The Ultimate Indiana Waterfalls Road Trip (Part 1: Northern Indiana)

We wanted to build you an Ultimate Indiana Waterfalls Road Trip that covered all of the most beautiful waterfalls in the state…but there are just too many to choose from!

We couldn’t bear to leave out any of our favorites (or send you on a single 22-hour drive), so we decided to split the list and give you TWO epic Waterfall Road Trips to take to make sure you see the best of both the Northern AND Southern regions of the Hoosier State!

PART 1 of our Ultimate Waterfalls Adventure features six of our favorite ‘falls in the Northern half of the state, but also check out PART 2 to see our Southern Indiana Waterfalls!

We started (and ended) our trip in Indy, but you can jump in anywhere along this Indiana waterfalls road trip! To make this trip as easy as possible, we’ve built a ready-to-go Road Map for you through Google Maps! Let’s get this waterfall road trip in northern Indiana started.

Image: Facebook / WayNet.org – Info For Richmond & Wayne County, Indiana

The first stop on our Indiana waterfalls road trip is Thistlethwaite Falls. This man-made fall was created in 1854 when a portion of the Whitewater River was dammed to build a sawmill in the area. The mill is long gone, but the low-sloped Thistlethwaite Falls remain.

Facebook / Dry Dredgers

The falls are easy to access, as they mark the endpoint of the Nature Trail at Whitewater Gorge Park. The trail itself makes for a lovely walk; it is about 3.5 miles long and will take you past nine bridges, the Weir Damn, a bird sanctuary, and some very cool exposed limestone and shale vertical cliffs.

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60 Waterfall Rd, Richmond, IN 47374, USA

Facebook / Bill Lacy

Head to the Visit Richmond website to learn more.

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Facebook / Kim Christianson Eltzroth

Salamonie River State Forest was created in 1930s as the Civilian Conservation Corps worked to reclaim the eroded land.

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This is a popular site for camping, fishing, and hiking. There are several paths leading to the waterfall from the main shelter house, but many visitors prefer to travel on horseback. The Yellow Trail offers lovely views of the water near the Hominy Ridge Picnic Area, and the longer Blue Trail winds through ravines and rocky gorges with plenty of scenic waterfall views!

5124 County Rd 100 S, Lagro, IN 46941, USA

Image: Flickr / rsteup

Visit the Indiana DNR website to learn more about one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Northern Indiana.

Image: Foresquare / Trina Beana

Kokiwanee is full of old-growth forests, natural springs, and wildflowers, and the seasonal waterfalls here are one of many beautiful sites to see! The site is a former Girl Scout Camp and covers over 140 acres.

Image: Flickr / rsteup

The preserve is very close to Salamonie River State Forest (Stop #2) and Hathaway Preserve, which is the next stop on our Waterfalls Road Trip!

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5821 E 50 S, Lagro, IN 46941, USA

Image: Flickr / rsteup

Visit the Acres Land Trust website to learn more about this stop on our Indiana waterfalls road trip.

Image: Flickr / rsteup

The Hathaway Preserve features an amazing gorge full of fossils, vertical limestone cliffs, and beautiful waterfalls!

Flickr / rsteup

The shallow Ross Run tributary flows over exposed bedrock and you can follow the creek along a two-mile hiking trail. In the winter, the falls ice over and turns the area into a winter wonderland. If you are lucky, you will see one of the park's many bald eagles!

1866 E Baumbauer Rd, Wabash, IN 46992, USA

Image: Flickr / rsteup

Visit the Acres Land Trust website to learn more about this waterfall.

Image: Facebook / France Park

France Park is just a few miles outside of Logansport. There are tons of activities (including camping, fishing, and even scuba diving) to do in the county park, which is located at an old quarry, and the France Park Falls are easy to access and make for a fun stop if you are in the area. If you want to stay a bit longer, there are several miles of trails in the area, but for our trip, we only made a quick visit so we could move on to our next stop.

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4505 US-24, Logansport, IN 46947, USA

Flickr / Valerie Everett

Visit the Cass County website to learn more about this Indiana waterfall.

Image: WikiMedia Commons / Jim.buckley22

With a height of 90 feet, Williamsport Falls is the tallest free-falling and one of the best waterfalls in Indiana. This narrow plunging falls has cut a cool little spout in the sandstone ledge, and the pool it spills into was once a sandstone quarry that produced much of the rock used in the foundations of buildings in the town of Williamsport.

25 N Monroe St, Williamsport, IN 47993, USA

Image: WikiMedia / Huw Williams

In the 19th century, the falls flowed enough to support a mill, but the changing landscape of the area and the diversion of the creek for farm irrigation has left the water flow inconsistent, and at times the falls are entirely dry…but if you do catch them flowing, the view is quite beautiful. This waterfall rounds out Part 1 of our waterfall road trips, which are arguably the best road trips in Indiana to take!

The Southern region gets most of the attention when it comes to waterfalls, but Northern Indiana has plenty of fantastic falls to show off as well. There are many more that we could have listed here, but in an effort to keep this Road Trip to a “doable” distance, we could only include so many.

Are you ready to take one of the best scenic drives in Indiana to see some of the best waterfalls? Let’s start this adventure on an Indiana waterfalls road trip! Don’t forget the snacks (and an excellent road trip playlist)!

Do you have a favorite Northern Indiana waterfall that wasn’t included here? Where should we check out next? Tell us about it in the comments section below!