Sunday, April 8, 2018

April 8, 2018 A Sunday Morning Hike at Tolleston Dunes

Since Chrissy has never hiked at Tolleston Dunes, we decided to hike here this morning. 

Yet another day 20 degrees below average but beautiful blue skies and lots of sunshine.

This is a lollipop trail with a double loop once you climb up the dunes.

This park is part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. So is nearby West Beach and both have a rare Black Oak Savanna.

Here's Nola checking out all the bird sounds and climbing up a dune.

Since we are still experiencing winter here in the Midwest, there isn't much color returning to the forest yet. So I thought the shadows made this a more interesting picture.

A traffic jam on the trail up another dune.

Oslo with his big "I'm hiking" smile.

Nola going crazy over all the places to check out on this tree with exposed roots.

Another example of how impressive Mother Nature can be.

Hiking on the bridges over the wetlands that were full of frogs croaking and looking for love.

This section of the trail protected by dunes had a lot of trees that still had their leaves on them. 

I've seen this car for years. It is sitting at the base of a dune in the middle of the forest about a mile or two from the nearest road. I have no idea how it got here.

Nola had fun checking it out. It is not right along the trail so it took some bush whacking to get to it.

The NPS has these cool new banners up at all the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore parks.

About a half mile west of Tolleston Dunes is a small parking lot with a boardwalk. I have never stopped here so today we checked it out.

The boardwalk takes you to a nice overlook of the wetlands which were full of frogs croaking non stop.

Chrissy & Oslo relaxing on the boardwalk.

It is a short walk from the parking lot to Marsh Overlook.


Listen to the froggies a courting in the marsh.

My little girl enjoying the sunshine...

...so was Chrissy but Oslo likes the shade better.


I laid down on the picnic table bench and looked up at 'my blue heaven'.

Not sure what this crazy dog was doing but she ended up under the table and right in my face...

...so I relaxed on the boardwalk with Oslo.

Outdoors on a beautiful day... a perfect way to spend a Sunday morning.

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