How to get to Indiana Dunes National Park

Sunset at Indiana Dune National Park's Portage Lakefront & Riverwalk
 on Lake Michigan. NPS photo.

With Indiana Dunes National Park situated so close to Chicago, a number of major highways lead to the park.

Located in northwest Indiana on Lake Michigan’s shores, Indiana Dunes became our nation’s newest and 61st national park in February 2019. Indiana Dunes attracts about 3.6 million visitors per year, making it the seventh most visited national park.

Interstate 90 heads east from Chicago and west from South Bend, Indiana. Interstate 94 also enters the park as heading east from Chicago and then west from southern Michigan. Interstate 65 heads north from Indianapolis.

Most trails in the park can be accessed by a road intersecting either U.S. Hwy. 12 (aka as Dunes Highway) or U.S. Hwy. 20. Each runs roughly west-east between Chicago and Michigan City, Ind., right through the park’s heart. Because of that, explanations of how to reach trailheads for the featured trails begin with directions from those two cities.

If you don’t want to drive, there is a great option in Chicago for reaching the park. The South Shore Line, a commuter rail line running between downtown Chicago and South Bend International Airport, includes a Dune Park stop east of Cowles Bog and south of Indiana Dunes State Park; you can pick up the Calumet Trail at the station. From April through October, you can bring bicycles on the South Shore Line train.

The best months to day hike Indiana Dunes are May through September. Depending on the year, April and October also can be pleasant.

As with the rest of the Midwest, summers can be humid, especially July and August. Rain also can occur during the afternoon even when the morning is sunny, so always check the weather forecast before heading out.

November through March usually is too cold for day hiking. Once snow falls, some trails are used for cross-country skiing or snowshoeing. Early spring often means muddy trails thanks to snowmelt and rainfall.

Here are the park’s five must-see sights and the trails to reach them:
• Mount Baldy Summit Trail – Clamber to the top of a 12-story living sand dune on this 0.8-mile hike.
• Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk – Explore West Beach, dunes, a waterfront, fishing pier, and 900-foot breakwater leading to a lighthouse on a 0.9-mile loop.
• Pinhook Upland Trail – Discover the unique plants of a beech and maple forest and a bog on this 2.1-mile round trip route.
• Cowles Bog Trail – Enter, if you dare, a mysterious fen on a 2.85-miles round trip hike.
• Great Marsh Trail – Spot sandhill cranes and great blue herons at the largest wetlands complex in the Lake Michigan watershed on this 1.26-miles trail.

Where to see wildlife at Indiana Dunes park

A beaver on a pond off the Paul H. Douglas Trail. NPS photo.

Despite sitting in a built-up area at the edge of the nation’s third largest urban area, there’s plenty of wildlife to be seen at Indiana Dunes National Park.

Two trails that particularly stand out for spotting wildlife are:
• Paul H. Douglas Trail – The 3.2-miles trail (formerly the Miller Woods Trail) passes a wetlands, oak savanna, towering sand dunes, and ends at a Lake Michigan beach. Among the animals that can be seen along the trail are beaver, cottontail rabbit, coyote, eastern mole, fox squirrel, gray squirrel, long-tailed weasel, masked shrew, meadow vole, muskrat, prairie deer mouse, raccoon, red squirrel, short-tailed shrew, thirteen-lined ground squirrel, Virginia opossum, white-footed mouse, and white-tailed deer. Park at the Douglas Center for Environmental Education off of North Lake Street north of U.S. Hwy. 12.
• Tolleston Dunes Trail – Another good trail to catch them is this 2.6-mile route, which traverses a variety of ecosystems, including rolling sand dunes formed 4700 years ago when Lake Michigan’s water level was about 25 feet higher and so reached this far inland. Among the wildlife here are cottontail rabbits, garter snakes, opossums, raccoons, red fox, squirrels and white-tailed deer. Look to the sky, and you’re likely to see great blue herons, hawks, mallards, turkey vultures, and a range of songbirds. The trail starts at the parking lot off of Hwy. 12 just west of Hillcrest Road neat Ogden Dunes.
• Also see blog entries on Indiana Dunes’ birding trails.

Discover top sights at new national park

The sun rises over the 12-story Mount Baldy sand dune at Indiana Dunes
National Park. NPS photo.

Imagine a place where you can stroll magnificent Lake Michigan beaches or scramble over towering sand dunes, where you can explore mysterious marshes filled with carnivorous plants or amble about peaceful grassland prairies and oak savannas, where you can roam among migrating birds on their stopover or traipse about historic turn-of-the-century homesteads. The place is real: It’s called Indiana Dunes National Park.

Located in northwest Indiana on Lake Michigan’s shores, Indiana Dunes became our nation’s newest and 61st national park in February 2019. An easy drive from Chicago, Indiana Dunes attracts about 3.6 million visitors per year, making it the seventh most visited national park. Formerly Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, the 15,000-acre park sits in a built-up area and is physically divided into 15 largely disconnected pieces. Still, Indiana Dunes boasts 14 distinct trail systems with more than 50 miles of trails.

Indiana Dunes’ designation as a national park follows a more than a century-long effort to achieve that status. As far back as 1899, calls were made to preserve the Lake Michigan shoreline. Then in 1916, the National Park Service’s first director, Stephen Mather, advocated creation of “Sand Dunes National Park” along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Industrial interests, however, fought instead for a larger port there; indeed, remnants of the steel industry remain all around the park.

Then in the early 1950s, the Save the Dunes Council under the leadership of Dorothy Buell and activist Hazel Hannell sought federal protection. When U.S. Sen. Paul H. Douglas of Illinois joined their cause, the area became a national lakeshore in 1966. Gradually, the park expanded over the next three decades.

In 2017, Indiana congressmen called for the national lakeshore to be reclassified as a park to bring it more recognition and hence economically boost the northwestern part of their state, which had suffered greatly since the decline of the steel industry and other manufacturing there. Initially, the National Park service opposed the reclassification, saying Indiana Dunes had more in common with its national lake and seashores than with a national park. Still, a bill renaming the national lakeshore soon passed Congress and then was signed into law by President Donald Trump.

