Highland 's Heron Rookery

I deviated from my rail-trail walk and opted instead to check out Highland's Heron Rookery.  It's one of the birding spots for Northwest Indiana.  It's visible from the I-80/94 interstate in Hammond. Access to it is off the northern edge of Liable Road, the road we lived on in the mid 1960s before my parents divorced and the house was sold.  The northern edge of Liable Road was the northern terminus of my childhood world.  I often walked this street to its end to explore the marshes near the interstate.  That marsh now has been levied to prevent flooding, however, the levees were no protection from the September 2008 flood as a result of residual rain from Hurricane Ike passing through.

Herons, egrets, seagulls, eagles and various songbirds call the rookery their home.  Benches and binoculars for birdwatchers are along the southern end of the rookery. The rookery is fed by the Little Calumet River, one of the most polluted rivers in the country.  Its water is a perpetual brown.  Discarded tires, sun-bleached plastics and various industrial wastes can be found along the banks (although today it was fairly clean of debris).  How birds can call this polluted river home is indicative of how versatile animals can be.  Human development and industrial activity have minimized bird habitat in NWI.  Interstate traffic and steel mill dust mar any tranquility.

I started the walk just before noon, parking the Honda in the large parking area and taking the paved trail north of the marsh of dead, flooded trees.  I though this trail went around the rookery.  It does not.  This is the end of the Little Calumet trail, a connector trail that meets up with the Lakawanna and Monon trail further west.  It's not a very scenic trail because of the highway traffic and odor, but I saw herons wading through the river here waiting for a meal.

The Little Calumet trail travels mostly east-west along the river, north of Homestead Park in Highland. The trail crosses a footbridge over the river and continues on the north end of the river before it dead ends just east of Carlson Oxbow Park.  I didn't want to go that far (I hate dead end trails), but I did stop at the Byway Brewery.  It was a brewery on my "Must Try" list while in Indiana, although I hadn't planned on visiting it today.  I knew it was in Hammond, but didn't realize that Hammond begins south of the interstate.  I always thought Hammond began north of it.

The brewery is new, opening on February 13, 2016.  It has become a popular venue for local musical bands of all genres. The building is massive, appearing more tall than it is wide. The green aluminum siding shines in the sun.  I had to sit outside on the patio and sit along the perimeter gate, all because of Zeke.  Those were the rules, according to the host, and I didn't mind because it was cool and breezy out, but on a hot day it would be unacceptable because that meant we were not allowed to sit in the shaded parts away from the gate.  I was the only one outside, who was Zeke going to annoy?

I was hungry but the only thing on the menu was fancy food.  I didn't feel like paying $16 for a cheeseburger with "special sauce on a brioche bun."  The Oats Malone stout was quite good, but the raspberry milkshake not so much as it tasted more like a sour.  There was nothing else that tempted me. They were out of the "Cherry Farmstand," a fruited wheat ale. I left as soon as the server came by to settle my bill.  We returned to the car the same way, along the smelly Little Calumet River and the rookery.  We had hiked 5.6 miles.  I'm glad I can scratch both the rookery and the brewery off my list of things to do this month, but neither are places I need to visit again any time soon.

https://www.bywaybrewing.beer/
https://www.mapmyhike.com/routes/view/2552079670