Low Gap Trail is a 10.4 mile lightly trafficked loop trail located near Martinsville, Indiana that features beautiful wild flowers and is only recommended for very experienced adventurers. The trail offers a number of activity options and is accessible year-round. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.
dogs on leash
backpacking
birding
camping
hiking
nature trips
trail running
walking
forest
views
wild flowers
The Sweedy Hollow area on the southwest portion of loop is beautiful. There's even a stone cove in one of the hills. The northern part of trail isn't so thrilling because a lot of it is gravel road, which is tiresome to the feet. Also the part alongside Forest Rd is a bit underwhelming due to logging and erosion. Perfect length for a serious jaunt though.
Great, fun trail. Lots of camping spots, but water sources were pretty scarce. Only spot we found to refill our water bottles was near the parking lot at Low Gap Road on the south end of the trail. Also the gravel road was kind of a drag, but luckily we weren't on it for that long.
It's a nice trail...reviews from here helped but there were a few things I wish I'd known that I will share. We hiked to the Rock Shelter first and then crossed Low Gap Rd to camp by the creek. There are actually two creeks, one by the road with 4-6 big open campsites (looks like where the locals party.) But just beyond these sites you cross another creek with several backcountry sites along that .5-1 mile stretch, even a few nice campsites up on the ridge just beyond the low land of creek--or just before you get to the creek if coming the other way. There were NO campsites after Rock Shelter until crossing the road. We were exhausted after crossing the road so we set up camp before crossing the other creek (bc we didn't know it was there!) and ended up disappointed to hear cars all night.
There was quite a bit of gravel road walking...but overall, we were on trails the most.
The biggest disappointment was a technology glitch, I assume. According to AllTrails we had hiked the 10.2 miles just after reaching the Low Gap/Tecumseh split. But, we had over two miles to go!! (Backpacking with two teenage girls, so you can imagine the drama this imposed. ;)
Excellent trails. Well groomed and great scenery.
One of the best trails for backpacking in Indiana. Very secluded and the climbs will get your heart pumping. Most elevation I've seen Indiana yet. Reminds me of the Appalachian Trail in some sections. Great trail to train on. Did the 10.5 loop just over 3 hours with some stops. Not a fan of the gravel road walking.
Hiking on gravel gets old pretty quick, but the rest of the trail was great.
I do love Low Gap!
As per usual it was absolutely beautiful! There weren't many people on the trail despite being 77 degrees and dry.
The only downside on this hike was the spider webs... the west side of the loop that runs parallel to the road was littered with spider webs. Even after using a stick to try and rid them I still easily wore over 40 spider webs... I found 3 spiders crawling on my arms (so who knows how many were on me that I didn't see).
Still, it is the best hike in central Indiana. I still highly recommend it!
Glad it allows backpacking but gravel road walking is no one's idea of a good time.
What a waste!!!!! Who ever decided to gravel a trail is dumb!!!!
Was a nice hike in the woods. Took me right at 4 hours with a couple short breaks.
Really nice hike! We only saw two people the entire time, not crowded or busy. The majority of the trail is hiking up and down. The shale cove was really cool as well.
This is a great trail! Beautiful scenery and points of interest. Backcountry sites were very nice. The trail is well marked and in great shape. We hiked in May and had plenty of water sources. Well worth the time to complete!