The boys climb out of Kintzele Ditch toward the foot of a familiar sand dune. Following a winter of extreme erosion by wind and waves, the banks of the stream are wide enough to walk along.
Beaver DAMage
A determined beaver gnawed his way through a pretty large tree along the bank of the Little Calumet River.
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
Forest Floor Comes to Life
A sure sign of spring, small wildflowers pop up along the trails of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
Entering the Little Calumet River
A small channel re-enters the Little Calumet River near the old Bailey Homestead.
Horsetail
A tiny horsetail plant begins life in the early spring sunlight. These plants remind me of prehistoric crinoids.
Beverly Shores Wetland
Spring wakes up the plants of the wetland bordering Beverly Shores, Indiana. Part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
Curving dune
From the bank of Kintzele Ditch, the east dune has an interesting curve upward that the clouds seem to imitate and continue into the sky.
The Honor System
A new park along the Illinois River in Rural Wilmington, Illinois boasts a small boat ramp. There is a charge of $5 to use the ramp, and it's totally on the honor system.
Sand Stream and Strata
This past winter was rough on the Indiana Dunes. A November storm eroded a lot of the beach area including the dunes which normally stand at least 100 feet from Lake Michigan. The sands were deposited along the shore and along the bottom of the dunes where they continue to be shaped by the wind and rain.
Here along Kintzele Ditch in LaPorte County, the wind and fluctuating water levels carved interesting, horizontal patterns in the sand.
Frozen Ground Water
Ground water dripping from the partially collapsed dune along Kintzele Ditch freezes before it hits the stream on an early Spring morning. Looks like it may finally be possible to hike the length of the stream - the erosion from the winter created a small walking area next to the water.
Falling Shadows
Shadows of bare trees cast elongated shadows down the length of the dune due to the perfect angle of the sun.
West Beach, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
Spring Sky
White clouds in a deep blue sky give the illusion of ghosts leaves on this bare tree atop a tall sand dune near Mt. Baldy at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
Finally Safe to Walk on the Ice
The last bit of shelf ice along the Mt. Baldy area of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. It's finally safe to venture onto it. What a difference from this same spot just a couple of weeks before when 15 foot mounds of ice extended hundreds of feet into Lake Michigan.
Vanishing Point
The dunes and the shelf ice converge in the distance on a cold February afternoon. Notice the two people walking on the shelf ice - a very dangerous thing to do since they are walking over Lake Michigan, and most likely over water 10 feet deep. They do give you an idea of the scale of the mounds of ice on the water.
Ice-Locked
A short walk from Lockport's Dellwood Park, Lock 2 of the Illinois and Michigan Canal remains locked in ice and snow on a late winter afternoon.
Retreating Ice
Winter's grip on St. Joseph, Michigan is beginning to relax, as the warmer days melt some of the shelf ice along the shoreline. The mounds of ice next to and on the pier were over 15 feet tall, almost up t the catwalk.
Most of the lake was still full of flow ice, but the St. Joseph River to the left of the pier was clear enough for a kayaker to explore the area.
Inside the Sugar Shack
This sugar shack was built around the 1920's at the Chellberg Farm to produce maple syrup from the sap of the sugar maple trees on the property. The sap is around 80 percent water, so gallons and gallons of sap needed to be collected and boiled to obtain enough maple syrup for the year.
Maple Sugar Days continues next weekend - during the peak of the sugaring season. Warm days and freezing nights are needed to get the sap flowing, and once the nights no longer get really cold, the sap flow slows down.
Checking the Progress of the Syrup
Boiling Maple sap in large kettles on open fires was the preferred method of producing maple sugar for years. Here, an Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore volunteer checks the progress of the boiling sap. Still thin and colorless means it had a long way to go before it became syrup. Around 80 percent of the liquid must be boiled off of the sap to produce a sweet syrup.
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