I told Ethan I would be over today by late morning, after running a few errands. Those errands included pulling weeds and walking the central section of the Oak Savannah Trail (OST), the smallest and last section I had to complete to finish the entire trail. I estimated this to be around four miles out-and-back. Carol's nosy neighbor Freddie was sitting in his garage watching passers-by as I drove off. He is known to spy on neighbors using binoculars and then will tell Carol what he all witnessed. I waved at him but he did not wave back.
I got started at 10am with the walk. The parking lot was half full by now. Right away a chipmunk darted across the path getting Zeke riled up. It was 79F and I had no idea how shaded this section would be, but it was nicer than expected. Most of it was shaded and there were several short trails from the OST to Lake Robinson. This was a busy section for cyclists, joggers and dog walkers.
Perhaps because of the lower humidity and shade, but this was a fast walk. The 3.10 miles took us 1:11 hours. The section is a straight-away. The I-65 tunnel is only a half-mile from the trail head, and the turn-around at IN53 only a mile west of there. It traverses South Gary, with small residential homes bordering the railtrail and crossing three streets. I could have walked the OST in two sections had it not been so humid for Zeke.
Trailside trash and flowers were minimal. There wasn't much trash in the woods this time, but I did see three face masks in the grass or off the trail. As for flowers, The usual purple coneflowers, purple ironweed and white False Queen Anne's Lace were plentiful, but on this stretch I came across white tubular flowers with a round base and long, white protrusion I have yet to identify. I didn't see these flowers anywhere else on the trail.
I stopped by 16-acre man-made Lake Robinson on my return walk, giving Zeke several chances to drink from the lake. I once spent the day at this lake with a former sister-in-law, paying $3 for Hobart residents. This was back in the late 1980s, when swimming was allowed. For seven years swimming was banned due to drop in park visitors, but apparently swimming has been allowed again at one's own risk. A four-year-old boy drowned there last summer when I was in Indiana. I didn't see a sales booth at the entrance this time. I did see several beach goers and dogs in the water, though, including one very exuberant Malinois.
I would have walked the trail around the lake had I more time, but I wanted to get to Erin's before it got too late.
Driving from the trailhead to Erin's house was ten minutes shorter from here, driving north on Liverpool Road until it crossed with Old Ridge Road, continuing east until I hit IN130. A short mile of this road is on my usual drive to Valporaiso from Carol's place in Crown Point.
I'm glad I did get this walk in as Ethan didn't really want to hike with me once I got with him. He was too busy watching his number of followers on his TikTok account go from 300 to 500 and proudly announcing the rapid increase in fans for a video he had posted. The best part for me was watching Ethan engage with his four-month-old Minnie Aussie puppy Macks. He's very tender with the dog. Macks is very hyper, though, and tends to get on Zeke's nerves. Zeke gets back at Macks by eating Macks' food. Zeke is showing his passive-aggressive side.
The house is always busy with constant kid traffic in and out. His neighbors' two young girls, Kinsley and Ellie (5 and 3 years old) and their Labradoodle Piper kept coming over, increasing the number of kids from three to five. The girls tend to hang out with Owen. I chatted with the parents who are good friends with Erin and Nick, but I left before the neighborhood started a planned bonfire. I don't like driving at night on the backroads up here.
I stopped at two Chesterton brewers on my way home: Hunter's Brewing and Chesterton Brewery. I have been to both last summer and over Chritmas and both have very good beers, but Hunter's is hurting for business as its location is away from the historic downtown and the menu is all vegan. It now has a canopy over its non-dog-friendly patio. Patrons must also be masked when entering. The owner takes the coronavirus seriously. It's not quite so strict at the Chesterton Brewery, where I first visited last Christmas. The small entrance is now a dog-friendly patio. There were quite a few patrons around the bar inside. It also has tasty food on its menu, but I will try their food another time.
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