I found a new trail to hike today on the Northeast side of Indianapolis. The Town Run Trail is an excellent bike trail but it served me well for hiking on this beautiful Autumn day. Located between 96th and I465 along the White River, this trail has been optimized for off road bikers (so no headphones while hiking). The full trail is 6.6 miles but I cut it down to 4.4 miles by turning back at the Talking Tree. Remember this is a primarily a bike trail which is a one way trail out and back, which also means don’t jump the trail because you really don’t know which way it might be going. I captured my hike with my latest Beta Test version of the Natural Atlas App. My hike is named the Talking Tree Loop.

The Trailhead is just south of 96th on the westside of the White River. There is a nice parking lot at the trailhead.

The trail is a very typical Indiana river corridor meandering along the White River near housing and industrial activity. I liked doing it after the leaves have fallen partly for awareness of bikers and partly to have a sense of where I was at.

The trail is designed for bikers so there are many alert signs announcing upcoming trail conditions for the bikers. There are also a few built up trail enhancements.

I do love the trees in Autumn.

Since I am planning on moving to Grand Junction next year I appreciated this sign alerting me to how far it is to the finest bike trails in America,

I did see many squirrels and had a cool eye to eye contact with a large mule deer about 20 feet away from me. And of course the Talking Tree.