Looking for Apartment in Bedford (Bloomington, Muncie: apartments, buy, tenants)

[Bakemeacake]

I'm moving to Bedford at the end of March. I looked at several apartments this weekend and found two I like. One is at Park Place Apartments. Has anyone heard of this place, or know anything about living there? They looked nice when I was there, but I read a really bad review about them online so I'm a little nervous because of that.

Are there good/bad parts of town? I've only been there a couple times so I'm not real familiar with Bedford yet. I'm currently living in Muncie. I used to live in a small town in northeast Iowa, and am looking forward to living in a smaller town in a pretty area again.

Also, does anyone know where the closest hiking is? Are there trails in Bedford or do you have to go out to the Hoosier N.F.?

Thanks for any input!

[Bakemeacake]

Update: I decided on an apartment. The security deposit is $350, and the landlord said tenants automatically lose $150 of that no matter what. I asked if that was for cleaning or something, and he said no, and just said a lot of places do that in the area. Is this true? I have never heard of this anywhere before and I've lived all over the midwest. He also requires tenants to pay for professional carpet cleaning before they move out (requires a receipt). If this isn't done, you can't get any of the security deposit back. Seems a little weird to me, but I like the apartment and am still excited to move there! Any input is appreciated.

[MissingIndiana]

The state parks around this area are fantastic for hiking around. Probably the closest park hiking trails would be in Spring Mill state park in Mitchell, just a little bit south of Bedford. There is also a lot of good stuff around Bloomington at McCormick's Creek State Park and Brown County State Park are within an hour's drive and are also gorgeous. There's a great area near Bedford in the Hoosier Nat'l Forest called the Charles Deam Wilderness area too. It's off of SR446 on the south side of Lake Monroe. I would recommend picking up a book called Hiking Indiana if you're really interested. In the meantime, here are a few links that might be helpful:

Trail Chart
-There is a link to a map which shows where the trails in the Nat'l forest are at this site

DNR: Back Country Hiking

Welcome to southern Indiana!

[dentalcare]

Hello buddy.

[Bakemeacake]

Thanks for the post and the hiking info.! I'll check out those links you sent me.

[Bakemeacake]

So there isn't any hiking right in town though? I guess I was spoiled in Iowa because I only had to walk a couple blocks from my apartment to get to gorgeous hiking trails.

[MissingIndiana]

No, there isn't any hiking right in town. Not even any large-ish parks. As I mentioned though, Spring Mill State Park is at most 15-20 minutes away. Just keep in mind the state parks charge an entrance fee. Still $5 for cars with IN plates, or they have year round passes you can buy to get you into all of the parks. This link is to some pictures of Spring Mill and the pioneer village that is located there (Spring Mill State Park - a set on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cindy47452/sets/727585/with/32711246/ - broken link)).

So whereabouts are you from in Iowa that had the in-town hiking trails? I'd say the closest Indiana towns with trails like this within the city are Bloomington and Columbus.

[Bakemeacake]

Decorah, Iowa. It's in the northeastern part of the state in the bluffs.

Thanks for your help