Indiana Dunes National Park Cowles Bog Trailhead — Attraction in Dune Acres

On my way to the beach I was serenaded with the lovely local sounds the entire hike. This includes the sounds of trains moving at high speeds, train horns, trains stopping and having every single train car bang into each other, industrial trucks beeping in reverse, and a literal near constant hum of generators and industrial machines. Finally get to the beach and jump in the water ah this is nice! Wait what the heck is that smell? Oh there are like 4 smoke stacks pouring pollution right next to me and the wind is blowing it right at the beach. So as I was huffing and puffing up the dune hill I was inhaling all that garbage. The water and sand is probably contaminated with decades of all that industrial ash. Not to mention the EPA is gutted and indiana doesn't care that they dump whatever they want into the lake. There's also a blue barrel on the beach that acts like a garbage can but I'm not actually sure it's a garbage can. I think it just washed up on shore. Plenty of other garbage on the beach too. What a complete disgusting joke this national park is. Nwi best trail is basically runs the butt crack of its...

Cant beat Mother Nature! Whatever the weather it is good to get out and get some fresh air! The bog is beautiful and the trail pretty shady. This trail is moderately difficult. If you can do the 3 Dune Challenge then this trail will be a breeze. The most difficult is when you reach the end you will have a great view of the beach and dunegrass hills and you have the option to go down the big sand dune to the lakefront, but it's the coming back up the dune that is the most difficult. Just over 3.5 miles to the beach and back. We had 3 boys ages 3-5 with us and they loved running the trail. Keep an eye out pposon ivy that is along the edge of the trail and for roots that like to trip you in some places!!! Beautiful trail, beautiful bog, and such a diversity of flowers! We went mid June and had no...

Had a fantastic time walking through the hiking trails near here, only to be told by a sheriff Manning a park ranger station about the three Dunes challenge. Decided to hike back through the trail I was on and make my way to them. They were fairly easy routes, and the only thing that made them a bit difficult was hiking up through the sand in Crocs. It was fun enough that when I saw there was a very steep route down the back of the second Dune I came to, that I decided to slide / hike down at just so I can hike back up it again to see if I could challenge myself with it. Had a wonderful time and definitely...