A Hiker's Path: Black oak savannas at Indiana Dunes National Park

It wouldn’t be a complete summer for me if I didn’t write about Indiana’s only national park, Indiana Dunes. I made the trip up to northern Indiana this summer to visit this beautiful park.

The area was first authorized by Congress in 1966 as the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and was designated as the nation’s 61st national park in 2019. The park runs for about 20 miles along the southern shore of Lake Michigan. It covers 15,349 acres.

My destination: Cowles Bog trail.

The Cowles Bog trail highlights an area of such outstanding plant diversity that it was designated as a National Natural Landmark in 1965. This location, where Dr. Henry Cowles conducted much of his early work in plant ecology and succession in the early 1900s, remains an important focus for scientific study today.

There are several distinct habitats along this 4.7-mile trail including ponds, marshes, swamps, black oak savannas and beaches. Steep sand dunes near Lake Michigan can make this a strenuous journey.

I drove three hours to get to the trail. It was a warm, sunny, summer day with a blue sky that was covered in billowy white clouds. The temperature was hovering right around 84 degrees.

The trail is a loop trail and is considered moderate in ease of hiking. There are two steep dunes that must be climbed along the way.

I parked my car and started the trail from the north parking lot. I hiked back across the road, and then picked up the trail.

The path led me along the edge of a wetland with abundant aquatic plants, grasses and flowers.

At roughly the 1-mile mark, I reached the loop trail junction. The preferred direction around the loop is counter-clockwise. I decided to take the trail to the right. The trail then ran through the black oak savanna and between small ponds filled with aquatic life. Black oak savannas are richly diverse ecosystems that contain plants from both oak forests and tall grass prairies. This diversity contains flora and fauna that are listed as rare, threatened, or endangered. The black oak savannas of Indiana Dunes National Park are some of the last surviving and highest quality black savannas in the world.

At roughly the 1.5 mile mark, I stayed to the right at the junction with the cut-off trail.

As I neared Lake Michigan, I had to climb up and then down a steep dune. The reward was a gorgeous view of Lake Michigan.

The smaller dunes along the lakefront were covered by marram grass. This grass, with their dense, spiky tuffs, are a familiar sight on coastal dunes. Its matted roots help to stabilize the dunes. I pretty much had the beach to myself. I decided to take a walk along the beach to look at the rocks that had washed up on the sand.

The sound of the small waves hitting the shoreline was quite soothing.

I looked for small pebbles and waded in the water, soaking up the sun and the beautiful landscape around me.  The water was clean and the beach pristine, at least where I was.

There were lots of good photo memories to take back with me.

It was soon time to turn back. For the return trip, I had to travel 0.2 miles to the west on the beach and look for the trail and signs to head back over another steep dune.

I enjoyed the smaller dunes on my way back and a small pond as well.

This is beautiful country and well worth the drive to see it.

Before long I ended my hike and my day. It was time well spent.

To get to this place: 184 North Mineral Springs Road, Dune Acres, Indiana.

A quote for your week: “The savanna is a sanctuary for the wild and untamed.” — Unknown

Until the next trail,Susan

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Hiking Cowles Bog trail on a summer day at Indiana Dunes National Park