Leslie and David's Wanderings: 17 August 2020 Indiana Dunes National Park

Indiana Dunes was a National Lake Shore (established 1965) until last fall when it was made into a National Park and expanded to include some wet lands in the area. The Park is broken up into several small sections surrounding the Indiana Dunes State Park. In between sections of the park are gated communities, large scale industrial complexes (one of the largest steel mills in the country), power plants, and large rail yards. It just does not have the feel of a natural area. It feels more like a city park. We stopped at the visitor center to get our park stamp (36^thNational Park stamp) and talk with the rangers. The ranger recommended the Cowles Bog Loop trail, her favorite hike in the park, for a hike. It’s named after Henry Cowles, father of ecology. The visitor center exhibits and theater were closed due to COVID, but the park shop was open so we were able to get David’s hat and Leslie’s post cards. The day before we arrived, three people drowned due to extreme rip tides so we were not allowed to swim or go into the water. We drove to the trailhead sandwiched between US20 and a private gate lakeshore community. The initial portion of the trail follows a gravel road under high voltage power lines, along a very busy railroad line, before turning down a dirt road between two bogs. There we saw the only critter sighting, some ducks swimming in the algae covered water and a very small toad. As we headed toward the beach we climbed over old sand dunes, which are now covered by old black oak trees. We eventually dropped down a steep soft sand dune to the beach. The waves were crashing on shore but the breeze felt great after the stifling humidity and heat in the forest. From the beach we could see the skyline of Chicago in the distance. The trail only ran 0.2 miles along the beach before turning back inland and up a steep soft sand dune and back into the woods. That climb was a good reminder of why we hate sand dunes. One step forward, slide a half step backwards, one step forward, slide a half step backwards.

Quote of the day: “God, I hate hiking in sand!”. We can’t really say the trail was scenic (with steel mills, power plants and trains in view), but it was different. Cowles Loop Trail: 5.2 miles, 282 feet of elevation gain, 1,488 calories burned. The sand dunes formed after the last glacial period due to rising and falling lake levels which left a dune field a couple of miles deep. In between dunes are bogs where the lake water was trapped by the last retreat of the water level. We hope to get out to one of the more accessible beaches to catch a sunset later in the week.