- The fine print
- BLM's state-by-state table lists no acreage for this state (the listed states account for the bureau's full national total, so BLM surface land here is effectively zero, but no explicit figure is published). No charge for dispersed camping. 200+ feet from trails, roads, water; restrictions in Deam Wilderness and Pioneer Mothers Memorial Forest. Hoosier is Indiana's only qualifying area.
Indiana lists 29 federal recreation facilities: 12 by the Army Corps of Engineers, 11 by the Forest Service, 3 by the Park Service, and 3 across 2 other agencies.
Scale, not a free-camping count: this counts federal recreation facilities of every kind (trailheads, day-use sites, boat ramps, developed campgrounds), and most are not free dispersed camping. Source: Recreation.gov RIDB, retrieved 2026-07-18.
Named areas where free camping is currently allowed
- Hoosier National Forest (forest-wide dispersed camping)USDA Forest Service · Stay limit: 14 days in a 28-day period; 28 days total per calendar year
Dispersed camping on public land is camping, and it is allowed by default on most BLM and forest land within the stay limit. Pulling off a highway to sleep in your vehicle overnight is a different act with different rules. Which one applies to you.
Stay limits are set by the local field office or ranger district and change with fire restrictions. The managing office's current guidance beats this page.
Indiana has one place to camp for free: Hoosier National Forest. Dispersed camping is allowed throughout most of it at no charge, with a limit of 14 days in a 28-day period and a hard cap of 28 days total per calendar year. There is no BLM camping land in the state and no second forest, so Hoosier is the entire answer.
Where the free camping is
Hoosier covers the wooded hill country of south-central Indiana, roughly between Bloomington and the Ohio River. The Forest Service allows dispersed camping throughout most of the forest, free, with no permit.
The rest of the state does not add anything. BLM’s 2024 state-by-state table lists no acreage for Indiana at all (the states it lists account for the bureau’s entire national total, so the figure here is effectively zero, even though no explicit number is published). The FY2024 Land Areas Report confirms Hoosier as the state’s one national forest.
The rules inside Hoosier
Three things separate Hoosier’s rules from the generic national forest version:
- The annual cap. 14 days in any 28-day period is standard. The 28 days total per calendar year is not, and it is the number that matters if you were planning to rotate through the forest all season. You cannot.
- The 200-foot rule. Sites must be more than 200 feet from trails, roads, and water. That is a longer setback than many forests use, and it rules out the obvious pull-offs.
- The restricted areas. The Charles C. Deam Wilderness and Pioneer Mothers Memorial Forest carry their own camping restrictions. Read the forest’s dispersed camping page before planning a night in either.
For how stay-limit counting works in general, see our stay limits guide.
How to check before you go
Rules and closures change at the district level, so check the Hoosier dispersed camping page or call the forest office before a trip, and pull the Motor Vehicle Use Map to confirm your access road is open. Once you are out there, the posted sign and the district’s current guidance beat anything published here.
Driving in from out of state? Indiana’s rest area rules cover the night before you reach the trees.