Indiana Dunes National Park, located along the shore of Lake Michigan in Northwest Indiana, is an unbelievable oasis some would consider a diamond in the rough. With the third largest city in the nation, Chicago, less than an hour away and many other large cities surrounding Miller Woods, you will be shocked by the biodiversity and beauty of this park…
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Are you the type of person who checks your horoscope every day? Or do you just find the zodiac signs to be intriguing? Either way, we have the perfect blog for you to match up your sign with the activities you're sure to love along the South Shore of Lake Michigan! Element: Fire The presence of…
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As a lifelong fisherman, I’ve seen lakes cycle from boom to bust or bust to boom many times. Fish populations naturally go through cycles in almost all lakes for many reasons. Among these reasons is the reproductive or spawning success of native fish. A few years after a couple of good spawns, the lakes may team with catchable fish. A few years after a poor spawn, often due to weather issues, the number of fish can decline. It’s nature’s way.... It’s natural. I’ve been fishing for Lake Michigan salmon for most of my adult life and operating a charter fishing business on Lake Michigan for half my adult life. Why is it the fishing on Lake Michigan, season after season, remains consistently good? Is it unnatural…
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If you’re looking for a fun, inexpensive way to spend the afternoon with family and friends outdoors, you should give disc golf a try. My family has played a number of times both out-of-state while camping and close to home at Lemon Lake County Park. It’s the perfect combination to keep kids with different interests entertained - hiking the trails and playing a sport at the same time. And all you need is a disc (or frisbee) for each person…
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I’ve been wanting to visit Brincka Cross Gardens for some time. With puffy white clouds, cool summer breezes and my walking shoes, I headed to Michigan City for an adventure…
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Header photo credit © Jason Whalen/Big Foot Media Just like many of us that are working from home, our bison continue to work from their home at Kankakee Sands. The bison have been busy enriching the plant diversity by eating a plethora of grasses, creating sandy depressions when they wallow in the ground, and pooping out nutrients to enrich the soil, just as they have been doing since they arrived in 2016 when they were brought to Kankakee Sands to assist us in managing our prairies. And this spring, about 25 of our 70 bison will take on an additional job… parenting…
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Photoby Scott Johnsen My drive to work involves one stop sign and a herd of bison. It hasn’t always been that way… My commute used to involve one stop sign and several agricultural fields. That all started to change in 1996, when The Nature Conservancy began planting 8,000 newly-acquired acres with native prairie grasses and flowers. …
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Looking to spend the remainder of your good summer days outside? I was lucky enough to stumble upon one of the best hidden-gems in Northwest Indiana, the Gabis Arboretum. Tucked away in southern Valparaiso, driving around the area you wouldn’t expect to find six miles of gorgeous hiking trails anywhere near you. Spending most of my hiking time at the Indiana Dunes National Park, it didn’t occur to me that there was a secret oasis right in my backyard. …
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Photo: Butterfly Day at Kankakee Sands by Leigh Littiken We all know that getting out in nature is great for our health, but sometimes our busy schedules make it difficult to find the time to get our “green time”. Fear not, it’s really much easier that you might think – because green time is all around you! Getting you green time is truly as simple as standing outside and noticing the nature around you. No batteries, tools or fancy footwear required…
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There are few sights I enjoy more than the perfect pink and purple sunset. Now picture that sunset over the dunes. Now picture that sunset over the dunes with the Northwest Indiana Symphony playing live in the background. Now put a Mother Wilma’s s’more in your hand and you have one happy concertgoer. There was about 2,000 happy concertgoers all enjoying a similar experience at the Symphony at the Dunes Concert at West Beach this summer…
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