Falls of the Ohio State Park

The interpretive center is closed until Jan. 2016. Guess they’re dumbing it down? Last time we were here it was pretty decent.

Pros
— view of Louisville
— walking trails
— benches and grills
— fossil rocks to view
— picturesque
Cons
— trash everywhere
— $ 2 parking

Awesome place to explore while getting a great view of the city. You can hike and explore while taking in the historic Clark Cabin. Great place to launch kayaks as well.

Absolutely a great place for hiking and nature-​ing!
I’ll admit, I’ve never been in the visitor’s center. But I have hiked and walked and explored the fossil beds and riverbed. Easily accessible, close by, and the place to go if you need to get some driftwood for a project… or for a fire :-P

Wow! What a cool place. The dam up the Ohio River to protect the shale and all of the fossils. Climb on down and take a look and see what you can find. Beautiful spot on the Indiana side of the Ohio River.

State Park. The lady at the front desk didn’t know much and even said, «I just work here.» The water was high and the riverbed was covered in mud, we couldn’t find any fossils. There is NO military discount here. I probably won’t return.

We came here unexpectedly after we saw that we could walk here from the Sheraton where we were staying, and I’m so glad that we did. It was an easy 10−15min walk down from our hotel to the park. The park itself was quite lovely, with a nice looking visitors center (we didn’t go inside, so I can’t speak for how that was). The hike down to the riverbed was easy, as was the hike back up, and everything was really beautiful. The rock formations and fossils are very cool, and from the river you get a great view of the city that you couldn’t otherwise see. Some smart people had brought camping chairs down to the riverbed and where just enjoying the view. I think it would be a lovely place for a picnic, if you could handle that much sun, though my freckled skin would have a hard tine with that.

Check the river level before you visit Falls of the Ohio State Park. It is one of the largest naturally exposed fossil beds, but the fossils are only exposed if the river is at a low level. The Park Service recommends visiting between August and November, when the river is most likely to be at its lowest level. When I visited Falls of the Ohio for the first time it was late August, and while the temperature in the river bed was scalding, the fossil exposure was amazing. I checked out the museum during that visit but it wasn’t memorable. I recently attempted to visit again this past week, in April, and the river level was so high that the entire fossil bed was covered. While the local fishermen were having a great day on the shore of the falls, I walked away unable to view any fossils. However, I did still enjoy the amazing weather and view of the Louisville skyline before I left. I already plan to return again when the river level goes down.

State parks area always a great find! Falls are always fun!
It was in the winter, early in the morning and right after a snow storm, so we took a gander, enjoyed the crazy rushing water, but no fossil hunting or getting out of the car.
We didn’t have time for the museum, but would definitely stop by for a walk in warmer weather or a sunnier winter day!

From what we could see from the car, pretty cool place! We were passing through on our road trip and it was early and cold as hell so we didn’t get out and look around.
But definitely looks like a cool place in better weather!

Great, cheap, educational & fun! Would recommend to anyone. Very informative movie & there was so much information in the building also. One of the best state parks in Indiana.

A great State Park that is only ($ 2) per car to visit. It is very scenic with great views of the dam and rock formations that used to be the «Falls». More like «rapids of the Ohio» really more than a true waterfall like most people expect. The geology and paleontology here though is fantastic! Tons of great rock formations, zillions of fossils, glacial erradics, and many more interesting and educational finds to explore. You can go down right to the water and explore the area up close or stay cool in the nice visitors center with great exhibits and educational videos. The park has some great history too with Louis and Clark as well. A great spot for the shutterbugs too! Check it out if you’re in the area.

