Last Sunday the Marathon Pundit family spent a day at the Indiana Dunes State Park. Surrounding the state park is the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. I went for a 12 mile run that afternoon, most of the run was spent on the Calumet Trail. My efforts not only brought me to the National Lake Shore, but also to Cowles Bog. The bog, which is actually a fen, was named for Henry Cowles, the University of Chicago scientist who pioneered the discipline of ecology.The bog, or fen, is a remnant of a vast series of wetlands that ran from Gary to Michigan City, most of them were filled in during the rapid industrialization of Northwest Indiana in early 20th century.
Numerous internet sources marvel about the inaccessibility of Cowles Bog, but those writers must have been speaking about the difficulty of driving there. Because, well, there is Cowles Bog up on the left, the picture was taken during my run.
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photography 
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outdoors 
Northwest Indiana 
Indiana 
indiana dunes 
wetlands 
Gary
2 comments:
Hello. I ran across your site. I live in Northwest Indiana. I visit Cowle's Bog at least 10 times a year. You were on the Cowle's Bog trail, But Cowle's Bog is deeper into the woods. It's the swamp you see through the trees. The picture you posted is considered part of the Great Swamp. Back then, the Great Swamp stretched from the Indiana Dunes and travels west into Illinois. The swampland you see from the Indiana toll road (in-between the industry) is part of the Great Swamp. I'm glad you enjoyed the Dunes.
Thanks for the correction. I based my call on a crude map. I was running on an access trail near the South Shore Line--perhaps built by one of the factories in the area?
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