With the park stretching more than two-dozen miles from end to end and the large crowds, how can you ensure that you see its main sights when vacationing or driving through? Here are the park’s five must-see sights and the trails to reach them:
• Mount Baldy Summit Trail – Clamber to the top of a 12-story living sand dune on this 0.8-mile hike.
• Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk – Explore West Beach, dunes, a waterfront, fishing pier, and 900-foot breakwater leading to a lighthouse on a 0.9-mile loop.
• Pinhook Upland Trail – Discover the unique plants of a beech and maple forest and a bog on this 2.1-mile round trip route.
• Cowles Bog Trail – Enter, if you dare, a mysterious fen on a 2.85-miles round trip hike.
• Great Marsh Trail – Spot sandhill cranes and great blue herons at the largest wetlands complex in the Lake Michigan watershed on this 1.26-miles trail.

Many great trails found near Indiana Dunes

Marquette Park beach with the downtown Chicago skyline in the distance.

Despite being urbanized, the area around Indiana Dunes National Park boasts a variety of great beaches, municipal or county parks, and other lengthy hiking trails.

These trails often allow you to escape the national park’s summer beach crowds while experiencing local life.

Among your best bets for day trails outside of the national park:
• Indiana Dunes State Park – The state park sits exactly in the middle of the national park on Lake Michigan’s shores. Its 2182 acres offers many of the same features – beachfront, dunes, forests, wetlands, and prairie/savanna habitat – and so also attracts an incredibly variety of birds. The mile-long Trail 2 circles the Great Marsh on a boardwalk so you can keep your feet dry. Among the birds you can spot are: Baltimore oriole; bay-breasted, blackburnian, Canada, golden-winged, hooded, Kirtland’s, and prairie warblers; blue jay; Louisiana waterthrush; scarlet tanager; and veery. A 3.5-mile round trip segment of Trail 10 passes two blowouts – an exposed area where wind moved sand from the dunes through an area of plants. The park's two largest blowouts – Beach House and Furnessville – are on this segment, which starts at the Pavilion and Bathhouse.
• Dune Nature Preserve – Technically the eastern two-thirds of the state park, the preserve includes three dunes known as The Tremonts: Mt. Tom, which tops out a 192 feet above lake level; Mt. Holden, 184 feet; and Mt. Jackson, 176 feet. The 1.5-mile long Trail 8 goes up and over each of the wooded Tremonts and runs from the Wilson Shelter to the Pavilion and Beach House.
• Iron Horse Heritage Trail – The 2.9-mile one-way gravel trail runs between Hamstrom Road and Indiana Hwy. 149/Max Mochal Road northeast of Portage, Ind. The best section is the eastern half, which runs along the edge of Portage Imagination County Park and a small lake.
• Marquette Park – A 1.4-mile white sand beach stretches along Lake Michigan at this Gary, Ind., park that is entirely surrounded by the national park. Formerly known as Lake Front Park, the area recently underwent a major $28 million overhaul. The beach is not a designated swimming area and is considered an Important Bird Area. Park in the city lots at the end of North Lake Street north of U.S. Hwy. 12.
• Oak Ridge Prairie and Savannah Trail – The 9.5-mile one-way former railway turned asphalt trail runs from Erie Lackawanna Trail at South Arbogast Avenue in Griffith, Ind., to the Prairie Duneland Trail at Hobart Road in Hobart. The end points definitely are better than the center, which crosses busy Interstate 65 and Indiana Hwy. 53.
• Oak Ridge Prairie County Park – Several short trails run through this public area in the Lake County park system. Try the 0.56-mile Lake Perimeter Trail, which circles a pond through woodlands and an open green. Pick up the trail from the lot at the end of the park entry road east of South Colfax Street near Griffith, Ind.
• Porter Brickyard Trail – The paved 3.5-mile one-way trail runs north to south with one end in the national park (trailhead is at 1184 North Mineral Springs Road) and the other outside the park at 198 S. Jackson Blvd. in Chesterton, Ind. Along the way, it passes the Bailly-Chellberg historic sites and in Chesterton connects to the Prairie Duneland Trail.
• Prairie Duneland Trail – The 11.2-mile one-way trail links downtown Hobart, Ind., (trailhead is at 4 North Hobart Road) to a trailhead in Chesterton at 198 S. Jackson Blvd. The grade is nil, and there are six smaller parking lots along the trail route should you want to do a shorter walk.
• Washington Park – The Michigan City, Ind., city park boasts a 2-mile long Lake Michigan beach and a small zoo featuring 90 different species on a 15-acre campus. Park in the lot at the end of the Park Entrance Road north of Lake Shore Drive.

Explore forest trails at Indiana Dunes park

The Hobart Woodland Trail is dirt-packed jeep trail through a hardwood forest.
Photo courtesy of Indiana Dunes NPS.

Say “Indiana Dunes National Park,” and most people will think of Lake Michigan beaches and sand dunes. But various forests – from Midwest hardwoods to a jack pinery – also can be found there.

The best trails to explore the national park’s forests include:
• Calumet Dunes Paved Trail – The 0.5-miles loop heads through a hardwood forest on its way to sand dunes. Among the dominant trees are eastern black oak, white oak, sugar maple, dogwood, and yellow poplar, making for colorful fall foliage. If walking the trail clockwise, always veer right at each junction. The wheelchair accessible path connects with the Glenwood Dunes Trail and the Dunewood Trace Campground Trail. Park in the lot for the trail off of East 300 Road south of U.S. Hwy. 12.
• Dune Succession Trail – While much of the trail focuses on how the dunes evolve over time, one segment of the 1-mile trail heads through a jack pinery. The jack pines here are much farther south than they should be in the Great Lakes, and are remnants of when they flourished in the area at the end of the last ice age, when the climate was much cooler. In the pinery, you’ll also see cottonwood, red cedar, common juniper, and the bearberry bush. Park in a lot at the end of West Beach Road north of U.S. Hwy. 12.
• Glenwood Dunes Trail – Day hikers can walk through a classic Midwestern hardwood forest on this 2.8-miles lollipop trail that formerly was known as the Ly-co-ki-we Trail. Among the dominant trees are eastern black oak, white oak, sugar maple, dogwood, and yellow poplar, which make for spectacular fall colors. Park in the lot off of North Brummit Road/School House Road north of U.S. Hwy. 20.
• Hobart Woodland Trail – The 2.2-miles trail runs through forested ravines and a bur oak savanna as well as passes Lake George in the Hobart Prairie Grove System, which is disconnected from the main park. The best way to access the trail is to park at Robinson Lake Park lot off of Liverpool Road south of West 49th Avenue southwest of Hobart, Ind., then hike the Oak Savannah rail trail east for just under a half mile. The packed dirt Hobart Woodland Trail heads south from the Oak Savannah Trail.

