Yellow Birch Ravine Offers Southern Indiana Hikers a Spectacular Destination

On the way to French Lick, Indiana for a board retreat over the weekend, my friends Sara, Dave and I made a pit stop in tiny Taswell, Indiana. Sara's a fan of hiking and routinely visits Hemlock Cliffs, which is nearby in English. This time, though, she wanted to check out Yellow Birch Ravine and asked if Dave and I wanted to join her. We're all glad we stopped to check it out. While the recent lack of rain took away any hint of a waterfall, the views, which are headlined by a spectacularly high stone arch, were stunning!

That angle doesn't really give you an indication of the height of that climb. I also must tell you that the climb wasn't at all that daunting. I made it up there pretty quickly. But here's another shot that will give you an idea of the difference in elevation from the arch and the ravine below.

Sara and Dave were perfectly content hanging out in the ravine, while I explored up top. I'm basically a chimpanzee and will climb any obstacle in front of me. So, with my cellphone in my back pocket for pics along the way, I let my friends rest for a bit and I hauled it up the rocks to the top.

As you can see, that backdrop was beautiful in its own right and made the perfect resting spot.

By the way, that second photo of Dave and Sara gives you a great view of that arch! It's right there at the top left and center. And, yes! You can walk across it.

And here's a shot of me standing directly beneath the arch after I climbed back down. That backdrop is awesome and would be even more gorgeous with water flowing down from it.

I'll be honest. This hike's pretty easy.  We had a relatively leisurely stroll through the woods to get to it. I believe Sara said the hike was about a "half mile in and a half mile out."

It also has some really fun "Where's Waldo?" photo ops!

If you want directions to Yellow Birch Ravine, CLICK HERE! Just know that the entrance to the trail is not well marked. If you blink, you'll miss it. But take it from us- don't!