Continuing an early morning hike, we came upon an opening in the woods leading to a vast open area of rolling, grassy dune. These openings are common in this area, and illustrate the progression of the dunes, or the stages in which they are formed. The dunes range from beach, to grass, to savanna, conifer forest, then oak savanna. These stages are all found at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, and in some places, all within a mile hike.
Not our first time here, we encountered some familiar features such as particular trees we used to climb and rest upon. These trees were at one time destinations for our hikes, as we noticed them from far away and set out to find a way to reach them. The children grew up exploring these areas on weekends, so these special places bring back memories, and also allow us to see how they've changed over time.
These hikes take quite a while, and not only include trekking through loose sand trails up and down the rolling hills, they also include a relatively long, easy hike on the shore of Lake Michigan.
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