Indiana Dunes offers great birding trails

A great blue heron along the Great Marsh Trail. NPS photo.

Among the best places to go birding in the upper Midwest is Indiana Dunes National Park. With its variety of ecosystems – from hardwood forests and wetlands to Lake Michigan beaches and towering dunes – the national park naturally attracts hundreds of bird species, especially during the spring and fall migrations.

Among the top park trails for birding are:
• Cowles Bog Trail – The trail, which traverses the edge of woodlands and marshes while heading through an oak savanna, was named a globally significant Important Bird Area. Its wetlands are a major nesting area for American bittern, American black duck., black-crowned night heron, little blue heron, marsh wren, sandhill crane, and Virginia rail. Other rare species that can spotted along the trail are the American woodcock, solitary sandpiper, rusty blackbird, sedge wren, and whip-poor-will.
• Great Marsh Trail – Day hikers can see a number of the famous birds drawn to the national park by hiking the 1.26-miles round trip Great Marsh Trail. Thanks to a recent restoration of the wetlands, migratory birds – including sandhill cranes and great blue herons – stop over there every spring and autumn. After only a few steps on the trail, you’ll be immediately impressed by the array of bird life in the Great Marsh. Coots, mallards, wood ducks and geese are abundant here. During the annual migrations, wading birds such as herons and egrets stalk the shorelines. Kingfishers, red-winged blackbirds, tree swallows, and warblers also are abundant.
• Heron Rookery Trail – For some six decades, more than a hundred great blue heron nests could be found in the tall sycamores along this 3.3-miles round trip trail at 600 East south of 1350 North. Though the herons have since abandoned the site, plenty of other birds can be spotted on this wooded portion of the East Arm Little Calumet River. Among them are kingfishers, kinglets, a number of migrating and nesting warbler species, woodpeckers and wood thrushes.
• West Beach Trail – Several migratory birds rarely seen in Indiana can be spotted on the West Beach Trail, which passes Long Lake and a Lake Michigan beach. An Important Bird Area, in late fall and winter, the common redpoll, long-eared owl and red crossbill can be spotted. The common loon and red-breasted merganser, red-throated loon, and western grebe also can be spotted here. Many raptors such as bald eagles, northern harriers, peregrine falcon, red-shouldered and sharp-shinned hawks also stop over here. Also keep an eye out for the hairy woodpecker. At the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk on West Beach’s east end, spring hawk flights over the high dunes are impressive, and during March and April, at the migration’s peak, up to 300 bird species can be seen on any given day.

Discover waterways crossing Indiana Dunes

East Arm Little Calumet River, located near the Bailly Homestead. NPS photo.

Only one river flows through Indiana Dunes National Park, but a couple of streams do make their way across the park, one as a tributary to the East Arm Little Calumet River and the other flowing directly into Lake Michigan.

Here are some great day trails to discover those waterways:
• Dunes Creek – The 4.3-mile stream drains the Great Marsh and then West Branch (which in turn drains Cowles Bog) passes through coastal sand dunes and flows into Lake Michigan at Indiana Dunes State Park. Good trails to experience the creek are the Calumet Bike Trail (between Tremont Road and East State Park Boundary Road) and Trail 2 in the state park.
• East Arm Little Calumet River – The 22.1-mile long waterway has greatly changed since the arrival of Euro-Americans. Before 1926, the stream used to connect to the Little Calumet River in Illinois, but that year construction of the Burns Waterway diverted the route so it drained into Lake Michigan at Burns Harbor in Indiana (which can explored at the Portage Lakefront & Riverwalk). One of the few undisturbed portions runs alongside the Little River Calumet Trail. Park in the lot at the end of Howe Road south of Oak Hill Road/County Road 1350 N. Take the trail 0.9-miles one way west to a bridge crossing the river as well as 0.3-miles east toward the Bailly Homestead.
• Salt Creek – This 24-mile tributary of the East Arm Little Calumet River flows north from Valparaiso, Ind. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources regularly stocks the creek with steelhead trout, Chinook salmon, and coho salmon. No park trails cross Salt Creek, but both the Iron Horse Heritage and the Prairie Duneland trails just south of the park do.

Day trails explore prairies at Indiana Dunes

Mnoké Prairie during the fall at Indiana Dunes National Park. NPS photo.

Prior to the arrival of settlers from the East Coast and Europe, about 1 in every 7 acres of Indiana was prairieland. Agriculture, drainage and urbanization quickly decimated the prairies, and by the end of the 20th century, only a few pristine remnants remained.

Fortunately, some of those parcels – as well as new efforts at restoring prairie – can be found at Indiana Dunes National Park.

Three prairies that day trails explore at the park include:
• Mnoké Prairie – Indiana sits in a zone where the Eastern forests give way to the grassy Great Plains of the West. While oak savannas made up much of the area’s meadows in that transition, swaths of tallgrass prairie did exist in the Hoosier state. Most were converted to farmland once settlers arrived. Recently, a tallgrass prairie was restored near the historic Bailly and Chellberg farm. You can walk the edge of it on the first segment of the Little Calumet River Trail; park in the lot at the end of of Howe Road south of Oak Hill Road and head west on the trail until coming the river bridge for a 1.8-mile round trip.
• Dune Ridge black oak savanna – Before Euro-American settlers arrived, black oak savannas were among the Midwest’s most common ecosystems. Today, less than .02% of oak savanna remains. They still can be seen at Indiana Dunes, though; one great route for walking through them is the 0.7-mile Dune Ridge Trail, a lollipop trail near Beverly Shores, Ind. Park in the lot off of East State Park Road north of U.S. Hwy. 12.
• Hoosier Prairie – A great way to explore the different types of prairies is the Prairie Marsh and Savannah trails, located in Hoosier Prairie Nature Preserve. The 0.8-mile hike consists of a stem and two connected loops in a 1547-acre area being restored and protected by a variety of agencies from the U.S. and Indiana governments to private nature preservation organizations. Pick up the trail from the parking lot off of Main Street east of Kennedy Avenue in Griffith, Ind.

