Jason Falls, Hoosier National Forest, Indian Lake, two lakes loop, Indian and Celina lakes

Jason Falls, Indian Lake, Hoosier National Forest

3/28/2021

Jason Falls, Indian Lake, Hoosier National Forest

For many years, a ripped out page from a 2011 Backpacker Magazine has sat on the side of my husband’s desk. On it was the feature of one of Indiana’s most well-known trail sections- the Two Lakes Loop of Indian and Celina Lakes in the Hoosier National Forest near Tell City. This was our first backpacking trip as a part of our Dozen Dozen and has always been among my favorite trails systems for the fact that it offers up all of Indiana’s finest features: deep forest, up and down hilly challenges, lakeside campsites, and ample water supply. You just can’t go wrong with a hike or paddle of the Two Lakes. However, on this scrap of paper, the journalist described a lesser known spot in the system: Jason Falls. The only real direction it gave was to bushwhack 1 mile due west of Indian Lake and you’d be treated to a hidden waterfall of about an 8-10 foot drop. Every time we have taken off for a weekend of backpacking we have such grandiose plans that a side trip to explore for Jason Falls has just not fit in. Well this week we made it our goal to invest some time getting to know Indian Lake a little more in depth, and off we went in search of the “backpackers’ paradise.”

After scouting the map and contour lines, we decided that if we took off from the damn of Indian Lake and headed as far as the gravel access road would go before intersecting with the creek bed that we would have luck following the creek until we hit the falls. After hiking about 10 minutes, we saw the spot and instead of heading up hill, we cut over into the creek bed about 100 yards and began to bushwhack along the creek bank. A recent rain had the creek up, but we were hopeful that would pay off at the falls.
As we made our way rock-hopping and scrambling in the brush, we encountered two other small waterfalls in the creek that were worthy of photographs and exploration. We matched up the falls with our memory of the magazine photo of Jason Falls and decided to push on as the falls just didn’t seem big enough to be the one we were looking for. A ways past the second falls, the creek bed came to a Y intersection with another creek, and there we noticed a well-established trail on the left side of the creek. This looked promising, and sure enough, within 15 minutes we were treated to a beautiful, flowing Jason Falls, hidden within the HNF.
Jason Falls was such a solid waterfall and worth the side hike and exploring. We couldn’t believe a more established route had never been cut into the forest from the Two Lakes System. The slabs of limestone were laid out in perfectly flat tabletops and looked like a stack of pancakes layered on top of one another. The water picturesquely cascaded over the edges like syrup spilling over the edge of the pancakes. A pool of light green water rippled as the fresh rain water fed the falls with gusto.

We leisurely spent time getting pictures before making our way back down the trail. Surprisingly we did not see a campsite near the falls. The back side of the trail must have intersected Apricot Road, but upon driving it the next day, we decided it must remain a local secret, as we could find no clear entry point from there.

Needless to say, the side exploration was worth the bushwhacking, but not near as hidden or secluded as we had assumed it would be from the magazine’s description.