A consistent piece of advice I always give visitors to state and national parks is to go on a ranger-led hike. On our visit to the west side of Indiana Dunes National Park, we took that advice and joined a group hiking to Miller’s Woods.
We met the ranger at the Paul H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education. We had to follow the detours around parts of Lake Street to find the parking lot. In fact, because of the bridge construction, the center is only open on weekends until July 2024. Make sure to check the website for updates.
The entrance to the center was rather underwhelming. However, as you journey deeper into the complex, you will find several classrooms with hands-on exhibits for students.
We met the group at the back of the center. We started walking along the lake, following a gravel trail and then a metal boardwalk.
We walked up and down the established dunes, listening to the ranger talk about the importance of prescribed burns to the habitat, point out recent beaver activity, and comment on the biodiversity of the region.
The hike with the ranger ended at the bridge over the Grand Calumet River. Most of the participants went back with the ranger.
We continued on our own for the remaining half a mile. We made sure we stayed on the sandy narrow path. This section of the trail was much harder to hike because of the loose sand. We saw a couple of swans swimming out in the water.
We climbed the last hill for a beautiful view of Lake Michigan.
We hiked back the way we came except we took the part of the loop that led back to the parking lot instead of the environmental center. We walked a little under 3.5 miles. If we had taken the hike on our own, we would have started the hike much earlier. The temperature rose pretty quickly out on that last section out in the open. However, then we would have missed all of the interesting information the ranger shared with us.
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