Day trails explore Indiana Dunes marshes

A sandhill crane searches for food in the Great Marsh trail. NPS photo.

Among the most important features of Indiana Dunes National Park is its great number of wetlands.

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.

Hikes explore historic sites at Indiana Dunes

The historic Bailly Homestead on the Bailly Chellberg Trail. NPS photo.

Hikers can explore several historic sites – from pioneer homesteads to homes of the future – at Indiana Dunes National Park.

Humans have lived in the Indiana Dunes area since about 13,000 B.C. when the last ice age’s glaciers retreated from the area. Scattered artifacts have been found on the higher and older dune ridges. More recently, Native American villages existed in the area, but most signs of them disappeared as Euro-American settlers arrived in the area during the 1800s. Because of that, the park’s historic sites focus on sites from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Among the historic sites that can be hiked in the park are:
• Bailly Cemetery – Hikers can visit a family and community cemetery dating to 1827 on this 1.9-mile round trip trail. The cemetery sits about a mile north of the Bailly Homestead on the edge of a sand ridge. Pioneer fur trader Joseph Bailly selected the sand hill to bury his son and erected a thirty-foot wooden cross near the grave. Soon, other members of the Swedish community buried their deceased there. Park at the Chellberg Farm off of Mineral Springs Road south of U.S. Hwy. 12 and head north on the trail for a 1-mile round trip.
• Bailly Homestead – After running his fur-trading post on the Little Calumet River, Joseph Bailly established this farm in the early 1830s when the U.S. government opened northern Indiana to settlement. Among the buildings remaining on the homestead is the Bailly House (construction began in 1834), the chapel that was the summer kitchen, a log house that was the Bailly's dairy house and tool shed built in the mid-1870s, and a brick house from 1874. Park in the lot off of Howe Road south of Oak Hill Road and head south on the trail for a 0.7-mile round trip.
• Chellberg Farms – Day hikers can visit a historic Midwest homestead from the 1800s here. During the mid-1800s until the Great Depression, this area of Indiana – known as Baillytown –attracted a number of Swedish immigrants, who formed a close-knit community. Among them was the Kjellberg family, who emigrated to the United States in 1863. Several historic buildings can be explored on the homestead, including a farmhouse, barn and granary. Park in the Chellberg Farms lot off of North Mineral Springs Road south of U.S. Hwy. 12.
• 1933 Century of Progress World's Fair homes of the future – You can hike back to the future in a ranger-led tour of five historic homes erected during the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair to show what homes of the future would look like. Throughout a single day each October, two-hour walking tours are given of the Cypress Log Cabin, the House of Tomorrow, Florida Tropical, Armco Ferro, and the Wieboldt-Rostone houses. While some of the predictions, such as central air conditioning and dishwashers, came true, others – like the house with an airplane hangar on the first floor (after all, everyone in the future would have an airplane) – proved less than prophetic. In 1935, a developer brought the houses to the dunes hoping to attract home buyers to his resort community of Beverly Shores. Each of the homes are on the National Register of Historic Places.
• Good Fellow Youth Camp – U.S. Steel operated a summer camp for its employees’ children for more than three decades in the mid-20th century. Every week for two months, between 60-100 kids aged 8-15 enjoyed outdoors activities at the camp in a forest near Lake Michigan. No formal trail runs through the grounds, but you still can follow road sides and walk around the camp’s nine buildings and a swimming pool that remain for a 0.5-mile trek. Park at the Dunes Learning Center off of County Road 150 West/Howe Road south of County Road 1350 North/West Oak Hill road.

Diverse flora await on Indiana Dunes trails

A carnivorous pitcher plant grows in Pinhook Bog. NPS photo.

Hikers can see a whole variety of flora at Indiana Dunes National Park, which is among the most biologically diverse units in the national park system.

Fens, foredunes, riversides and hardwood forests all provide different habitats for often unique plants. Indeed, Indiana Dunes boasts more than 370 species of flowering plants with thirteen of them threatened or in danger of extinction.

Among the park’s best trails to see interesting flora are:
• Cowles Bog Trail – Day hikers can see what plants conspire to make a fen such a frightening place on this 2.85-miles round trip trail. While red maple and yellow birch rule the uplands edging Cowles Bog, the swamp is covered in tamarack growing out of partially decomposed plants settling into a mire. Along the bog’s edge are poison sumac, spicebush, blackberry, grape, red osier and witch hazel. Park in the lot off of N. Mineral Springs Road north of U.S. Hwy. 12.
• Dune Ridge Trail – A variety of habitats along this 0.7-mile loop trail ensure you’ll see a range of interesting plants that thrive on sand dunes. The foredunes section of the trail boasts marram, little bluestem grasses, and cottonwoods. Marram is particularly adapted to living in moving dunes, but they succumb to taller plants’ shade. This layer of dead grass provides the soil needed for the oak savanna that replaces it. The trail leaves from the lot on East State Park Road north of Hwy. 12.
• Heron Rookery Trail – Every spring, wildflowers cover the forest floor along the East Arm Little Calumet River on this 3.3-miles round trip trail. Trillium, Dutchman's breeches, and spring beauties are among only a few of the flowers that bloom before tree leaves unfurl. The trail is considered the national park’s most extensive display of spring wildflowers. Start at the parking lot off of 600 East south of 1350 North.
• Pinhook Bog Trail – Among the best spots to see exotic plants in the park is this 0.86-mile trail, which runs through a depression within a moraine. You’ll see five carnivorous plants: the tiny spoonleaf sundew; round-leaved sundew; purple pitcher plant; hidden-fruited bladderwort; and horned bladderwort. While the neighboring Pinhook Upland Trail is open at all times, the bog only can be accessed on ranger-led tours. The trailhead is off North Wozniak Road south of Snyder Road/W 200 N.
• Tolleston Dune Trail – While this 2.6-mile trail is well-known for its wildlife, what attracts so many animals is the great diversity of plant life here. A rare black oak savanna covers the dunes, providing food and homes to a number of mammals. The leaves of the wild blue lupine flower, which grows abundantly here, provides meals for the caterpillar of the Karner blue butterfly, a federally endangered species. The trail leaves from the lot off of Hwy. 12 west of Hillcrest Road.
• West Beach Trail – Hikers can spot an Arizona beauty – eastern prickly pear cactus – in Indiana on this 1.2 miles-round trip trail, which heads to a beach on Long Lake. The cactus’s fruit and pads provide dinner for coyote, gray fox, cottontail rabbits, striped skunks, and white-tailed deer while its flowers offer nectar and pollen to a variety of bees. Pick up the trail at the parking lot off of West Beach Road east of County Line Road.

