RECAP: Bloomington, IN Gravel Weekend
Over the years I’ve consistently heard about gravel routes and events in the area east of Bloomington, IN. It seemed it was finally time to check it out, so my dad and I headed there for what was planned to be three days of riding based out of an AirBnB in Bloomington. I can say that it’s definitely a great area with tons of riding to do, lots of camping options, and great towns to check out in the evenings or on off days.
Day 1 - Hoosier National Forest Adventure (route at bottom)
This route was mostly based off various versions of the Gravel Grovel event that takes place the weekend after Thanksgiving each year. I feel like it’s been going on longer than gravel has been cool. The same promoters also put on Death March in the spring, which sounds like a pretty wild event. The routes for both mainly traverse gravel roads in the Hoosier National Forest but are also known for taking in single track and other more off-road delights. With that in mind we brought our MTBs.
After making the 3.5 hour drive from Columbus, we arrived at the Story Inn, which hosts both races. This looks like a super cool place, despite the fact that it is in absolutely the middle of nowhere. The exterior has quite the patina and the restaurant and beer garden looked like a great place to hang out post-ride. They thankfully have abundant parking just across the street, which was a relief because I was somewhat skeptical of the race promoter’s website saying that we could park there for pre-rides. We were treated this day to absolutely amazing weather: 70s and sun with little wind. We were in shorts and short sleeves and I actually put on sunscreen!
The route starts with a short bit of flat pavement but then heads up a false flat before turning to gravel and hitting a double-digit grade climb. I can only imagine how the race blows up at this point. After turning on to a nice ridge top gravel road, we turned off onto the Nebo Ridge MTB trail around mile 5 and stayed on it for about the next 5 miles. With the heavy leaf cover and some rocky descents I was happy to be on my MTB, but the trails are certainly doable on a gravel bike. You could also cut out the trail and stay on roads, though it would add several miles. We enjoyed our time on the trails, though, as it passes through scenic, steeply valleyed, hardwood forest. The general grade is also downhill for almost four miles, with the last mile being especially fun.
We came off the trail onto a short stretch of pavement. Soon we were on the first gravel roads within HNF, which had been freshly graded absolutely dumped on with fresh gravel. It was thick and slow going, so I was once again glad to be on a wider tire. This took us to Hickory Grove Church, another middle-of-nowhere oddity. At this point we realized the single track and deep gravel had slowed us down more than anticipated and we were going to be fighting the setting sun to finish on time, so we made the decision to cut off the southwestern loop on the route (miles 16-27). We headed north on another forest road, which didn’t have the thick gravel and was more enjoyable. There were tons of dispersed camping sites throughout the area and this road was full of them, mostly occupied by what we think were hunters. I believe there was a season opening in the next day or so.
When we came to the next intersection we headed West for just a bit so we could check out the Hickory Ridge Lookout Tower, the last remaining one in the forest. At 110 feet tall it was quite the climb to get to the top, where I had a great chat with a couple who were riding the dual-sport motorcycle we’d noticed below. They were very curious about the gravel roads we’d been on and offered some handy advice for where to go out in Bloomington to avoid the frat party scene (around the Courthouse, FYI). After enjoying the spectacular views we headed on our way. A nice long gravel downhill and a pretty gravel road along a creek (that reminded me of the first gravel road out of Bremen) brought us back to the crossing of the first two loops in the route.
Turning north we got a surprise adventure at about mile 37 when we came upon a gate (there was a campsite there whose occupants kindly offered us a beer!) and the road became doubletrack, then single track that was barely discernible under the leaves. At this point there was another road heading east up the ridge that was marked private and oddly had no leaves on it whatsoever—someone had blown all of them off. We continued up the valley on what was apparently “Combs Road” at one point, though it had to have been decades ago. Other than passing a few discarded metal culverts there was certainly no sign of this once having been a road; the forest had completely taken over. After a final super steep single track climb we arrived a sign marking another section of the Nebo Ridge Trail. We elected to stay on “Combs Road” and enjoyed a long descent that progressed back to doubletrack and ended at another gate (ridiculously overbuilt; it could stop a tank!) where we joined a standard gravel road.
Somewhere on the descent I had heard a loud pop as I rolled over some debris and it apparently caused a small hole in my tire because it started to get rather squishy. Knowing we were less than 5 miles from the car, I elected to just pump it up and ride carefully the rest of the way. We finished mostly on pavement, and I only had to stop one more time to pump it up. We only beat sunset by about 30 minutes, so it was definitely the right choice to cut off the 11 miles! We finished with 34 miles and 2000 feet of climbing.
After the 45 minute drive to Bloomington and quickly unloading into our AirBnB and showering, we headed out into town and enjoyed being able to sit on a patio while enjoying some good barbecue and boozy milkshakes at SmokeWorks. We also made time for a stop at Parlor Doughnuts, which I can’t recommend enough. Their “layered” donuts had a dough like a dense croissant, unlike anything I’ve ever had (and I eat a LOT of donuts) and are topped with lots of delicious combinations of icings and bits, in our case to order. I would say it was a mistake to get half a dozen because they were so filling, but they were so delicious…
Day 2 - Brown Country Adventure (route at bottom)
For our second day the route was based almost entirely off of the Brown County Delight route from bikepacking.com (they get credit for all the POIs on the route). There is some overlap with the Cutter Gravel Fondo, which also includes more roads to the north and east if you’re looking for additional miles/routes. Whereas the Brown Co Delight starts in Bloomington, we elected to cut out some miles and start where it looked like the gravel started. We were planning to park at the Stillwater Marsh Waterfowl Resting Area, but it turned out to be closed seasonally. Thankfully there was another unmarked dirt parking area we had passed so we went back to it, where another gravel rider happened to be unloading. He was on the medical staff at the IU hospital and was getting in some laps on a 12-mile loop because he was on call. We passed him going opposite directions later on; it seemed he was moving quite fast!
