Indiana Dunes NP: Bailly Homestead, Chellberg Farm and Little Calumet River trails

Went on my 2nd hike after lunch in Portage, IN. Drove to the parking lot to hike the trail to the Bailly Homestead and the Chellberg Farm nearby. Started with the Bailey trail, and saw the log buildings and impressive house that French-Canadian fur trader Joseph Bailly built in the 1820s.

The homestead ended at the Little Calumet River trail. I chatted with a man and his little boy who were fishing near the bridge, they had caught a couple of crappie. I decided to follow the river trail which I remembered from the park map was a loop that will end at the Chellberg Farm.

The Little Calumet River Trail was lovely, non-dune like, full of folliage and mostly shady. It was very well maintained and a lot longer than I expected. I forgot to bring my park map, and Google Map was not useful. A few times I wanted to turn back since I was not sure how much longer the loop was. I asked that question to a hiker approaching from the other direction; he said that I was probably about half way on the loop. Figured I might as well might as well continue. The hiker asked whether I had cell reception, and if so I should download the trail map from The Hiking Project. Said it was pretty accurate and useful. I downloaded the app (from AllTrails) and sure enough, the app knew where I was and showed how far, far, more I needed to hike. It was a good thing there was strong cell reception on the trail, although the app offered downloads for offline use (only for paid subscribers). It took a while before I finally found myself at the end of the Little Calumet River Trail. Got on to the trail to the Chellberg Farm, where early Swedish farmers grew vegetables and raised chickens. The farm is currently run by volunteers.

By the time I reached Millie in the parking lot, it was 4:40 pm. I have been hiking for over 2.5 hours! I barely had time to drive to my next event, a ranger-led hike of the Mount Baldy trail.