Often times I don’t really know what the theme of a hike is going to be until I get out on the trail, or even until after I get home and start reviewing my images. One of the things I like about doing nature photography is that you get to discover what it is that nature has in store for you on a given day.
But sometimes you just know. You know exactly what you are going to get. Saturday was 24 hours of light rain and drizzle. I know that this time of year a day long soaking rain, the kind where the water really gets a chance to penetrate deep into dead and decaying wood, makes the colors in bracket fungi explode. And the mosses and lichens respond equally well. So with that in mind I planned the weekends outing for Sunday, and targeted two trails that pass through mature oak forrest. These areas are rich in fungi due too all of the dead wood lying on the ground, and I knew they would be popping with color. I was not disappointed.
I have commented on this before, but this type of photography really benefits from the dim winter light being diffused through a solid overcast sky. The uniform illumination really allows the more subtle colors to shine.
From Jan 2 through Dec 29 this year I made 45 trips to the Indiana Dunes National Park, hiked 141 miles of trails and took almost 4000 photos.
Weather conditions ranged from -5°F with 30+ mph winds, to 98°F and heat indices of 110°F, clear blue skies to intense thunderstorms.
I got to witness the landscape transition from the dead of winter, to the spring bloom through the fall colors and back to winter.
There were times I had trouble finding a parking spot at my trailhead of choice, and times when I saw not one other human being all day.
Every single visit to the park was wonderful, on every hike I saw something new which I had never seen before, and I always returned home both awed and humbled by the beauty of nature.
As a wrap up to 2022 I present here my two favorite photos from each month. Not necessarily my “best” photos in any technical or artistic sense, just my personal favorites. It was not easy to choose only 2 for each month, but it sure was a lot of fun.
January
2022 started out with a heavy snow storm off the lake. When I went out the next day I almost got stuck several times on the barely plowed rural roads in Indiana. But I made it to Cowles Bog, and set out for the beach along what is considered to be one of the more challenging trails in the park due to the fact that it ascends and descends over multiple dune ridges. Lots of steep climbing and descending in what is usually very soft sand. On this day I must have been the first person out on the trail since the snow fell as there were no tracks other than those from deer and coyotes. Slogging through the shin deep snow was quite a work out. But it was all worthwhile when I hit last ridge before the lake. Heavily wooded and steeply sloped, the wet and wind driven snow had coated every branch and twig of every bush and tree! It was an absolutely stunning sight as I walked through a true winter wonderland.
A couple weeks after the year opening winter storm, the temperature got up into the 30s and I went out to the trail at Miller Woods in Gary Indiana. In the middle of January most people who go out see a bleak landscape, with bare trees and dead or dormant brownish foliage. But if you take your time and really look around, you will find some of the most beautiful colors and patterns, especially on dead and decaying wood. I love this image because of the lovely color shift from red to green in the wood and how it contrasts with the white of the lichen growing atop it. Notice as well how the surprisingly geometrical forms of the lichens follow the vertical lines in the wood. Once you train your eyes to notice these details it is as if you cannot not see them everywhere throughout the year.
February
Just as the month of January opened with a snow storm, February saw some nice Arctic air settle into the region for a couple weeks. This image of Kimel Beach shows a phenomena known as Shelf Ice. Shelf Ice is as dangerous as it is beautiful. There is no way to tell where the sandy beach ends and the water of Lake Michigan begins. This ice sheet extends well out into the water, and while it looks solid it can be very thin and brittle over 5′ to 10′ of water. If you break through that crust of ice and fall into icy water well over your head, in all of your winter clothes, you are very likely never making it back out alive. You will notice how this photo was taken from where I could see the exposed sand under my feet.
During the Arctic cold spell I also went out to the Miller Woods trail, hoping to find some interesting ice formations on some of the shallow bodies of water that exist between the sand ridges. Click on this image to view it full size. If you look carefully you can see how the water froze in such a way that bubbles of air were trapped and encased in the ice. Notice how in many cases you have air bubbles stacked directly over one another in columns. Some of them look like diamonds, or even little snow globes. This particular phenomena occurs in calm and shallow bodies of water where decaying vegetation on the bottom produces gasses which can be trapped like this when the water freezes quickly enough from top to bottom.
