Parking
Start at the paved Pinhook Bog Trailhead Parking Lot, 957 N. Wozniak Road. Passes are required. The lot has two picnic tables and a seasonal portable toilet; no potable water.
Overview
About Pinhook Bog Trail
Why go
- A rare chance to walk over a floating, quaking bog with a ranger.
- Carnivorous plants and orchids make this short walk unusually distinctive.
Heads up
- Access depends on authorized summer-weekend ranger programs.
- The floating boardwalk dips underfoot; waterproof boots are advised.
The bog habitat supports carnivorous pitcher plants and sundew, ferns and orchids such as pink lady's slipper. Bloom timing varies, so ask the ranger what is showing during your visit rather than counting on a particular flower.
Parkwolf’s verdictPlants worth looking forMap & elevation
The route
Loading the Indiana Dunes map
Full mapElevation830–889 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
4 active Indiana Dunes alerts
- ClosureTrail closures and flooding-related access limitsSeveral Indiana Dunes trails are closed or partially inaccessible because of tree damage, riverbank collapse, flooding, and Marquette Greenway construction; stay out of closed sections and use…Official details
- ClosureBailly/Chellberg Trail stair sections closedPortions of the Bailly/Chellberg Trail with stairs are closed through October 30, 2026, to allow completion of a boardwalk replacement project. Check current park conditions before setting out.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Indiana Dunes Tour Guide
Your drive to Pinhook Bog 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.
Recorded for this trailhead
Pinhook Bog: A Floating Plant World0:00 / 0:25
“You're approaching Pinhook Bog, where floating moss mats support insect-eating pitcher plants and sundews.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Indiana Dunes Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Heron Rookery: Come for the Spring Flowers
- 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 Pinhook Bog Trail
What you are signing up forPinhook Bog Trail is a 0.
Pinhook Bog Trail is a 0.9-mile out-and-back from the Bog Trailhead to a floating boardwalk in a quaking kettle bog. The park calls it easy and budgets about one hour. Walk in to the boardwalk and return the same way; this is not a loop.
This is not a self-guided hike. Access is limited to authorized ranger-led open houses on summer weekends, with advance approval and staff accompaniment. Confirm the program and how to join with the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center before making the drive. Passes are required at Pinhook.
Dirt first, then floating boardsA packed-dirt approach leads to the boardwalk over the bog.
A packed-dirt approach leads to the boardwalk over the bog. The boards shift and can dip below the water as you step, so waterproof boots are useful even though the walk is short. Stay on the boardwalk: the floating surface is fragile and off-boardwalk hiking is prohibited. The trail is not wheelchair accessible.
A lake left by the glacierPinhook began as a kettle lake when a block of melting glacial ice broke away and left a…
Pinhook began as a kettle lake when a block of melting glacial ice broke away and left a depression in the moraine about 10,000 years ago. With no groundwater connection, the water gradually became acidic, around pH 4. Sphagnum moss formed floating mats that support the bog's quaking surface.
The floating bog covers about 110 acres within a 580-acre park unit. It became a National Natural Landmark in 1965, and the park reports that it supports 167 native plant species, many unusual this far south.
Why the boardwalk mattersHighbush blueberry and red maple growth once shaded and dried parts of the sphagnum mat,…
Highbush blueberry and red maple growth once shaded and dried parts of the sphagnum mat, putting rare plants at risk. Park staff remove blueberry shrubs and girdle red maples to keep the bog open. From the boardwalk, look across the restored open patches beside denser thickets; that contrast shows the work in progress and makes the most distinctive view to photograph.
Starting at PinhookUse the paved Bog Trailhead Parking Lot at 957 N. Wozniak Road.
Use the paved Bog Trailhead Parking Lot at 957 N. Wozniak Road. The lot has two picnic tables and a seasonal portable toilet, but no potable water. The separate Upland Trail starts nearby, stays on higher forest ground and is open daily; dogs are allowed there on leash, but not on the Bog Trail.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Indiana Dunes
85 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
48 sightingsSandhill CraneMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
113 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.
