Charlestown State Park: Trails #3 and #7 (Blog Hike #636)

Trails: Trails #3 and #7

Hike Location: Charlestown State Park

Geographic Location: north side of Charlestown, IN (38.42706, -85.62971)

Length: 3 miles

Difficulty: 5/10 (Moderate)

Date Hiked: May 2017

Overview: A semi-loop featuring the historic Portersville Bridge and the site of the former Rose Island Amusement Park.

Park Information: https://www.in.gov/dnr/state-parks/parks-lakes/charlestown-state-park/

Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=940414

Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: 

Directions to the trailhead: On the Indiana side of the Louisville metro area, take SR 265 (the eastward extension of I-265) to SR 62.  Exit and go east on SR 62. Drive SR 62 east 8 miles to the signed state park entrance on the right.  Turn right to enter the park, pay the large state park entrance fee, and follow the main park road for 2.1 miles to the signed turn-off for Trail #3 on the left.  Turn left on the trailhead access road, which deadends at the parking lot for Trail #3 0.5 miles later.

The hike: If you drive to Charlestown State Park from Louisville using the directions above, the industrial parks and empty buildings you drive past just outside the park entrance hold little promise for a good hike, but early indications can be deceiving.  The area’s industrial look stems from the fact that the Indiana Army Ammunition Plant operated here from 1940 until 1995.  The site was chosen due to its central location far from any national borders, and the plant made propellant for rockets and other weapons.  Some abandoned railcars still sit near the trailhead parking area, and plant clean-up continued on adjacent land as recently as 2014.

            When the plant closed in 1995, 6000 acres of its land were transferred to local groups for development as an industrial park, and 4500 acres were transferred to the State of Indiana to create this park.  Charlestown State Park opened in 1996, making it one of Indiana’s newest state parks.  Development of the park continues today, but the park already features several picnic shelters, a modern 192-site campground, and fishing and boating access to the Ohio River.

            For hikers, the park offers 7 trails totaling over 13 miles.  While the park’s youth ensures that no walks through pristine old growth forest will be had here, several of the park’s trails explore the steep ravine that contains Fourteenmile Creek, a minor tributary of the Ohio River.  This hike follows the park’s most popular and perhaps most scenic trails, and it explores not only Fourteenmile Creek’s ravine and the Ohio River but also the historic Portersville Bridge and the site of historic Rose Island, an amusement park that operated here in the early 1900’s.

Start of Trail #3

            Trails #3 and #4 both start at this trailhead, so you should choose the paved trail curving right to begin Trail #3.  Less than 200 feet later, Trail #3 splits to form its loop where an unsigned grassy trail exits left.  To get to Rose Island faster, this hike stays right to remain on the asphalt trail, thus hiking Trail #3’s loop counterclockwise.

            The smooth asphalt trail heads southeast and soon begins a steep descent into Fourteenmile Creek’s ravine.  The difference in elevation between the trailhead and Fourteenmile Creek is about 250 feet.  The trail is wide enough to be a one-lane road, and it is also used by park vans to provide ADA-access to Rose Island.

Box turtle on the trail

            At the bottom of the hill, the trail curves sharply left to reach the historic Portersville Bridge.  Trail #3 continues as a dirt trail to the left, but before going that way cross the bridge to hike Trail #7, the 0.9 mile trail that explores the Rose Island amusement park site.  Built in 1912, the Portersville Bridge originally spanned the East Fork of the White River near Portersville, IN some 100 miles west of here.  The bridge carried vehicle traffic for 86 years before being closed, disassembled, cleaned, moved to this location, and reassembled.  Today the bridge carries only foot traffic and gives park visitors safe passage over Fourteenmile Creek to the Rose Island amusement park site. 

Portersville Bridge

            On the far (east) side of the bridge, Trail #7 splits to form its loop.  I again turned right to hike the loop counterclockwise.  The main gravel trail follows an old walkway through the amusement park site, but instead of going that way choose a narrower dirt trail to the right.  The dirt trail soon arrives at the Ohio River, where broad views of the wide muddy river and its confluence with Fourteenmile Creek await.

Ohio River

            The trail curves left to begin paralleling the river, heading upstream.  At 1.1 miles, you reach the Ohio River landing site.  During Rose Island’s heyday steamers from Louisville and other river towns would unload visitors here, but only a few stone pillars remain today.  Three interpretive stations play audio recordings that are activated by turning a wheel, but only one of them worked on my visit.

Ohio River landing

            The trail curves left to pass the eastern end of Rose Island’s main walkway and a former hotel site.  Contrary to its name, Rose Island is not an island but a narrow peninsula between winding Fourteenmile Creek to the north and the Ohio River to the south.  The trail passes several old amusement park sites such as the swimming pool before returning to the Portersville Bridge to close Trail #7’s loop.  Recross the bridge, then turn right to continue Trail #3.  A bench here makes a nice place to sit and rest near the midpoint of the hike.

            The dirt trail gets narrow as it parallels Fourteenmile Creek, which lies downhill to the right.  The park officially ranks this trail as rugged, but it is of only moderate difficulty by most standards.  I heard several woodpeckers on my visit, but the area is too suburban and densely wooded to make for good birding.

Hiking along Fourteenmile Creek

            At 1.6 miles, a small spill-over waterfall appears uphill to the left.  Wooden footbridges carry you over several small streams.  After many small but steep up-and-downs, the ravine widens to make the terrain more forgiving.  The trail widens as it curves left to pass around a low finger ridge before joining an old road.

Climbing on old road

            Next comes a moderate climb out of Fourteenmile Creek’s ravine on slightly rocky trail.  The trail gains about 200 feet over 0.3 miles.  When you get back to the ridgetop, the trail surface turns to mowed grass as you pass through a meadow area just before closing the loop.  A right turn and 200 feet of walking on asphalt trail return you to the parking lot to complete the hike.  Note that Trails #4 and #1 offer journeys similar to Trail #3 but without the trip to Rose Island if you want to maximize the hiking you get for your park entrance fee.