Dunes of Indiana

Cowles Bog

Beaver lodges and pond

Sand ridges

After almost 300 miles of Midwest farmland, Indiana Dunes National Park did not have to offer much elevation to break up my homeward drive. 

I needed to get away from turnpikes and interstates. These dunes were necessary in a year of travel already dominated by dunes. 

Visitor center mural

There was some controversy about the shift from a national recreation area to national park. There are national lakeshores along Michigan and Wisconsin’s coastlines, but the biological diversity of the Indiana Dunes separates it from the pack, even if there is a steel mill between the two sections. What I saw of the dunes convinced me completely that it deserves the designation. 

These are different dunes than the ones protected by Great Sand Dunes or White Sands national parks. Wind the shapes all dunes, but the Indiana Dunes formed from millennia of natural sculpting. 

Nothing gives them away as the Lake Michigan shoreline approaches. The land grows marshy between the small hills. French trappers used these bogs and swamps to bypass Lake Michigan, using them much like the intracoastal waterway along the Atlantic Coast. 

But I think it works, even if there’s a big steel plant and the Port of Indiana separating into two segments. Conversation efforts saved what they could and compromised where they had to. 

Indiana protected a small chunk as Indiana Dunes State Park in 1926, but it would take much longer before federal protection came and another 15,000 acres would be conserved. The state park still resides at the core of the national park. But the location of the dunes on Indiana’s small Lake Michigan shoreline – 43 miles 0 made it impossible to ward off the forces of industry. 

The protections that kept many of the western national parks pristine were not afforded when Indiana needed a port and Great Lake access. One of the largest dunes was torn down before the land could be protected. 

That leaves Mount Baldy at the east edge of the dune field as the high point in the national park. Its height is best not compared to better-known high points in western national parks. Much of the Midwest sat under glaciers during the last ice age and smashed down the existing mountains. Glacial action also formed the Indiana Dunes and other dune fields across the Great Lakes. 

I had no clue where the majority of people in the visitor center intended to travel. The spot dropped me in the middle of the Dunes. Mount Baldy already seemed too far east. West Beach seemed reasonable as I traveled along U.S. 12 westbound. 

Yet I opted for a placid hike at the Cowles Bog. At the visitor center, the name caught my attention on the map and the park ranger blurted out that the hike was his personal favorite. Named for Henry Cowles, who founded the field of plant ecology and advocated for the dunes’ protection, it’s an unexpected ecosystem this close to Lake Michigan. Cowles Bog is actually a fen since its water comes from an underground water source. Other portions of the dunes’ inner passage are formed by swamps and bogs. 

The spring wildlife emerged in force. Ducks and cranes flew in triangular formations above the waters. Frogs chirped forcefully, almost drowning out any other noise. Monarch butterflies took their time skimming through the wooded hills. A tiny snake sunned itself on the path. It would not be the last I spotted. 

Monarch of the dunes

I passed a half-dozen people, maybe less. The company of frogs, butterflies, snakes seemed to suit me better this morning. The trees only sported buds, as spring had not shown any consistent presence yet. But the amphibians and reptiles emerged on this clear, 70-degree morning. 

Other wildlife proved more elusive.  Encountering a clear that led to a larger pool in the bog, I walked out on some dead tree trunks bleached by the seasons. There I heard a hearty splash into the bog. I wasn’t sure what type of fish had jumped, but I looked straight ahead and realized the splash didn’t come from a fish. Two large beaver lodges stood in the pond before me. 

Only on my way back did I realize I wasn’t walking on stone hills. I was crossing sand ridges held in place by rooted vegetation. These elevations came to exist through glaciation. I ran short of time and would not make it to the secluded Lake Michigan beach reachable only from the Cowles Bog paths. 

If every non-presidential stop on this trip got the short shrift, the Indiana Dunes might have the most ground yet to explore. I could see the camping possibilities. I imagined hiking some of the lakeside dune fields or exploring the heron rookery on the Litle Calumet River or Pinhook Bog, the latter only accessible on a ranger-led tour. Separate from the main park, Pinhook Bog is mostly a floating mat of moss upon which other plants can grow. Pinhook also protects numerous rare carnivorous plants. 

But I treasured every moment in the Cowles Bog. The rush of spring and all the wildlife were welcome relief, as spring burst from these rare ecosystems on the Lake Michigan shore.

Snakes on the trail