Mountain Tea State Forest

[miguel]

Who has been to Mountain Tea State Forest?

I know there aren't any real amenities there yet, but is it worth a drive/walk through? Apparently good for "off trail" hiking. Did find the DNR page for it, one musically accompanied video on YT and a couple of posts on random sites talking about Chucky dolls, but nobody is really elaborating on their experience in a way that satisfies my curiosity. LOL

Would like to hear about your experiences, if you have any!

 

[dak109]

Ignore the drive in, some ugly stuff along the road. Boundary is somewhat marked. No trail markings. There has been some logging done, so there are logging roads. The logging road we took takes you through what I would call a backyard. Not sure if we were off property or not, lost sight of orange painted trees. Then there’s the lake, dock and “shelter” house. Don’t be tempted to trust any of the structures. They were in pretty bad shape.
Things may have changed, as it’s been a couple of years since I was in there. Post beer flu. Shortly after it opened.

 

[manifest destiny]

Not sure if this is one of the sites you reviewed. The posts/comments are from 2023, so kinda current. I had never heard of this area before. A common theme is the feeling you've crossed onto private land like @dak109 said. I'll be checking it out withing the next 4 weeks.

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/indiana/mountain-tea-state-forest-cabin-and-pond

 

[Tactically Fat]

I just drove by the sign off of SR46 yesterday.

Interesting.

 

[COOPADUP]

Mountain Tea State Forest currently encompasses more than 1,153 acres, 705 acres of which was deeded to the State of Indiana in 2013. The deeded portion was locally known as a part of the Mountain Tea property and was previously managed by The Nature Conservancy. The land was acquired by the State of Indiana with the assistance of the U.S. Forest Service through the Food, Agriculture Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990, aka the Forest Legacy Program. The Forest Legacy Program was developed to help protect intact forest lands from conversion to non-forest uses while still allowing for sustainable timber management and recreational use. An additional 490 acres was acquired by the state in 2009 through purchases from private landowners.

Historical aerial photography suggests that, before government acquisition, the valleys and ridgetops were farmed and the side slopes were grazed. The ridgetops are composed of old field mixed hardwoods. The side slopes are mostly composed of mixed hardwoods and oak-hickory communities known to occur within the Brown County Hills natural region.

The city of Nashville lies roughly 6.4 miles west, and Columbus is roughly 10 miles east.

Mountain Tea State Forest is one planting location for the Division of Forestry's ForestIN program, an effort to plant a million trees by 2025.

Per the DNR link.