7 great beaches await at Indiana Dunes NP

West Beach on Lake Michigan at Indiana Dunes National Park. NPS photo.

Dunbar Beach at Indiana Dunes National Park. NPS photo.

Ah, the beach – sunbathing and swimming, flying kites and building sand castles, enjoying a summer sunset or taking in the dramatic approach of a storm. All of that and more is possible for those visiting Indiana Dunes National Park.

America’s newest national park features seven major beaches (listed here from west to east):
• Miller Beach – The Paul H. Douglas Trail (formerly the Miller Woods Trail) runs 2.1 miles (one-way) through forests to Miller Beach in Gary, Ind. While the Lake Michigan beach doesn’t always offer the greatest views – industry sits on either side of it – is is the closest park beach to Chicago and if hiking to reach it you get to cross incredibly high dunes, a fun adventure on its own. The trail starts at the Douglas Center for Environmental Education. Be aware that temperatures on the beach can be significantly colder or hotter than in the trail’s wooded portion.
• West Beach – Not all of the park’s beaches sit on Lake Michigan. Loop 2 of the 1.2 miles-round trip West Beach Trail heads to a beach on Long Lake; it’s a great spot for birding as well with a viewing platform for watching. If you prefer a beach on the Great Lake, however, no worries; just take the West Beach Trail to the 0.7-mile Dune Succession Trail (which is Loop 1 of the West Beach Trail) and follow it to a Lake Michigan shoreline perfect for sunbathing, building sand castles, or flying a kite. Pick up either trail at the parking lot off of West Beach Road east of County Line Road. The Lake Michigan beach also can be accessed via the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk. This 0.9-mile loop allows hikers to explore the eastern end of West Beach. A fishing pier and 900-foot breakwater leading to a lighthouse adjoin the beach. Both surfing and suntanning are popular on the beach. Start the hike by parking in the second lot off of Riverwalk Drive east of Midwest Steele road.
• Porter Beach – A quarter mile of Lake Michigan beachfront can be hiked near the park’s center. Park in the lot at the end of Waverly Road north of U.S. Hwy. 20. The lot allows you to walk the beach at neighboring Indiana Dunes State Park to Porter Beach’s east. That stretch, if walking northeast, offers industry-free views on the horizon. The west end of Porter Beach also can be accessed via the Cowles Bog Trail, the third or westernmost loop of which runs 0.2 miles along Lake Michigan; you first have to pass vast fen and major dunes, but the reward is an incredible amount of privacy on the beach.
• Kemil Beach – Immediately east of Indiana Dunes State Park, Kemil Beach offers far more than sands and waves. You can take a little time away from the beach umbrella and hike a dune or go birdwatching on the Dune Ridge Trail. A parking lot is off of East State Park Road north of U.S. Hwy. 12.
• Dunbar Beach – Immediately east of Kemil Beach, visiting Dunbar is like going back to the future. In addition to swimming and suntanning, you can walk past five historic homes of tomorrow featured in the 1933 Century of Progress World's Fair. Park in the lot off of Lakeshore Drive east of East State Park Road.
• Lake View – While not much different from the adjacent Dunbar Beach, Lake View does offer covered picnic shelters that overlook Lake Michigan. Use the parking lot on Lakeshore Drive west of Broadway; do not park in the Town of Beverly Shores’ private beach parking lot just east of the lot, though, as it’s not part of the national park and can result in a ticket.
• Central Beach – This is one of the better beaches, as it’s far from industry, unlike those on the park’s west side. During spring and summer, bank swallows nest in the dunes. You can access the beach a couple of ways. One is to park at the end of Central Avenue north of U.S. Hwy. 12. For the more adventurous, instead take the Beach Trail, which leads to 0.4 miles of Lake Michigan beachfront at the base of Mount Baldy Dune; the 1.12-miles round trip begins at the parking lot off of Rice Street north of U.S. Hwy. 12 just west of Michigan City, Ind.

Several Indiana trails lead to towering dunes

The Dunes Succession Trail at Indiana Dunes National Park explores the four
stages of dune formation and includes 250 steps to the top of one dune. NPS photo.

America’s newest national Park is a great destination for dunes lovers. Indiana Dunes National Park sits on the south shore of Lake Michigan, where many of the dunes formed during recent ice ages when the water levels were much higher. Today, some dunes at the park rise 20 stories above the ground.