March
The month of March can sometimes seem pretty blah. The spectacular snow and ice scapes of winter are gone by now, and the proximity to Lake Michigan and it’s 40° water makes for an extended cold and wet spring. I thought these last few seeds breaking free from their pod on a windy day along the Bailey Calumet trail captured the promise of the bloom which would come in late spring. The contrast of the vivid orange seeds against their white “parachutes” is what caught my eye.
Yes, I took a picture of poop (scat) on the Long Lake Trail. You can tell it is not ordinary dog poop by the firmness and the textures caused by the undigested fur of whatever it was that got eaten by what I’m guessing was a Coyote. I also really like the composition with how the scat was arranged atop the bed of leaves left over from last fall.
April
Along the Tolleston Dunes Trail there is a particular hollowed out dead tree trunk, which stands about 5′ tall and has been blackened by fire. Every time I walk past it I cannot resist taking a close up picture of the wood. I find all the fine details in the way that the wood cracks and splits, in regular geometrical patterns, to be absolutely fascinating. The subtle hues of reddish browns are really quite striking, in truth there is very little “black” in the burnt wood when viewed up close.
One of my favorite trails in the Indiana Dunes is trail #2 in the State Park, which resides in the middle of the larger National Park. April is a great time to see lots of the color Blue popping up on the forrest floor. On this particular hike I kept coming across scenes like this, fresh vibrant greens and blues mixed in with the muted orange browns of the remaining leaves from last fall, all contained neatly within a “bowl” formed by the roots at the base of a tree.
May
For two to three weeks in late April and early May the Herron Rookery Trail along the Calumet River puts on a stunning display of spring wildflowers. This aster was just days away from unfurling into an explosion of yellow when I took this image. I was drawn by the bright green and yellow highlights among the still tightly compacted pedals. When I returned one week later I was able to find this same flower, this time fully opened up in a blaze of yellow.
One of the things I like to do is keep a careful eye on the weather, particularly in the month of May when we typically get frequent weather fronts that move through with intense rain and strong winds. While most people probably watch the weather so that they can AVOID going out and getting caught in the rain, I look for opportunities to get out either during or right after a good rain. Water creates some of the most beautiful optical effects you will find in nature. On this day I saw a weather pattern forecast wherein I knew that a strong rain front would move through the area late morning. I ended up driving pretty much in the heaviest part of the storm to get to the Miller Woods Trail. When I got there it was pouring rain, so I parked and waited, knowing that in about 30 minutes or so the rain would be past and all of the fresh spring greenery would be covered in glistening drops of water. I got about 100 images like this one, showing water droplets coating the surfaces of leaves and flowers. I can completely lose track of time staring at all of the details in an image like this.
June
Probably my favorite feature in the entire park is this 0.5 mile long boardwalk across a swamp in the Indiana Dunes State Park (trail #2). The boardwalk takes you right into and through the heart of the swamp. I used to wonder what was up with all of the dead trees at this one particular spot, figuring it must be something to do with pollution from the nearby steel mills. But then I noticed the hieroglyphic patterns on the barkless trunks of the trees and realized that this must be a stand of Ash trees destroyed by the Emerald Ash Borer beetle. It is an almost surreal feeling as you walk across a verdant swamp and then suddenly come upon all of these dead trees. Some impressive Beaver dams create the stagnant water conditions that give rise to the intense green algae.
June can be one of my least favorite months to go out hiking. It is starting to get hot and humid, and the mosquitos are out in force. I still go out of course, and one of the highlights of June is the blooming of the Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus! Yes, there are native cacti in northern Indiana along the shore of Lake Michigan. The sandy soil of the dunes is perfect for them, and apparently they have no problem at all surviving the winter months. While they can be found throughout the park, the West Beach and Tolleston Dunes trails have the greatest concentration of them. The West Beach trail in particular is spectacular when they bloom.
July
Queen Anne’s Lace. I love the delicate details in this particular wildflower. It can however be very frustrating to photograph. Though it is large and full of great detail, it sways constantly in even the lightest wind. But if you are patient you can get an occasional shot when it is still, though usually it only stops moving right after I give up and start to move off down the trail. This time along the Great Marsh Trail however, I managed to wait long enough to get a single good still shot.
With all of the wetlands interspersed through out the Dunes, there is no shortage of tall grasses, reeds and such. I am always trying to find ways to capture the beauty of the repeating vertical patterns and how they can have such incredible depth. I find it very difficult to get images that convey the richness of color and patterns that my eye sees, too often they turn out looking too harsh and busy. This image from Cowles Bog is one of my better attempts.
