60 Hikes Within 60 Miles

“A couple days ago I bought the Chicago version of the 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles series. In it there are quite a few day hikes described very near where I live. So I decided to start exploring some of these trails.

This morning I hiked the Cowles Bog Trail, a 4-mile loop within the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. You might think here in northwest Indiana it would be flat, but thanks to the dunes it was far from that.

The trail is for the most part packed sand, so it makes for a quiet stepping path (my favorite kind). I went alone with the dog, and except for a couple deer, we saw not a single other creature. The trail goes all the way to the beach of Lake Michigan, and the closer we got to the lake, the steeper the terrain. It was a good way to get my heart pumping. Finally we reached the beach. Today was a clear, sunny, and very chilly day. The wind chill was 18 deg., and we felt all of it at the water's edge.

Copper, our small dog of very little brain, has a thing for waves. He simply cannot leave them alone. There were white caps on the lake and decent sized waves rolling in. He insisted on "catching" them as they approached the shore. Even when he was soaked to the bone and shivering he couldn't stop until I called him back to the trail.

I continued down the beach looking for the sign which would mark the trail, but to no avail. Fortunately due to the cold, the sand was rather hard packed and I could follow others' footprints to the trail hidden among the grasses. Then I found the trail sign. What once had probably stood at 3 1/2 or 4 feet high was now buried in a sand dune with only the top 4 inches sticking out.

There is an immediate extremely steep climb up a mother of a sand dune off the beach. It kicked my butt and I was sucking wind. I finally reached the top....or so I thought. Nope...it was a false peak. ;) I was only halfway up. I tackled it again, and finally reached the top and then continued with the final 2 miles which eventually descended to the trail head.

While there aren't any good overnight backpacking areas around here, I am learning that this area is rich with day hikes from a couple miles to 12 miles long, certainly enough to keep me busy during my many non-backpacking days.”

“One more thing...


I learned this rather interesting fact about the area. According to botanical surveys, there are more types of plants within the 12,000 acres of the Dunes National Lakeshore than there are in the half-million acres of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Who woulda thunk it? On this particular trail you walk through areas of dune grass, jack pine, black oak, prickly pear cactus, blueberries, birch trees, and ferns among other things.”

“I have always enjoyed my dayhikes at the state park here.”

“A few venus fly traps there too in the bogs.”

“Venus flytraps? Ooooo, cool. I'll have to take the kids when it's warm to find them.”

“"Copper, our small dog of very little brain" -- I have Chocolate, a big dog of very little brain who didn't want to stay off the ice by a fast moving river this weekend! I can't imagine a hike without her though. ; ) Sounds like an awesome dayhike!”

“Cowles Bog Trail is a very nice hike. Actually, there are many nice hikes in that area of the state park and national lakeshore.”

“I've got 2 of those books, one for New Jersey and the other for Southeastern New York -- lots of great hikes all over the place -- even on Long Island of all places. The challenge is camping along the trail around here, which is, except for the Catskill preserve, either banned or very heavily restricted...
last edited: 1/08/07 3:55:24 PM”

“We have the one for DC - it has a lot of hikes that you don't find described elsewhere. It's a good book.”

“I was looking for buckthorn information and photos online and ran across this. Looks like it could be helpful, also, in scoping out places to go hiking around Chicago:

http://www.chicagowildernessmag.org/issues/winter2007/itw.html”

“I heard the Dunes is also a great place to birdwatch. I've been there once before.”

“Thanks for the link, Lizs.

Yes, Adventurist. It is known for that.”