Name: Paul H. Douglas Trail
Rating: 4.5

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Features Birding · Fall Colors · Lake · River/Creek · Swimming · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

The trail is open daily from 6:00 am to 11:00 pm. No bicycles or motorized vehicles allowed. Stay on the trail to protect the wildlife and yourself.

Overview

Take the Paul H. Douglas Trail (formerly the Miller Woods Trail) through a globally rare oak savanna. The National Park Service conducts small, carefully controlled burns that mimic historic fires. These fires reduce the growth of woody species and the build-up of leaves on the forest floor. The savannas native grasses and wildflowers, including lupine, thrive in the sunlight and more open forest floor. The wild lupine, the only food for the caterpillar of the endangered Karner blue butterfly, grows close to the trail. Please stay single file on the narrow trail to protect yourself from the abundant poison ivy along the trail edges as well as the fragile lupine habitat.

Need to Know

The main trail is not accessible to wheelchairs. However, there is a short paved trail from the back of the Paul H. Douglas Center that is accessible to wheelchairs. The parking lot has spots for 40 cars and is open daily from 6:00 am - 11:00 pm.

Use insect repellent, wear long sleeves, and tuck long pants into socks to avoid ticks and poison ivy.

There are restroom facilities and potable water available inside the Paul H. Douglas Center. The center is open daily from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm (Friday of Memorial Day weekend through the Monday of Labor Day weekend) and from 9:00 am - 4:00 pm for the remainder of the year.

Description

The trail starts at the Paul H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education and winds its way around a wetland full of wildlife including beavers. The trail then turns north, featuring beautiful scenery with small interdunal ponds nestled among oak savanna covered dunes teeming with wildflowers in the spring and summer.

Once you cross the bridge over the Grand Calumet River, the landscape changes dramatically into a world of towering sand dunes. The trail winds around and through the dunes all the way the shore of Lake Michigan.

The trail surface is mostly sand with some sections of packed soil, gravel or boardwalk. The round trip trail distance is 3.4 miles. This route will take longer than you think due the loose footing of making your way in the sand.

The trail starts in relative shade but ends in the full sun. Please bring plenty of water, sun protection and dress in layers. The weather on the beach can be dramatically different than in the woods.

History & Background

This trail is a partnership between the National Park Service and the City of Gary, IN.

Indiana Dunes National Park (formerly national lakeshore) was established to preserve portions of the Indiana Dunes and other areas of scenic, scientific, historic and recreational value. Up to two million annual visitors enjoy the park's 15,000 acres of wetlands, prairies, sand dunes, oak savannas, forests, and historic sites. The park's 15 miles of beaches hug the southern shore of Lake Michigan from Gary, IN, to Michigan City, IN. For more information, visit nps.gov/indu or facebook.com/IndianaDunesNPS.

In 2019, the trail name was changed from the Miller Woods Trail to the Paul H. Douglas Trail.