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| A sandhill crane searches for food in the Great Marsh trail. NPS photo. |
While previous generations considered them wasteland that needed to be drained off, today we recognize that marshes support a large number of plants and animals, improve water quality, and reduce erosion and flooding. All of this makes them an interesting place to explore and to learn about our environment.
Bogs, fens and interdunal ponds dot the national park. Among the best of them to discover via day trails are:
• Cowles Bog – Day hikers can explore one of the national park’s many mysterious marshes on the 2.85-miles round trip Cowles Bog Trail. Cowles Bog actually is a fen, long known in literature as a dismal place; in the ancient Anglo-Saxon tale of Beowulf, the frightening, fog-laden fen was the lair of the monster Grendel. At Cowles, the mineral-rich groundwater feeds the wetlands, where partially decomposed plants settle into a mire and form peat. For the trailhead, park in the lot off of N. Mineral Springs Road north of U.S. Hwy. 12. The Greenbelt Trail also heads into the bog.
• Great Marsh – Sometimes the best way to appreciate a wetlands is from a vista, it stretching like a miles-wide impressionist painting before you as a variety of birds congregate or swoop in for a meal. A good way to observe the vast Great Marsh this way is via the Dune Ridge Trail, a 0.7-mile lollipop trail near Beverly Shores, Ind. Pick up the trail at the parking lot off of East State Park Road north of Hwy. 12. The 1.26-miles Great Marsh Trail lets hikers walk through the wetlands where they can several migratory birds – including sandhill cranes and great blue herons – each spring and autumn. The trail starts from the South Lot off of Broadway Avenue north of Hwy. 12.
• Inland Marsh – The 2.6-mile Tolleston Dunes Trail heads through the Inland Marsh near Ogden Dunes. While the high points on the trail run through an oak savanna, the low points (and there are plenty of them) serve as wetlands. Park in the lot at the end of the entry road off of Hwy. 12, about 0.15 miles west of Hillcrest Road.
• Interdunal wetlands – Connecting Calumet Dunes Paved Trail and Glenwood Dunes Trail to the National Lakeshore's Dunewood Campground, the 4.4-miles round trip Dunewood Trace Campground Trail skirts wetlands south of the Great Marsh. The water-filled depressions beneath and between small dunes sits less than a mile from Lake Michigan. This is a good trail if heading from the campground or if looking to extend a walk along the Calumet or Glenwood trails.
• Miller Woods – The first two loops of the Paul H. Douglas Trail (formerly the Miller Woods Trail and now sometimes referred to as the Douglas Center Loop) wind around wetlands and an interdunal pond for a 0.9-mile hike. A boardwalk cuts across the pond to form the loops’ shared leg. Park at the Douglas Center for Environmental Education off of North Lake Street north of Hwy. 12.
• Pinhook Bog – Two trails pass through the acidic swamp. The Pinhook Bog Trail runs 0.86-miles round trip (with 0.26 miles of restricted to ranger-led hikes) and features several unique plants, including five that are carnivorous. The Pinhook Upland Trail is a 2.1-mile round trip lollipop that cuts through a beech and maple forest while offering a great view of the bog.
