Parking
Start at the main east gravel lot, 1336 600 East, Michigan City. It is large enough for buses and RVs. The alternate west gravel lot at 1301 North 450 East has room for only four cars.
Overview
About Heron Rookery Trail
Why go
- Early-spring wildflowers and strong birdlife along a shaded river corridor
- Nearly level walking through varied woodland and river bends
Heads up
- Packed dirt and clay turn slick and muddy when wet
- Summer mosquitoes and flies; no water or restrooms at the trail
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Indiana Dunes map
Full mapElevation637–646 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
4 active Indiana Dunes alerts
- ClosureTrail closures, storm damage, and floodingMentions this trailMultiple trails have closures or access limits from Marquette Greenway construction, storm damage, riverbank collapse, and flooding; check conditions and obey posted closures.Official details
- ClosurePortage Lakefront trail section closedThe section of the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk Trail along Burns Waterway is closed because erosional damage has made it unsafe.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Indiana Dunes Tour Guide
Your drive to Heron Rookery Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Indiana Dunes National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Indiana Dunes audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Heron Rookery: Come for the Spring Flowers0:00 / 0:25
“You're nearing the east trailhead for Heron Rookery, a level woodland walk along the Little Calumet River.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Indiana Dunes Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- A Duckling's First Leap
- How the Lake Makes Snow
- Flowers Before the Leaves
- Tomorrow’s Glass House
- 51 audio storiesacross Indiana Dunes’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Bald Eagle, Sandhill Crane, White-tailed Deer, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 34 trails, 30 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Heron Rookery Trail
A level river walkHeron Rookery is a 3.
Heron Rookery is a 3.3-mile out-and-back along a wooded stretch of the Little Calumet River, from the east lot to the west lot and back. Allow about 1.5 to 2 hours. It is an easy, mostly level walk for river woods, birds and spring flowers rather than a summit or a big overlook. If flowers are your reason for coming, aim for late April to mid-May, before the trees leaf out.
Along the Little CalumetThe path is packed dirt and clay, with the river nearby through the trees and short footbridges…
The path is packed dirt and clay, with the river nearby through the trees and short footbridges along the route. Its bends and fallen trees are part of the scenery: erosion eats away at the riverbank and can topple trees into log jams. Keep to the marked path and respect any signed closures; wandering off damages fragile habitat.
The spring showMost years, the woodland flowers peak from late April through mid-May.
Most years, the woodland flowers peak from late April through mid-May. Look for trillium, spring beauties and Dutchman's breeches before the canopy closes in. These early flowers do not hang around; some spring ephemerals can bloom for only a few days. For a spring photo, get down to flower height and use the woods behind the bloom as context instead of trying to photograph the whole understory at once.
A rookery without the heronsMore than 100 Great Blue Heron nests once lined this stretch, and the colony nested here for…
More than 100 Great Blue Heron nests once lined this stretch, and the colony nested here for about 60 years before moving to new grounds. The name has stayed, but don't count on seeing herons. Kingfishers, woodpeckers and migrating or nesting warblers still use these woods. Visitors also report that the birdsong and spring flowers are the highlights.
A river that keeps changingThis part of the Little Calumet sits in a glacially shaped dune-and-wetland landscape.
This part of the Little Calumet sits in a glacially shaped dune-and-wetland landscape. The river was later channelized and ditched, leaving it lower than its natural meandering course. The banks still shift and slump, which is why fallen trunks and log jams show up along the bends.
Before you set outStart at the east gravel lot, the main access; the west lot is an alternate with only four…
Start at the east gravel lot, the main access; the west lot is an alternate with only four parking spaces. The trail has no restrooms or potable water, and a park pass is required. Dogs are allowed on a leash no longer than six feet; bikes and motor vehicles are prohibited. The dirt-and-clay surface gets very slippery when wet, and the trail is not wheelchair accessible. Mosquitoes and flies can be bad in summer, ticks are present year-round, and poison ivy may grow at the trail edges.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Indiana Dunes
85 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
48 sightingsSandhill CraneMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
114 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
23 sightingsCoyoteMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
49 sightingsBeaverMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
13 sightingsBarred OwlMost seen around 6 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Indiana Dunes. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
