Hiker’s Knob

Planning a visit? Click to download the Hikers Knob and Wheeler Hollow Preserve Guide


The 25-acre gift from the Hoosier Hikers Council is part of one of the most unique land forms in Indiana – the Knobstone Escarpment. I remember the first time I saw it and the amazement I felt that something like this existed in Indiana. Its rugged features are accentuated by the Scottsburg lowland, a very flat flood plain that creates the eastern border of the Knobstone Escarpment. I later found out that this was a part of the unglaciated section of Indiana which retains much of its original topography; the glaciers could not go over this land.

The topography is unique, and so are the plants and animals here. Early on, Charles Deam (Indiana’s first state forester) recognized that the Chestnut Oak and Virginia Pine were found only in this region (with a few exceptions for the Chestnut Oak, as a few trees over look Big Clifty Falls and Marble Hill). Other plants include Deam’s foxglove (found no where else in the world), rattlesnake hawkweed, stout-ragged goldenrod and Harvey’s buttercup. Rare animals include two small snakes, the scarlet snake and the crowned snake, both of which are nonvenomous. The red salamander is also a resident.

Two things are certain: when we visit to monitor this conservation land, we need good climbing legs; the other is that we always have a spectacular view if we make it to the top.

We wish to thank the Hoosier Hikers Council and all their current and past volunteers and staff for their care for the land and their partnership with us.

— Based on an article by Paul Carmony in the 2010 Oak Heritage Conservancy newsletter