The weather was once again unseasonably nice but a bit cooler and overcast as compared the day before. After a very short bit of pavement we hit my favorite gravel roads of the whole trip. They hug the edge of the marshy areas (which are quite stinky in spots!) and have great scenery as a result. At times they turn into the forest to climb up and down the steep valleys that feed into the marsh/lakes. We headed away from the water on Eldridge Rd, which we understood to feature a legendary climb. It absolutely lived up to its billing. Though only two tenths of a mile in length, it averaged 16.5% with a max over 22%!!!! Note that this was definitely the outlier for the area. On the whole our riding featured much less climbing that typical Ohio gravel. Both routes were in the area of 50 feet per mile and the grades were not as steep.
From here we turned onto a nice ridge top road with more dispersed camping. We also came along the remnants of a recent controlled burn, which is something I don’t think I’ve ever encountered before. Though the route had been almost exclusively gravel to this point we turned onto pavement just after mile 7 and enjoyed a ripping descent into a beautiful valley with lots of nice homes. After a few miles we turned onto an unknown trail that took us up our second big climb and eventually brought us to the Miller Ridge Trail. This was perhaps the gem of the trip. The scenery was absolutely beautiful, like Lake Hope and Shawnee put together, it felt super remote and peaceful, and the trail was a blast to ride. Again, very doable on a gravel bike. This led us to a horse trail (which was honestly more like a gravel road at points: graded and with nice gravel) and then the 10 O’Clock Line MTB Trail, when we entered into Brown County State Park. Note that the park does have a $2 entrance fee that you avoid by coming in this way. We paid up later as we exited, which really seemed to confuse the park ranger.
After several miles of single track and doubletrack you come out at the southern end of the campground in the state park and ride several miles on rolling pavement through almost the entirety of the park. The campground looks super nice and I know many people who enjoy camping there, with good reason, it seems. More pavement brought us into the town of Nashville, which is a great little tourist town with loads of shops and restaurants. The streets were full, as there seemed to be some event going on (it was Veteran’s Day) and the weather was quite nice by this point, as the sun had come out and warmed things up a bit. We elected to go to Big Woods Pizza for lunch, which also has a brewery in it. Taking a break mid-ride to enjoy fresh pizza was really quite a delight!
As we saddled back up it was apparent the forecasted cold front was moving in. We headed west out of town on pavement before turning onto a really nice gravel road after only about half a mile. This road climbed a good bit, which helped to warm us back up, but then had a ripping descent that chilled us again. We stopped at the bottom to add layers and, as the temperatures were dropping quickly, made the decision to cut the route short, opting for another 17 miles instead of another 25. From here we headed up Owl Creek Road, which is a long slog of a climb at moderate gradients before pitching up sharply at the end. From here we headed west on Lanam Ridge Rd, which was paved but scenic and fun to ride. Turning south on Yellowwood Lake Road brought us into Yellowwood State Forest and provided us a nice long descent on a very odd gravel road. The path that had been cleared through the forest for it was many times wider than necessary and the infrastructure—bridges, culverts, retaining walls—was also of a level you don’t typically see on gravel roads. This brought us down to the lake and road unfortunately turned back to pavement. Surprisingly we did turn back onto gravel for one more nice road before a very-not-fun 1/3 of a mile or so on SR46.
Almost immediately after turning off of it, we came across the strange “Sock Barn”, which was exactly that: a barn with socks hanging all over it. As best I can tell it’s some sort of rite of passage for thru hikers on the Tecumseh Trail, a 42-mile hiking trail that passes through much of the area we had traversed. There was also a pile of rocks that claimed to be geodes and were offered as free for the taking. I snagged one for my kids and still have not managed to crack it open LOL. At this point there were only a few miles to go, all flat and only about a mile of which was gravel. We finished with 43 miles and almost 2600 feet of climbing. Despite the cold we stopped at Bruster’s Ice Cream, which I highly recommend. Dinner that night in Bloomington was at Crazy Horse, followed by watching cyclocross and flatland BMX on the Roku at our AirBnB.
Day 3 - Brown County State Park MTB Trails - NOPE!
For our final day we had planned to go check out the rather legendary MTB trails at Brown County State Park, but Mother Nature had other ideas. The cold front that had begun coming in during the previous day’s ride intensified overnight and slammed into a ton of moisture coming out of the east from a former hurricane. So we woke up to 20 degree wind chills and an inch of snow on the ground, with more falling quickly. It didn’t sound fun or even safe to go riding, so we bailed. We actually hoped to instead stop at Mike’s Bike Park in Dayton, but the bikes iced up so badly on the back of the car even that wasn’t an option.
Despite the last day snafu, it was a great trip and I really do recommend you head over to this area to spend a few days. It’s not at all like central and northern Indiana and has quite beautiful terrain with lots of amenities. I easily could have easily come up with 5 days of riding, and you could even string routes together into some really nice bike packing loops (the Karst Crusher event route looks to combine most of Gravel Grovel with the main sections of Brown County Delight) considering all of the natural areas with camping options. Bloomington was a great town to stay in and Nashville was really cool as well.
