Wall Cloud

The storms were supposed to stay a few miles northwest of us, but they managed to reach us anyway. Out of the blue, this ominous wall cloud headed toward us. Rather than run inside like most people, we stayed outside to watch. There was no sign of lightning, so some of us headed out in kayaks, and others kept swimming.



Not a drop of rain fell as the clouds passed overhead. The 90 plus degree temperatures dropped suddenly, and the winds picked up a bit, but the change was only temporary, giving us relief for just a few minutes.

Miller Woods Trail

Continuing our hike through Miller Woods, we reached the Grand Calumet River. At this point the river appears to be a lake, or group of lakes.  It's this demarcation where the landscape changes dramatically.  The first mile or two of the trail winds through Black Oak Savanna, a relatively rare landscape, while on the other side of the river, the landscape turns into sand dunes.

The trail follows the foot of these dunes along the river for quite some distance before turning toward Lake Michigan.



The trail allows views of hundreds of plant species, a good representation of the 1,100 found in the park, reinforcing the fact that the Indiana Dunes National Park is ranked 7th in plant diversity of all the US National Parks.