Upcoming: Indiana Dunes National Park

I am EXCITED for spring break. I know we had a (rather glorious, if I say so myself) trip to the Great Smokey Mountain National Park planned that we had to abandon, but I am excited for our little trip sessions that we are taking. GSMNP, we'll see you soon.

On the menu instead is (1) Chicago (gonna hit some museums, eat some pizza, and stay in a fancy hotel with a pool); (2) Indiana Dunes National Park; (3) Gabis Arboretum (which as TRAILS and TRAINS, could this be more perfect for us? Probably not); (4) Shades State Park; and (5) Turkey Run State Park. The Chicago - Indiana Dunes - Gabis section is all on one loop, so we will take a few days do that. Shades and Turkey Run are going to be day trips, so we will leave early in the morning and return late afternoon. There's an off chance that we will also do a daytrip to Brown County, but I am betting that we actually do one of our beloved Fort Ben hikes instead. 

Indiana Dunes NP and Indiana Dunes SP are right next to each other, so we may go back and forth into both. I'd love to do the 3 dune challenge, which has an elevation gain of about 550 ft--hey, it's Indiana, we take what we can get for elevation gains. We are also hoping to do Cowles Bog Trail, Dune Succession Trail, and/or Tolleston Dunes Trail. Gabis has lots of 1-2 mile trails, but honestly, we are going to have a hard time pulling JD away from the trains. We may take turns with adults hiking while the other does the train thing. 

Shades and Turkey Run are within a stone's throw of each other. they've got similar topography--ravines, cliffs, waterfalls, etc. There are long span bridges, stairs cutting down ravines, and even ladders to climb alongside waterfalls. Depending on how good of a time we are having, we may do two separate day trips to them, or combine into one long day. We'd really like to do the 6 Ravine Challenge--really give the kids a challenge--but we will just have to make that call the day of. They can definitely do it, but it may depend on how well JD slept that night. That's a 650 elevation gain, so it would be a big one, and we might take almost half a day to do. JK and I could do it at a good clip, but our goal with kid hiking is get them to love and enjoy it, not march them along. 

Coming along with us this trip, other than humans: (1) EJ's new backpack; (2) JD using the Osprey Moki for the first time on a longer hike; (3) testing out new water filtration devices; (4) my new Hoka trail running shoes; (5) if weather permits, I am going to try my Chacos and see how they do for hiking; (6) JD's new hiking Keens; and (7) new hiking pants for JK.