August
When I am out hiking in the Dunes I go slow, real slow, like 4 hours to do 3 miles. But you cannot really “see” things if you are going any faster. Take this little guy who I spotted just off the beach on the Miller Woods Trail. As you can see he blends in almost perfectly with the sand. But something about the slight variation in the patterns and colors caught my eye as I made my way down the trail. He had probably seen or heard me well before I spotted him and his response was to remain completely motionless. Relying on camouflage for defense he did not budge while I positioned myself to get the shot I wanted. After taking the shot I turned and walked several steps down the trail. Then I stopped and looked back and he was gone, he’d been watching me the whole time and as soon as my back was turned off he went. I have frequently encountered frogs, turtles and snakes in this manner.
Keeping an eye on the weather radar while out on the trails can really pay off. Not for the purpose of avoiding a storm, but rather for the opportunity to put yourself directly in the path of the storm. On this day in August I knew there would be a line of storms moving through the region and I headed out with appropriate rain gear hoping to get some nice rain shots at one of the bogs in the area. But when I got to the trailhead and checked the radar I saw a supercell just hitting Chicago, and on a track that would take it out over the lake and then into the park in Indiana. I realized that the nearby West Beach location would be perfect for watching the storm pass over Chicago and approach over the lake. Plus the beach there is only a 5 minute walk from the parking lot for taking shelter when the storm did come ashore. So I tossed my gear back into the car and quickly drove to West Beach in time to watch the whole thing envelop Chicago and come barreling across the lake. It was a really intense storm front which produced some spectacular cloud formations. This image was taken right as the lifeguards were calling swimmers in out of the water due to the lightening accompanying the storm.
September
All summer long I look forward to September which marks the beginning of the change of seasons heading into fall and winter. Among other beautiful changes occurring at this time of year, intense red and purple wildflowers start blooming all over the place. I caught up with this lovely purple bouquet along the Glenwood Dunes trail while camping in the area.
Fungi and Lichens are among my favorite things to observe and photograph at the Indiana Dunes. September is a great month for them as they emerge from decaying wood everywhere you look. I really like these colonies of tiny fungi, it is an otherworldly place that is so easy to overlook.
October
October is quite possibly my second favorite month of the year. This is when all the summer foliage is dying off, falling to the ground to enrich the hummus for next springs growth. The overcast skies typical of this time of year provide the perfect lighting conditions to view the rich and vibrant colors of decay. The details of the colors and textures in leaves this time of year is a never ending source of beauty.
A stand of dead ash trees in the middle of the Great Marsh are perfectly reflected by the still water. This image was taken from the boardwalk on trail #2 in the Indiana Dunes State Park. It is not uncommon to see reflections of the tree trunks in the water at this spot. But to get such crisp clear images like this requires very calm air and bright but uniformly overcast skies. Bright sunny days are much less desirable as then you get too many harsh reflections and strong shadows. Being late October helped as well because the algae and dense vegetation had mostly died off for the season, leaving the surface of the water clean and uninterrupted.
November
We usually do not get much if any snow in November along the southern shore of Lake Michigan. 2022 was an exception as we had a nice early season snowfall which just so happened to arrive on one of my days off. It was a beautifully cold and blustery day in the single digits and I was out hiking the Miller Woods trail when the snow started to pickup late in the afternoon. I always enjoy seeing the intricate details of the barren trees silhouetted against the sun hidden behind grey clouds. The visibly large snow flakes falling added an extra element to this photo which I really enjoy.
About a week after the early season snowfall, temps climbed back up into the 30’s, the skies cleared up and the winds died down. I went out for a hike anyways, knowing that Boaters Beach, at the end of the Cowles Bog trail would have nice long shadows due to the low angle of the sun in the sky.
December
December can be a real mixed bag in this area. All of the typical fall colors are long gone, usually there is little if any snow accumulation yet, and most plant and animal life seemingly have gone dormant. But cool, moist soil conditions seem to be very favorable for mold and lichen growth on almost every piece of dead wood on the forrest floor. The bright greens of the lichens and the smooth velvety textures of gelatinous fungi contrast beautifully with the colors and shapes of the fallen leaves.
This is the final image I took in 2022. Near the end of the trail at the Tolleston Dunes, all the colors of the rainbow appear in this one little bracket fungi on the side of a dead branch half buried in the muck. I thought it was a very fitting end to a very good year of being out in nature.
