Cowles Bog Offers a Refreshing Nature Encounter
Published: Friday, May 30, 2025
Lately, I have felt a bit bogged down with to-do lists that seemingly stretch out for about 20 miles and the noise of everyday life. So, what better way to escape than exploring an actual bog? To start up this season's walk on the wild side, I headed to the far northwest of Indiana, beyond the 20-mile reach of my to-do list, and dove into an area where the sounds of wilderness work to drown out those of the industrial world.
Everyone knows there are seven natural wonders of the world. But here in Northern Indiana and Southwest Michigan, people can get the feeling that if they've seen one area, they've seen the whole state. But that just isn't true. In fact, I would say that we have several natural wonders right here in Michiana. Cowles Bog is one of them.
The ballads of songbirds and treefrogs serenading their sweethearts surrounded me with springtime cheer as I explored the landscape of a Porter County park, seeking out one of its most unique features.
As winter finally yielded to spring, I began planning my next outing to explore the unique landmarks of Michiana. After some research, I settled on Cowles Bog, strapped on my hiking boots and headed out. Known as one of Indiana Dunes National Park's most biodiverse locations, Cowles Bog is among the 606 designated national natural landmarks in the U.S. With this unique feature, I just had to get out to see what it was all about.
The pathway guided me from the parking area directly into a wetland. The trees were still waking up when I took to the trail, but the birds, insects and animals were alive with ac-tivity. Early on, I noticed swarms of flies being picked off by a zippy dragon fly, and robins were singing a call-and-response melody from each side of the walkway.
The deeper into the swamp I got, the wilder it seemed to grow. Reeds and skunk cabbage surrounded, and bursts of yellow exploded from the colonies of marsh marigolds sprouting from the bog's floor. I passed a grove of birch trees that reached out over pools of water, and new growth sprouted across the land as recent rains and warm temperatures coaxed them out of their winter slumber.
The area included several types of wetlands that melded together, from swamps to marshes to bogs. This has been true for ages. Henry Cowle, the bog's namesake, noted this when he studied it back in 1899, when he described it as a panoramic view.
The plants spread across the land in waves, with reeds and birch trees turning into peat and skunk cabbage turning into flowers and forest. The wetlands rolled into one another, with birds flitting overhead, darting from swamp to bog to marsh.
A swamp is generally dominated by woody plants, either trees or shrubs. Later, I learned that swamp soil is saturated during growing seasons and sometimes hold standing water. The soil is considered nutrient-rich. This is all according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
As the swampland faded, a marsh emerged. EPA designates marsh areas with constant standing water, containing plants that are adapted to saturated soils. They can also have tidal water, but the ones along the trail did not seem to fit that description.
But dominating the landscape was the bog, which seemed to dance between spots of swamp and marsh.
The bog can be identified with peat and moss. Boggs collect rainwater instead of runoff from other places, groundwater or stream water. I found out that bogs are known to prevent flooding because they absorb so much precipitation. I saw this firsthand since it had rained just the day before. I also learned that bogs could host plants like carnivorous Sundew. I didn't see any, but that would have been awesome.
To the untrained eye, there isn't much difference between each type of wetland. But to the botanist, Cowles, the diversity was breathtaking. He noted the relationship between plants and land, and an area's ability to support wildlife.
"Nowhere else could many of the living problems of ecology be solved more clearly," he said in his paper, "Dune Floras of Lake Michigan." "At Dune Park, there is a graduation in the altitude of the dunes as one goes inland, until the low sand ridges pass all but insensibly into the prairies beyond."
Cowles Bog flowed like a musical number, with songbirds carrying the tune, blackbirds taking the background and woodpeckers providing a staccato drum. The floor swirled with pools of water and gatherings of plants and animals. I even passed a beaver dam. I paused here, waiting to see if a beaver would emerge, but it was too late in the day and there was lots of foot traffic.
The dam was at the base of a hill that led up to a crest point view of Lake Michigan, which was picturesque beneath some heavy, billowing clouds. The waves crashed, leaving white foam along the shore where a group waded in the cool, blue water. After the steep, sandy climb, it was the perfect place to plop down and rest before heading back the other way.
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