Adventures of an AT Section hiker "Mapless"

Tag: Indiana Dunes

  • Day 2 at Indiana Dunes NP

    Day 2 at Indiana Dunes NP

    Thursday August 28, 2025 – Adventure Road Trip Day #16 – It rained overnight and woke up and it was still raining. The radar showed the rain would clear by mid morning. I had a bad sleep score and my Garmin showed I was in need of some recovery time. The plan was to take it easy today.

    Had to break out the citronella candle and incense to ward off the mosquitos.

    I was looking forward to seeing Brenden this weekend but was not looking forward to the drive into Chicago traffic.

    After I recharged my power station on the bathroom, I was bored and decided to head to the lake. I jumed on the bike, it was only 1 mile to the lake. I had a nice walk on the beach and bike ride to Mt Baldy. So much for taking it easy today. I saw the 1933 Wolds Fair historical houses, I rode the Calumet Trail and saw a turkey at the campground. Found there is train that you can ride from downtown Chicago to the park. Would make a great day trip for those living in the city .

    Back at camp I made dinner. I had to make a trip the the store outside the camp for propane for the camp store…. good thing the store was there… did not plan that correctly — opps

    I jumped in the van for the night and did way too much screen scrolling… this probably means the sleep score will not be great again…. maybe I can rest in Chicago when I have a real bed.

  • Pumpkinvine Trail / Indiana Dunes

    Pumpkinvine Trail / Indiana Dunes

    Wednesday August 27, 2025 – Road trip day #15 – Was up at 7 and on the road y 8 am. I think I have this down to a science now !

    Drove to Shipshewana Indiana to ride the Pumpkinvine Trail. This is a rail trial that runs about 18 miles to Goshen. I planned to go out 10 miles for about a 20 mile ride.

    This was a wonderful trail. Fully tree lined and shaded with views between the trees of Amish farms. Traveled though the town of Middlebury before the turn to head back.

    Both Shipshewanna and Middlebury seemed like very nice little towns. Lots of Amish in the area and even saw the Amish on the bike trail. Saw a restaurant called Blue Gate (or Bluegate ??) that was huge and had a ton of people going in… must be the local tourist attractions… I did not try

    Drove about 2 hours to Indiana Dunes. I was happy that google took me on US20 instead of 80/90. I was a nice snice drive for the most part.

    Since I had not missed my first night reservation I was a little concerned I would not have a site. When I checked all was good and the gentleman working for the park was very nice and was sure to provide all the information needed for my stay. I think my camp site was the only site that was had sun. This made things a bitt warm when I was setting up, but the shade should cover the site in the afternoon. Park was very nice, bathrooms and showers were very clean.

    Once set up I jumped on the bile to explore the area. The lake was only a mile or so up the the road with very little traffic. The lake views were beattifull

    Dinner and early to bed in the evening… tired… lots of miles today on the bike

  • The next adventure

    Monday August 11 – The next adventure begins in two days. I will be attending the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Volunteer Leadership meeting in Maryland and I will participating in Bike the Drive 2025 event in Chicago with my son. I have connected these two events with a road trip of camping and biking on various rail trails. Some of the highlights will be Niagara Falls, hometown Cleveland (and the CVNP towpath trail), and Indiana Dunes National Park. You can see the route starting in Franklin NC in the photo below.