By Ron Hellmich,
Assistant Director for Public Lands
Division of Fish, Wildlife and Nature Preserves
Rocky Hollow – Falls Canyon Nature Preserve is located at Turkey Run State Park, in Parke County, Indiana. This nature preserve protects 1608.76 acres and is one of the largest in Indiana. The original dedication was in 1969 and protected 404 acres. An addition in 1991 added 1204.76 acres to the preserve. A portion of this preserve has also been designated as a National Natural Landmark.
The nature preserve contains narrow canyons flanked by high walls of Mansfield sandstone to which ferns, hydrangeas, and native hemlock trees cling and shade out all but the noonday sun. Miniature waterfalls spill over the rocks at the head of these gorges. During the Pleistocene Epoch, the sandstone bedrock was carved into today’s familiar canyons and formations by the eroding action of glacial meltwaters. The Punchbowl on Trail 3 is an example of a pothole scoured out by glacial erratics caught in swirling backwash. Erratics, or boulders, are pieces of bedrock carried by the glaciers that can be seen in Boulder Canyon.
The forested upland is covered by old-growth mesophytic forest, an intermediate type between the beeches and maples of moister conditions and the oaks and hickories of drier areas. The terraces along Sugar Creek are covered with old-growth floodplain forest. Old fields in various stages of succession are found on the flattest portions of the uplands.
The preserve is the entire Turkey Run State Park north of Sugar Creek. Going across the suspension bridge leads to the preserve with Trails 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 and 10 winding various ways through the preserve.