Category: Tolleston Dunes Trail

Mellow Autumn

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This Autumn has been atypically warm and dry.  It is well into November and daytime highs are still in the 50’s.  Rain has been almost nonexistent.  As a result the trees are hanging on to their leaves a little longer, and the fall colors are stretching persisting a couple weeks later than usual.  It was a lovely day to spend a relaxing afternoon out on the Tolleston Dunes trail in the IDNP.

Beautiful blue sky, white fluffy clouds, fading but still present fall colors. Tolleston Dunes is beautiful any time of year, but it really stands out in Autumn.

All around the trail it looked like the extended Autumn is allowing the leaves to “ripen” slowly, developing rich hues and all sorts of patterns.

Northern Indiana and Illinois are not exactly known for impressive elevation changes. The receding glaciers did a good job of grinding this area nice and flat. The sand dunes along the southern shore of lake Michigan however do offer some degree of topology. Many of the trails in the IDNP traverse multiple dune ridges like this one. It is only about 60′ high, but being pure sand at a 9 degree angle of inclination makes for a nice workout. Unless you aim for tree roots there is a tendency for each step to slid backwards in the sand almost as much as your initial step forward.

The almost pure white of the blossoming milkweed pods just pops out against the predominant earth tones. It has been a really impressive display this year.

Moving through this landscape your ears are treated to the crunching sounds of crisp, dry leaves underfoot.

The more I examine the patterns of veins and small colored patches on the Autumn leaves, the more similarities I see between them and satellite imagery of densely populated areas of the Earth.

There was just a hint of breeze when I took this photograph which caused a subtle blurring effect through out parts of this little patch of Milkweed pods.

Changes Are Beginning…

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Early October and the weather is taking a turn for the better, with the promise of winter to come.  Pleasantly cool and virtually no mosquitos which is super nice.  We are a couple weeks away from the peak of the Autumn colors, but the changes are well underway.  The Tolleston Dunes trail in the Indiana Dunes National Park is beautiful year round, but particularly through Autumn.  Right now it is just beginning to hint at the color to come.

Look closely at the dark squiggly line that makes its way along the midrib of this leaf. At the upper middle and lower left lobes you can see the silhouette of the larvae which are eating their way across the leaf. These Leaf Miners will emerge next spring as flies which are among the earliest pollinators to appear each year. Fascinating how the creatures which are “destroying” leaves in Autumn are also responsible for kick starting the Spring bloom. Nature is so interesting like this.

The earliest colors along this trail come from Flame Leaf Sumac. The intense red of these leaves will last long enough to mix in with the profusion of golden yellow and orange colors that arrive in a couple weeks.

Nature has some absolutely fascinating parallels at vastly different scales. The lacy structure of this spider web is remarkably similar to the galactic filaments and voids apparent in the universe at the largest length scales. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Void_(astronomy)

I love how the patterns in these leaves are accentuated by the subtle yellow-brown colors. Often times I find the more subdued colors in nature to be more satisfying than the bright and saturated ones.

In nature photography, strongly backlit scenes can be challenging to capture due to the extreme contrasts. Finding scenes in nature where this challenging condition works to your advantage to cast a familiar object in a completely different light (so to speak) is a very rewarding experience.

The patterns and shapes created by the veins and decay spots on this leaf are reminiscent of satellite views of small towns and road networks separated by fields. Another example of how certain patterns in nature replicate themselves across different phenomena and scales.

Flame Leaf Sumac really lives up to it’s name this time of year.

One of the last False Solomon’s Seal’s remaining in the season. The berries are still hanging in there while the leaves are about ready to fold up and go down for the winter.