Trail 7 - Big Clifty

Trail 7 provides the most direct access to Big Clifty Falls, the main attraction and namesake of Clifty Falls State Park. Big Clifty is a seasonal powerfall — a falls that runs impressively only during high water periods — dropping 83 feet over a dramatic dolomite ledge into a boulder-strewn plunge pool. At peak spring flow following heavy rains, the volume of water is extraordinary for a small Indiana tributary, filling the canyon with thunder and mist. The trail descends steeply from the rim parking area to the canyon floor, requiring careful footing on the stone steps and packed earth path. The canyon walls display horizontal bands of Silurian-age limestone and dolomite laid down in a warm, shallow inland sea roughly 420 million years ago. Fossils — primarily brachiopods and coral — are visible in the exposed rock faces without any digging. Collecting fossils in the state park is prohibited. After spring, Big Clifty diminishes to a series of cascades over the exposed ledge, revealing the stepped structure of the falls clearly. The out-and-back format requires the steep descent to be reversed on the return, accounting for the moderate rating despite the relatively short distance. The canyon bottom is cool and shaded even in midsummer.