Most of the park’s dunes can be reached via a day hike:
• Calumet Dunes Paved Trail – This half-mile loop heads over a dunes formed 12,000 years ago during the last ice age when Glacial Lake Chicago’s surface was at 620 feet above sea level, as opposed to Lake Michigan’s 580 feet today. The trailhead is on North Kemil Road just north of U.S. Hwy. 12 outside of Chesterton, Ind. The loop connects with the large Glenwood Dunes Trail system; to avoid getting lost, veer left at each junction. The trail is wheelchair accessible.
• Cowles Bog Trail – The third/westernmost loop of this 3.65-mile trail crosses high dunes for a great view of Lake Michigan. The dunes’ high points actually have names – Mount Bentley at 689 feet elevation is on the the east side, and the more prominent Mount Tuthill at 758 feet on the west. Pick up the trail from the parking lot off of N. Mineral Springs Road north of Hwy. 12.
• Dune Ridge Trail – Sweeping views of the Great Marsh await on this forested 0.7-mile lollipop trail near Beverly Shores, Ind. Before reaching the vista, the route heads through a foredune and oak savanna. The trail starts from the lot off of East State Park Road north of Hwy. 12 with an elevation gain of 73 feet and 4 percent average grade.
• Dunes Succession Trail – This excellent 1-mile trail takes hikers through the four stages of dune development and offers a fantastic view of Lake Michigan and the distant Chicago skyline. Hikers have to climb 250 stairs to the vista. The trail also passes through a jack pines grove, which is among the southernmost spots these trees have settled, thanks to ice age glaciers transporting seeds here thousands of years ago. Pick up the trail from the parking lots at the end of West Beach Road north of Hwy. 12 near Ogden Dunes, Ind.
• Glenwood Dunes Trail – Day hikers can walk across a forested dunes on a 2.8-miles lollipop trail. Almost all of the trail passes through a hardwood forest, known for its colorful fall foliage. Among the dominant trees are eastern black oak, white oak, sugar maple, dogwood, and yellow poplar, which top a dunes rising 640 feet above sea level. The trailhead is at the parking lot off of School House Road immediately north of U.S. Hwy. 20.
• Mount Baldy Summit Trail – Hikers can clamber to the top of a 12-story living sand dune on this 0.8-miles trail. The 126-foot-tall sand dune on Lake Michigan’s southern shore is “living,” as it shifts about 4 feet every year. Whenever the prevailing northwest wind tops 7 mph, the beach sand moves. The trail can only be accessed on a ranger-led hike but is well worth the wait at the nation’s newest national park. Times for the hour-long daytime and sunset treks on summer weekends are listed in the park's newspaper (The Singing Sands), the park’s website calendar, and its Facebook page. Park in the lot off of Rice Street north of Hwy. 12.
• Paul H. Douglas Trail – This 3.2-miles trail (formerly the Miller Woods Trail) heads through an oak savanna-covered dunes. After crossing the Grand Calumet River, the trail goes over and around towering dunes on the way to a Lake Michigan beach, offering a chance for hikers to walk through loose sand. Pick up the trail from the Douglas Center for Environmental Education in eastern Gary, Ind.
• Tolleston Dunes Trail – There’s plenty of wildlife to be seen on and around the dunes. One good spot to catch them is this 2.6-mile trail, which traverses a variety of ecosystems, including rolling sand dunes formed 4700 years ago when Lake Michigan’s water level was about 25 feet higher and reached this far inland. Among the wildlife here are cottontail rabbits, garter snakes, opossums, raccoons, red fox, squirrels and white-tailed deer. Look to the sky, and you’re likely to see great blue herons, hawks, mallards, turkey vultures, and a range of songbirds. The trail starts at the parking lot off of Hwy. 12 just west of Hillcrest Road near Odgen Dunes.

Indiana Dunes trail crosses hardwood forest

Fall colors brighten the Glenwood Dunes Trail. NPS photo.

Glenwood Dunes Trail map. Click for larger version. NPS map.

Day hikers can walk through a classic Midwestern hardwood forest on the Glenwood Dunes Trail at America’s newest national park.

The lollipop trail described here runs 2.8-miles round trip through Indiana Dunes National Park. Some guidebooks and maps call the route by its old name, the Ly-co-ki-we Trail.

To reach the trailhead, from Chicago take U.S. Hwy. 12 east or from Michigan City, Ind., take that road west. At Ind. Hwy. 49, turn south then at U.S. Hwy. 20 go left/east. Upon reaching North Brummit Road/ School House Road, turn left/north. The parking lot is the first left.

Look for the trailhead at the lot’s western side. When the trail splits, go right/northwest. Much of the trail’s surface is packed dirt or loose sand.

Almost all of the trail passes through a hardwood forest, known for its colorful fall foliage. Among the dominant trees are eastern black oak, white oak, sugar maple, dogwood, and yellow poplar.

The first section of the trail, like the rest of Indiana, is fairly flat terrain. Typical of hardwood forests across the Midwest and New England, the woods contains scattered deadfall and shrubs.

In 0.5 miles, the trail reaches a junction. Go right/north to begin the loop.

Black oaks
The landscape turns to gently rolling, low, wooded dunes. Among the trees that love the sandier soil is eastern black oak. It can reach a height of 82 feet and a diameter of 35 inches. Black oak sometimes can be difficult to identify as it hybridizes with red oak; in fact, more than a dozen oak species are combinations of black and red oaks.

This section of the trail includes a couple of short boardwalks over swampy areas. It also crosses Furnessville Road. Though the road is lightly traveled, always be careful when crossing it and other highways along the way.

North of the road, you’ll find American holly. It’s a very rare conifer in this part of the Midwest. The holly tree usually grows about 66 feet tall with a trunk 20 inches in diameter, and its light gray bark sports small lumps. Birds love the holly’s red berries.

At 0.9 miles in, the trail comes upon another junction. Go right/north on it.

White oaks
This segment cuts through the edge of a wetlands while a forested sand dune rises on left. After leaving the wetlands, part of the trail loops through the dune.

Among the trees you’ll spot here is the white oak. The tree’s name comes from the color of its wood; its bark actually is a light gray. It usually grows up to 100 feet high with a massive canopy supported by large branches. Mature oaks drop massive amounts of acorns, so don’t be surprised to see squirrels and chipmunks scampering beneath them. White oaks can live 200 to 300 years, though some are known to around 600 years old.

About 1.45 miles from the trailhead, the path reaches another junction with a cut-off that heads to the other side of the loop and was previously passed on the hike. Avoid the cut-off and go right/southwest.

White-tailed deer are common in hardwood forests, and sightings of them often have occurred on this segment of the trail. They can grow around three-feet high at the shoulder and weigh up to 200 pounds. Should you spot a deer, unless it is in the distance or freezes, don’t expect to see it for long. Despite long skinny legs, they can run up to 40 miles per hour, jump nine feet high (allowing them to clear almost any fence), and can swim about 13 miles per hour. When broad jumping, they can leap up to 30 feet in a single bound.

Fall colors
After crossing the road E 1500 N, you’ll arrive at another junction, about 1.75 miles in. Go straight-left/south.

The trail curls back toward the parking lot, crossing the road N 200 E along the way. This entire segment is forested.

Especially if walking in autumn, you’re sure to notice the sugar maple, popular first for its seasonal leaf color – which changes from summer’s deep green to fall’s yellow, orange, red and then a dark burgundy – and of course, for its sweet maple syrup that tastes perfect on pancakes, waffles and French toast. The tree reaches heights of 80-115 feet and is easily identifiable by its distinctive leaf, seen on the Canadian flag. Sugar maples can live up to 400 years.

