Indiana Dunes Day 1

After driving through the rain the previous day, we arrived at Indiana Dunes National Park the evening of May 31.

We brought our bicycles and stayed a half block from the Porter Brickyard Bike Trail which goes into the park. The next morning, we rode the Porter Brickyard trail into the park and then rode along the Calumet Bike Trail in the park.

There were lots of different wild flowers along the Calumet trail.

The trail isn’t well drained, and we turned around about 3.5 miles in when we encountered a series of large puddles across the trail about a foot deep. The trail is along a set of railroad tracks and under power lines, so out in the open where you get some good sun.

After lunch we hiked the Cowles Bog trail. We saw more wildlife on this trail, as it goes by a series of marshes or bogs out to the lake and back.

Near some wood in the sand we saw this Eastern hognose snake sunning itself. The wood looked like old footings for a lifeguard tower. It decided to hide when I got the camera out.

Towards the end of the trail we saw a bunch of sandhill cranes.