Road trip: Prairie Duneland Trail, Portage

Owing to finals week and a trip out of town, I've been a bit lax about posting details of my walking excursions. But I'm online now....

Last week, I visited my mom in NW Indiana...which has plenty of variety in terms of neighborhoods and walking areas. Even though I haven't lived up there for any appreciable length of time since I left for college, I've had some chances to do some good walks in the area and would love to look further into some very enjoyable and educational excursions up that way.

One place in particular that I like -- where I took a 3.5 mile walk last Tuesday -- is the Prairie Duneland Trail, which runs SW-NE from Hobart to Chesterton, a distance of just over 10 miles. I've ridden my bike the entire length of the trail, and there are some especially interesting sights toward the trail's eastern end, which isn't nearly as populated an area. But since I was on foot this time, I limited my journey to a stretch running from Swanson Rd. to Airport Rd. in Portage. This stretch has a mix of prairie grassland and parks/subdivisions, and not surprisingly also has a fair amount of foot and bicycle traffic, particularly on weekends.

Further to its credit, the Prairie Duneland trail has several informational signs -- each of which provides a few interesting details about the area's topography, vegetation, and land uses over the years. Several hundred years ago, the area was covered in swamps -- and even further back in time, it was part of Lake Michigan. After the lake receded and after the swamps were drained, settlers came into the area and established farms. Today, a few old barns remain here and there, and there are large-ish expanses of prairie grassland. But much of this area has been taken over by subdivisions. It seems as if every time I visit this trail, there are at least one or two new subdivisions that I hadn't seen the last time.

Subdivisions or no, this is a great walk for the simple reason that there's a lot to see. And the Prairie Duneland Trail is a wonderful example of a rails-to-trails project that connects individuals and small groups, as well as entire communities. There are plans to connect the Prairie Duneland Trail to the Oak Savannah Trail to the west, which runs from Hobart west to Griffith, and also to the Calumet Trail, which runs near the lake to the east. It would then be theoretically possible to walk, jog, or bicycle from the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore to Griffith -- a stretch of 25-30 miles.