In spring, you’re likely to spot the dogwood tree thanks to its showy white flowers. It’s a popular ornamental tree because of those blossoms and its fascinating bark patterns. Dogwoods grow about 33 feet high with a trunk diameter of up to a foot.

Tulip tree
Another interesting tree along this segment is the yellow poplar, also known as a tulip tree. It’s so nicknamed because its flowers resemble that of the tulip but actually is a type of a magnolia. Yellow poplars grow to an immense size, sometimes exceeding 164 feet in height and more than five feet around, dwarfing the mature white oaks and sugar maples around them.

At 2.3 miles, the loop reaches the stem trail. Go right/east onto it and retrace your steps back to the parking lot.

The hike easily can be extended as a number of trails connect to the route described here. The connecting Calumet Dunes Paved Trail, Dunewood Trace Campground Trail, and Glenwood Dunes Extension Trail provide for nearly 15 miles of hiking.

In addition, the trail is equestrian friendly. Always step aside for passing horses and keep an eye out for their occasional gift left on the trail.

Spot Indiana Dunes wildlife on Tolleston trail

Butterflies alight themselves on plants along the Tolleston Dunes Trail (NPS).

Despite being smack dab in the middle of an urbanized area, there’s plenty of wildlife to be seen at Indiana Dunes National Park. One good spot to catch them is the Tolleston Dunes Trail, which traverses a variety of ecosystems.

Map of Tolleston Dunes Trail and overlook boardwalk.

The 2.6-mile trail consists of a stem leading to two stacked loops. Though sporting a 127 feet gain in elevation, on average the grade is only 2 percent with a maximum grade of 9 percent.

To reach the trailhead, from Chicago head east on U.S. Hwy. 12 and from Portage, Ind., head north to that highway. Look for the entry road to the trail’s parking lot about 0.15 miles west of Hillcrest Road, near Ogden Dunes. The lot sits on a former sand mining operation with the trail leaving from the southwest corner.

In 0.3 miles, the trail reaches rolling sand dunes. They were formed 4700 years ago when Lake Michigan’s water level was about 25 feet higher and so reached this far inland.

Quite a variety of animals make Indiana Dunes National Park their home, and many can be found at Tolleston Dunes. Among them are cottontail rabbits, garter snakes, opossums, raccoons, red fox, squirrels and white-tailed deer. Look to the sky, and you’re likely to see great blue herons, hawks, mallards, turkey vultures, and a range of songbirds.

More than 500 species
You’ll reach the first loop at 0.4 miles from the trailhead. Go right/northwest. You’ll enter an oak savannah on the higher ground punctuated with wetlands at the low points. A boardwalk crosses one section of the wetlands.

In all, 41 different species of mammals, 352 birds species, 23 reptiles, and 18 species of amphibians can be found in the park. In the rivers and Lake Michigan, 71 kinds of fish make their home.

Some of the park animals are quite rare. Among those that are federally threatened and endangered are the Indiana bat, the Eastern massasauga rattlesnake, the Rufa Red knot, and the Piping plover.

At 0.8 miles in, you’ll reach the junction with the second loop. Go right/southwest onto the new loop.

Before Euro-Americans farmed and the urbanized the area, a greater variety of wildlife could be found in the area. Elk, black bears and cougars all disappeared before the Civil War, while the gray wolf, river otter and porcupine vanished before World War I began.

Wildlife signs
After 1.8 miles from the trailhead, you’ll reach the first loop. Go right/southeast onto it.

If you don’t spot wildlife other than birds on the trail, they’re probably just laying low. Most animals are active at dawn and dusk. Watch for their tracks, though, especially in sandy areas, which will let you know that one has nearby probably during the past day or so.

You’ll reach the stem trail at 2.2 miles. Go right/northeast onto it and retrace your steps back to the parking lot.

If looking for a shorter version of the hike, skip the second loop and take the cut-off trail. This axes a mile off the hike for a 1.8-mile walk.

Tolleston Overlook 
A quarter mile east of the parking lot entry road is a short boardwalk that heads to two overlooks. The elevated platforms give a great view of the wetlands and a dune ridge that the Tolleston Dune Trail winds through. In addition to being wheelchair accessible, shaded picnic tables can be found at the overlooks.

Loop follows nat'l park's meandering river

Little Calumet River near historic Bailly Homestead at Indiana Dunes. NPS photo.

Little Calumet River Trail map. NPS.

Day hikers can explore a meandering river on the Little River Calumet Trail at Indiana Dunes National Park.

The 3.1-miles round trip trail forms a loop that crosses the Little Calumet River twice. For portions of the walk, the trail also briefly heads alongside the river and a wetlands bordering the waterway. It is part of the Bailly/Chellberg Trails System.

To reach the trailhead, from Chicago go east on U.S. Hwy. 12 or from Michigan City, Ind., head west on the same road. In the Porter, Ind., area, turn east onto Oak Hill Road/County Road 1350 N then right/south onto Howell Road. After crossing and running alongside the Little Calumet River for about a fifth of the mile, the road forks; go right/southwest and park in the lot when the road runs out. From the lot, go left/west on the trail.

On the trail’s left/south side is the recently restored Mnoké Prairie, which gives a glimpse of what the grasslands covering this part of the continent looked like when Euro-American settlers arrived in the 1800s. Farmed for decades, the park service has restored the 120-acre site to its prairie state, even performing prescribed burns to mimic the natural fires necessary to the cycle of plant life in that ecosystem.

At 0.9 miles from the trailhead, the route curls north with a bridge crossing the Little Calumet River. Also known as the East Arm Little Calumet River or the Little Calumet River East Branch, this stretch is one of the few undisturbed portions of the 22.1-mile long waterway.

Before 1926, the stream used to connect to the Little Calumet River in Illinois, but that year construction of the Burns Waterway diverted the route so it drained into Lake Michigan at Burns Harbor in Indiana.

The river meanders here thanks to the easily erodible soil – once the sandy bottom of Glacial Lake Chicago, which covered this section of Indiana and the bottom third of modern Lake Michigan about 14,000 years ago. As a bend forms in a river, the river erodes sediment from the outer curve of it and deposits it on an inner curve further downstream. The result is that the meanders grow larger and larger over time so that the river shifts from somewhat straight to coiled in appearance.

