Outdoors: Black Rock Barrens

Black Rock Barrens Click to Enlarge Introduction Black Rock Barrens shares a parking area with adjacent Weiler-Leopold Nature Preserve. Black Rock Barrens lies to the east of the parking area. Trails A loop trail, marked with yellow-orange blazes, wastes no time entering the woods and then heads east past numerous shagbark hickory trees. A few hundred yards in, the trail turns sharply south to avoid a large ravine. In doing so, it begins descending a dry slope strewn in places with loose rock. Aspect and vegetation change with elevation; on the floodplain below, where organic matter accumulates, the soils are deeper and better at holding water. The trail wends its way back to the west, and then makes another right hand turn at a narrow gravel wash. As you climb back up the hillside, the rutted wash will gradually reveal itself as an old road, and then intersect with the entrance trail close to its beginning. Facilities None. Directions View Larger Map Warren County. From the hamlet of Independence, go northeast 3.4 miles on Independence Road to a parking area on the right (south). North 40 21.554 West 87 06.964 DeLorme 31:G8 Nearby Natural Areas Fall Creek Gorge Granville Sand Barrens Weiler-Leopold Nature Preserve References Habeck: Wild Indiana; Page 70 Indiana Department of Natural Resources Nature Conservancy: Guide to Indiana Preserves; Page 26 NICHES Land Trust