Clifty Falls is a 70-foot plunge waterfall on Big Clifty Creek in Clifty Falls State Park, Jefferson County, Indiana.
The falls
The waterfall drops as a single vertical curtain. The Indiana DNR's own park trail map shows a different figure for the same feature, 60 feet, under the name Big Clifty Falls. Clifty Creek's bed holds fossil corals, brachiopods and ancestral squid from an ancient marine ecosystem.
Getting there
Indiana DNR manages Clifty Falls State Park at 2221 Clifty Drive in Madison, with entrances off State Roads 56 and 62. The park's trail map places roadside parking and an overlook near the south end of Trail 8, a rugged 4.5-mile route along the west rim with steep grades down to the creek; an ADA-accessible overlook is available, while the canyon trails themselves are rocky and rugged. All ground above and below the park's waterfalls is off limits, so visitors keep to the overlook and marked trails. Daily entrance in 2026 is $7 per Indiana vehicle, $15 per out-of-state vehicle, or $2 per person age five and up arriving on foot, bicycle or horseback, with annual passes accepted. The park and Trail 5 remain open, but Brough's Tunnel is closed indefinitely for rockfall risk, and visitors are directed away from both entrances.
When to go
Winter and spring are the recommended seasons; flow swings from full plunges after wet weather to a light mist, with ice forming in cold weather.
On site
Trail 2 is very rugged, three miles long and impassable at high water, and several other canyon routes have steep stairs and rocky footing. Fossil collecting in the park is prohibited. Swimming is offered only at the park pool, with a separate $3 admission; it is not offered at the waterfall itself.
History and name
Trail 5 and its tunnel corridor follow the route of an abandoned 1852 railroad grade known as Brough's Folly.
Nearby
Little Clifty Falls is about 0.1 mile away on Little Clifty Creek, Tunnel Falls and Wallace Falls each about 0.6 mile, and Hoffman Falls about 1.2 miles.
Distances are straight-line.