North of the bridge, the trail enters a marsh on the river’s north side and becomes a boardwalk. Along much of the waterway, farm fields ran right up to its edge. Without the riparian vegetation, field run-off carried sediment and fertilizer straight into the river. The result was reduced water quality and clarity.

As the trail leaves the marsh, it curls east and enters a mature hardwood forest of maple, beech, basswood and oak. During September, this is a perfect stretch to see autumn leaves, as yellows, orange and both deep and bright reds light up the tree canopy and trail.

Wildlife, historic homestead
At 1.9 miles, the trail reaches Howell Road; carefully cross it. The trail continues through the forest.

A variety of wildlife call the forest and river marshes home. Look for tracks of white-tailed deer and coyote in the trail dirt. You’re certain to see and hear at least a few of the 352 species of birds while walking. If visiting during late May to mid-June or mid-July to mid-August, you may spot the federally endangered Karner Blue Butterfly hovering near lupine.

At 2.1 miles, you’ll reach the first of several junctions in the woods that can be confusing and send you off in the wrong direction. First, go right/south. Then 0.1 miles later, go right/southwest at the next junction. The 2.5 miles mark passes a trail that leads to a parking lot; ignore that turn and continue left/south. Lastly, at 2.8 miles, turn right/southwest.

You’ll soon pass the historic Bailly Homestead. In 1822, Honore Gratien Joseph Bailly de Messein established a fur trading post where several Native American trails converged at the Little Calumet River. He was one of the earliest Euro-American settlers in northern Indiana. The buildings here are all that remain of his homestead.

Kayakers
Continuing from the homestead, the trail reaches Howell Road again. Initially the trail parallels the road and then crosses the Little Calumet River.

You’ll walk alongside the river for about 0.15 miles. You may spot kayakers plying the waters in this stretch. The river from here east past Chesterton, Ind., recently reopened to paddlers thanks to a gargantuan effort to remove log jams in the water. Kayakers had not be able to enjoy the waterway for three decades.

The hiking trail next turns away from the river and in 0.1 miles, reaches your parking lot.

This hike absolutely requires insect repellent, especially in summer. After rain, the trail can be muddy, so be sure to wear hiking boots with good traction.

Indiana Dunes trail crosses rare prairie

Hoosier Prairie's oak savanna. Indian Dunes NPS photo.

Prairie Marsh and Savanna trails map. Indiana DNR.

Not all of Indiana Dunes National Park is sand dunes and beachfront. A good portion of it also preserves prairieland. A great way to explore this fascinating ecosystem is the Prairie Marsh and Savanna trails, located at the park's Hoosier Prairie Nature Preserve.

The 0.8-mile hike consists of a stem and two connected loops in a 1547-acre area being restored and protected by a variety of agencies from the U.S. and Indiana governments to private nature preservation organizations. It’s located a few miles south of the main park.

To reach the trailhead, from Chicago take either Interstate 90 or Interstate 94 east. Go right/south onto Indiana 912, which becomes Cline Avenue. The road ends at Main Street in Griffith, Ind. Go right/west onto Main Street. In a little more than a mile, look for a parking lot on the street’s left/south side; if you’ve crossed Kennedy Avenue, you’ve gone too far. The stem trail heads south from the lot’s east side.

You’ll begin by crossing prairie that is part of the original land a nature conservancy purchased in 1970. Their goal was to save some of the last few acres of prairie as the pioneers would have seen much of this part of the state when they arrived in the early 1800s.

In about 0.05 miles, you can take a very short spur to the right/west. The 30 acres spread before you was a wheat field when purchased and added to the protected prairie in 1974. With very little assistance from man, the field over the decades has largely returned to its natural prairie state. Asters, big bluestem prairie grass, goldenrods, rattlesnake master, and tall coreopsis dominate the landscape with bobolink, goldfinch, meadowlarks, sparrows calling it home.

The stem reaches the first loop, the Prairie Marsh Trail, at 0.1 miles. Turn left/west onto it. The route enters true virgin prairie.

It’s a good mix of dry and mesic prairies. The dry prairies, found on the higher ground, are reminiscent of those found to the west on the Great Plains. Mesic prairies are on the lower ground, which usually has wetter soils and are typical of what grows in central Indiana and Illinois. Note how the plants of the two prairie types differ with just a few feet of elevation change.

After the trail curves south, a connector trail heads left/east. Go onto it, and at the next junction, you’ll reach the second loop, or the Savanna Trail. Take it clockwise by going left/northeast.

If hiking on a warm summer day, you may notice a pleasant scent in the air. It comes from sweetfern, which grows along this stretch of the loop. It and the bracken found here are rare prairie plants in Indiana.

The trail soon enters an oak savanna, a prairie in which trees grow widely apart. In this part of Indiana, black and white oaks are most common in savannas.

Although those two oaks prospered here thanks to their ability to resist drought, a common condition in prairies, their hardiness proved their undoing. Settlers thirsting for wood cut almost all of the oaks during the 1800s. Today, oak savannas – once Indiana’s dominant type of prairie – are now rarer than grasslands.

As the loop reaches its southeast side, beyond the small oak trees is a small marsh, known as a wet prairie. Sedges grow in the water but also prairie cordgrass and bluejoint grass. Several wildflowers also can be spotted, including grass pink orchid, marsh blazing star, marsh phlox, and prairie sundrops.

The next trail junction is with the connector to the Prairie Marsh Trail. Go left/west onto the connector, then at the next intersection take a left/south onto the Prairie Marsh.

On the south side of that loop, the trail heads past another prairie marsh. In contrast to cattail-dominated wetlands found across much of the Midwest, this marsh enjoys a wide variety of flora. That helps make it a haven for a variety of salamanders, birds, reptiles and insects. Of all the prairie types crossed on the trail, you’re most likely to see wild animals here.

Other animals you’ll spot on the trail include white-tailed deer, red fox, minks, woodchucks, and eastern chipmunks. Red-tailed hawks often circle overhead, looking for a meal of white-footed mice or meadow voles. Yellowthroats, song sparrows, and swamp sparrows can be heard singing.

At the next two trail junctions, continue straight/north. You’re back on the stem trail that goes to the parking lot.