of prey that lives in the raptor center…