Hiking Trails NWI

[Butch627]

I am going to be taking a city girl out on a hike in the next week or so. She is from Chicago and not used to the outdoors. I am looking for suggestions where we can go on a few mile hike where there will be a lot of great scenery. I am not looking to go on a casual bike trail,I would like to find more challenging terrain and more of a "wilderness" feel. I would live to find a trail that crosses streams or goes past ponds or marshes. The denser the forest the better. She will have good boots and suitable clothes for whatever weather we encounter. She is in great physical shape so no worried about hills. The closer to the Northwest corner of the state the better. The Dunes or the Grand Kankakee marsh would be about as far as I would want to venture.

 

[Ballstater98]

https://www.nps.gov/indu/planyourvisit/hiking.htm

https://www.alltrails.com/parks/us/indiana/indiana-dunes-national-lakeshore

 

[smythe012]

Trail 9 at the Indiana Dunes State Park is one of the best in NWI. You have to hike up dunes and follow a ridge line, getting great views of Lake Michigan. If you had to pick one, I would pick this.

Trail 8 is short but very steep and you hit a couple dune “summits.”

At the National Lakeshore, Cowles Bog Trail is a great hike out to the beach. This is awesome too because you see a very unique habitat for the area (savannah).

Near Miller Beach you can take the trails near the Douglas Learning Center. You won’t feel like you are “out there” like the other trails, but it’s still a good one.

Have fun!

 

[Butch627]

Thanks guys in the mid 70's our scout troop camped and hiked all over the Dunes summer and winter but that was a very long time ago and I will really feel like a greenhorn if I get back out there. Would really love to find a trail that would hit the lowlands and the dunes. We used to bring roll up sleds and slide down the dunes most of the time without any snow on them. I don't even remember if it was the state park or the national lakeshore or what it was then.

 

[actaeon277]

Dunes has good trails.
I think Stoney Run and Deep River also have some.

 

[Bill B]

Dunes national lakeshore has some nice ones as well

 

[ChootEm]

Starve Rock has some awesome trails, cool cliffs, and a nice lodge to watch the bald eagles. If it is cold out you get some amazing ice falls off the clifts.

 

[Sniper 79]

I would agree Dunes is where you need to be.

 

[qwerty]

I will second the Cowles Bog Trail. I've never been on it in the winter, but during the spring, summer, and especially fall, it's probably one of the best trails I've been on. Marsh, wetland, forests, savannah, dunes and beach all under 7 miles.