Deam Lake State Recreation Area

Love it

Beautiful and always kept clean. You can go in/out as much as you want as long as you keep your ticket. Non Indiana car plates are $9 and Indiana plates are $7. There's boats, snacks/drinks (cash only though) and a lake to swim in. There's fish and tons of critters in the water but they're pretty chill. The beach is kept up, no dogs allowed (so no surprises!) and feels awesome between your toes. It's a great family place and you can even camp!

Deam Lake isn't massive, but it is pretty large. There's a shorelike with sand, that's open if you want to sunbathe or go swimming. You can fish on the lake, I've seen people in kayaks and on small boats out there fishing, but there are also several areas to fish along the outside edges of the lake. There are good trails for horses, hiking, running, and mountain bikes. If you're an Indiana resident, it's $7 to get in, as I write this in November 2020. Out-of-state is $9, I think. There is a campground here, too, with RV hook ups.

Dean Lake is certainly not a well kept secret. On this beautiful sunny and hot June Saturday, it was very much packed with people above it capacity. It looked like half the population of Indiana wanted to all come to this lake and beach. Every parking spot and picnic table and any other open patch of ground had a family or group of people calling it their own. There were people of multiple ethnicities co-existing pretty well I thought. But there were way too many people there and social distancing was NOT being practiced. We arrived at 11am and left at 4:30. There was a line of cars a mile long still waiting to pay the $7 or $9 admission at the entrance. It was crazy! There was no place to park or sit at beach yet they kept letting people come in. I'll go elsewhere the next time a lake beach calls me.....nThe picture I took was shortly after we got there. Now take the number of people you see in the picture and multiply by 10! That's how crowded it became as we were leaving.

Beautiful being outdoors! The lake, the campers including a sight for horse camping. It was lovely!