Really neat place. We take the kids to visit and plus they get to see their Mom’s name on one of the bricks so they totally think I’m a rock star! :)

We got a tip from a Horseshoe employee that the Falls was a nice state park. THANK YOU! The big appeal here is the fossil finds. Unlike the limestone quarries near Chicago which are comprised of coral reef, the Falls is comprised of an ancient sea bed and chock full of fossils. You can walk on the river bank and search for fossils. You can pick them up but absolutely no way can you take them. Unless you want to get arrested and I think it might even be a federal crime.
The interpretive center house a neat little museum. I spent an hour there and, had time permitted, spent a few more. There is a nice little display on glaciers and a real stuffed bison — very cool!
Mandy, the lady at the desk that day, was quite knowledgeable of Indiana history. She was a proud Hoosier and I loved picking her brain.
Apparently in January there is no charge for parking or the museum which was nice.
If you are in the area, don’t miss the Falls of the Ohio.

Great place to go whether on a field trip with kids, or on your own! Don’t expect to find a dinosaur, but the fossil beds still have alot of cool ocean life embedded into them. I’d encourage you to go way out on the beds in search of something cool.
Jefferson Memorial Forest often has kayak outings; one of them comes here. If you can ever enter the park via kayak, it is an awesome experience. Alot more of the park is open to you if you have a kayak. Definitely recommend.

Definitely worth a stop, but would have been better if the museum had been free. We skipped it. Also, had to pay $ 2 to park in lot behind the museum because we didn’t know any better. Would have been better if that had been free too. Here’s my recommendation: park free somewhere else along the road and just walk around and look at the river and fossils around the museum, Lewis & Clark (pose for a pic with a friend in front of the statue in the same stance) and the Louisville skyline. Great photo op with bridge and skyline in background.

BF and I ran from our hotel in Louisville to the falls of the ohio. We were a little underwhelmed, but the more we explored the more we enjoyed it. Plus, I learned quite a bit, so that’s worth the five stars right there!

Nice park. I have visited many, many times, yet I have never visited the on-​site museum (which has an admission fee).
Visiting this park on the Ohio River’s rocky edge offers to completely different experiences depending on whether or not the dam gates are open or closed. When the gates are wide open, the water is rushing and crashing all around rocks like a scene from a New England coastline. When the gates are nearly closed, the water recedes and reveals a rocky, moon-​like surface that covers a large area. It is cool experience walking around in the area when dry. Following a westward trail along the shoreline shows off a convoluted, rocky edge with little «mini-​canyons» carved by the river of hundreds of years. Walking this area makes for an exciting, all-​natural obstacle course… very fun.
While the museum on-​site charges the admission fee, it is free to visit all the outdoor areas described above. They do charge a couple of bucks to park, though. This is a great is certainly not much compared to larger, national parks, but any outdoor enthusiast should enjoy a great afternoon here. It’s an inexpensive to entertain children… just be careful around the river, of course.
One of these days, I need to visit that museum!

This was a really great experience! I’ve never seen fossils just sitting around, and you get to see that here! The museum seemed kind of silly, but walking around and taking pictures, looking at rocks, and looking at the fossils is definitely worth it! It’s so close to downtown Louisville also! There is a cute ice cream shop close-​by as well. :)

I had never heard of this place until I happened to notice it on a Google map, located right behind my hotel. Shame on me, because it later became obvious that this important site should have crossed my radar for several amateur interests of mine. The area has rightfully attracted the keen attention of geologists, paleontologists, naturalists, archaeologists, civil engineers, and historians.
The vista from the visitors center is impressive but nothing like photos that I had seen. Oops – it’s high-​river season. When you see the water level several feet up the trunks of trees, you know that you aren’t getting the full picture. Too bad. This also meant that the fossil beds were submerged, so I had to confine my visit to the Interpretive Center.
The Center is fairly standard stuff, a mix of natural history and human history. They have some artifacts and documents but mostly there are recreations and informational displays. If the timing is right, start your visit with the 14-​minute film in the small auditorium up front. That will give you a nice overview of the history of the Falls. Other highlights included a giant fish skull, a collection of photographs depicting a meticulous reenactment of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and a series of maps of the river drawn between the time of first white discover up to 1911.
There is a lot of data in this museum, so you can spend a good two hours if you want to read everything. You will get a healthy education, and it’s worth your five dollars even when the fossils are underwater.