What could possible beat spending Christmas eve day following an abandoned rail spur out to the edge of one of the biggest steel mills in the country? Well… nothing really beats that.
It always amazes me how one of the best, most beautifully diverse trails in the Indiana Dunes sits literally next door to one of the biggest steel mills in the country. How these delicate habitats coexist side by side with a massive mill is fascinating. Nature is resilient and tough, that’s for sure.
(You can click on any of the following images to see them full size.)
The hike actually starts off at the Miller Woods trail, where the park recently conducted a controlled burn near the nature center.
The day was cool, and it had rained lightly early in the morning. Perfect conditions for Lichens to perk up. Although the fire had scorched the outer fruiting bodies of fungi on dead wood, the fungus itself lives deeper inside and will be just fine.
This remnant of a wasps nest is pretty delicate, yet it was basically untouched by the fire from the controlled burn, even though the area around it was singed pretty good.About a mile from the lake the park trail crosses the bed of an abandoned rail line. The park district maintains it for access to an area which seems to serve as a buffer for the rest of the park. You can follow it all the way to the eastern edge of the steel mill. It eventually stops at an abutment where a bridge, which has been removed, used to carry the rails over another train line.As you follow the old railroad bed, you pass by what seems like any other part of the park. But after a while you begin to glimpse through the trees parts of the steel mill that lies ahead.Soon the extent of the mill begins to become apparent as you encounter piles of coal, active railroad spurs, buildings and bridges.
As it turns out this end of the Gary Works is where coal was once processed into coke for use in the furnaces. However they have not produced coke on site here for about a decade, having switched to shipping it in by barge. If you look closely, the nearby structures are mostly in a state of decay. For certain there is activity at this end of the mill, but overall it is pretty quiet.
The boundary between the park land and the steel mill property is pretty well marked. It is important to note that I respect this boundary. I do not attempt to get any closer to the site than the abandoned rail bed takes me. The end of the line, literally. This is the spot where a bridge once spanned the tracks below. Just out of sight on the other side of these tracks is the Indiana Toll Road which I take to get to the park.
Even right alongside the mill. All you have to do is turn and look the other direction and you see scenes typical of any other part of the park.
Not surprisingly I did not see anyone else out this way, except for this curious doe who checked me out as I approached. This part of the park has plenty of deer. Every time I come this way I see them in groups of 3 to 5. I suspect that the lack of trails affords them more privacy than other parts of the park.
Not a bad way to spend Christmas eve day in my book.
So far this winter is off to a promising start. No snow to speak of, but temps have at least gotten down into the 20’s here in December. Not great winter weather, but better than the last few years when temps barely went into the low 30’s, let alone anything actually cold. Alas, southern Lake Michigan no longer has meaningful winter weather… but low 20’s with a nice stiff 30mph breeze off of the lake is better than nothing.
One of my favorite Indiana Dunes trails in winter is the West Beach trail. Which is actually composed of three separate loops that all start and end near the parking lot. All together they add up to about 3.4 miles. You get a good variety of terrain here. Beach, foredunes, prairie, a lake, and forrest. When the weather is cold I like to start at the bath house and go straight to the beach. This way I can experience the uninterrupted wind off the lake and start the day off nice and crisp!
In the summer this view is packed with people, all jammed in together so tight you can barely see the sand. Personally I find this time of year so much more pleasant for a stroll along the beach.As you move off the beach and into the foredunes you encounter two unique aspects of this part of the park. One is the presence of Jack Pine. This happens to be the southern most extent of their range and this is the only location in the park where you see them. The other unique thing is that the park has built stairs to take you up and over the foredune right off the beach. This is because these dunes are fragile and would be seriously eroded by thousands of people going across them. In traversing these dunes you ascend and descend almost 300 stairs. That is about the same as going 9 stories up and 9 stories down in a typical building. The reward for making to the top is a nice view of the Chicago skyline. A side benefit of the colder temperatures is that the air is usually clearer as it holds less water vapor.There is a lot of sumac in this part of the park. The red definitely stands out this time of year.Along the edge of Long Lake there are a lot of common reeds, lots and lots…I must take a photograph of at least one Milkweed pod on every hike this time of year. I just love how the seeds are all packed together so neatly, with the white fibers all aligned the same way. You could not cut a pod open for viewing better than this.Here we have the bed of Long Lake. Earlier in the year the water levels were higher and you could not always see the layout of the feeder streams that flow into it from the surrounding dunes.Poison Ivy. Still hanging in there in late December. It is a hardy plant. Just one of the reasons I like it so much. Definitely a look but don’t touch bit of nature.Poison Ivy berries. It is quite possible that the West Beach trails have the highest concentration of Poison Ivy in the park. Miller Woods is chock full of it as well.And finally, back at the parking lot. The bathrooms at West Beach are heated and open year round. This, and the fact that the three trail segments all converge at or near the parking lot, is a big part of the reason I come to this trail when the weather is either dangerously cold, or there is a possibility of heavy rain. You are never too far from your car and a warm, dry bathroom. I may like going out to the beach in unusual weather conditions, but I am not reckless.
