You’ve joined me on this hike before on the Paul Douglas/Miller Woods trail in Indiana Dunes National Park. It snowed last Thursday, so it looked promising for a hike here Friday morning. The trail starts along a couple beaver ponds and then heads into the Black Oak Savanna.
Beaver pond and Black Oak Savanna
Before colonial settlement, 50 million acres of oak savanna extended from Michigan to Nebraska. Natural fire and controlled burns by Native Americans maintained this valuable ecosystem of prairie grasses among sparse, fire-resistant oaks. Only about 30,000 acres remain, and Indiana Dunes protects some of the largest and best of this habitat.
The trail continues up and down the inland dunes with ponds between the dunes. You then cross the Grand Calumet River before getting to the dunes along the shore. Some ice and snow on the river seems to point the way.
There had been strong winds with the snow. This made hiking interesting. It was easy walking in the few inches of snow, but you couldn't tell where the snow had blown into deep patches. Even more confusing, the sand would blow on top of the snow making you think you'd step on sand,
You’d step on what looked like sand and then be surprised when your feet sank in a foot of snow.
The patterns blown in the snow and sand were mesmerizing.
After crossing the final dunes, you arrive at the beach and the lake beyond. The beach was covered with a thin coat of ice 50 to a 100 feet wide, and it seemed ice bergs and islands floated along the beach.
Where sand met lake, waves crashed and built ever higher shelf ice. I can't deny the strong urge to climb the shelf ice to see the forms and waves on the other side, but it is not safe to do so. You don't know how solid the ice is below or where you might slip. So we enjoyed the view from the shore.
On Monday, five young men hiked on West Beach near here and went up on the shelf ice. The weather had warmed over the weekend. The ice was cracking.
A twenty-two year old who had just moved to the area fell into the water. Apparently, the friends grabbed his arm, but the waves and unstable ice pulled him away. The search continues.
