Indiana Dunes National Park

Indiana Dunes is our frequent destination for weekend walks, biking or cross-country skiing. Part of the dune ecosystem became National Park in 2019, others remain state  and local parks.  Industrial/post-industrial character of the area is quite obvious, but there are many nice trails across the dunes just along the lake and wetlands further away from the beach. This time we decided to follow the  Douglas Trail from Visitor Center to Marquette Beach, 9 km return. Easy walk, nice weather, few people in sight. One can only hope the parks expand adding more restored land. A week later we walked  Cowles Bog Trail to the beach (bottom three pictures), 7.5 km loop/return.

Indiana Dunes trail maps

☞ Douglas Trail
☞ Cowles Bog Trail
☞ Beaches and trails

 

Hummingbirds in Ecuador

Watching hummingbirds was an important adventure on side-trip from Quito during our ☞ 2008 Ecuador trip. We rented a car, with very knowledgeable driver/guide. On the way out to cloud forest, we took the old road starting high on the slopes of Pichincha, birdwatching in Yanacocha ( ca 3500 masl), Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve (ca 2200 masl) and at Alambi Reserve bird sanctuary along the new road on the way back to Quito (ca 1600 masl). Different hummingbird species live at different altitudes. They live in the forest, but some come to feeders to get extra food. Our guide and the sanctuary guide were able to identify many species.

 

 

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