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Rick's Hiking & Fun Group

4.8•2747 ratings

Beverly Shores, IN, US

3,968 members · Public group

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What we’re about

I started Rick's Hiking & Fun Group a few days after 9/11/01 to bring people together for fun, friendship and community, both outdoors and in.

At first I advertised in the Chicago Reader, then on Craig's List, and starting in 2009, on meetup. the group had 181 events before joining meetup, so you can add that number to the meetup total for the true number of events.

To view some scenes from the early days of the group from 2002-2005, see https://www.angelfire.com/trek/rickhike/ .

We do hiking, game nights, dining out, conversation salons, music events, house concerts, potlucks, etc. we hike at a leisurely pace, stop to smell the roses, and value socializing. we welcome you, please join us.

Rick

...and remember “The world is full of nice people. If you can't find one, be one.”
~Nishan Panwar.

Upcoming events

5

Tue, Oct 21 · 9:00 AM CDT
Morning Hike- St Pats Park
St. Patrick's Park, 50651 Laurel Road, South Bend, IN, US
9am CT/10am ET

This hike will be held jointly with Michiana Adventures

We will meet down by the boat launch in the parking lot. When you enter the park, turn right and stay on that road until you see the canoe rental building and the parking lot and the river. You can only enter the park off of Auten Rd. Be aware if your gps takes you into Michigan, you are going the wrong way. The parking lot is next to the river.

There is typically no charge to enter the park during the week.

We will start with a hike through Madeline Bertrand then St Pats. The hike will be at a moderate pace around 4 to 5 miles.
This is one of the county parks. They have an osprey nest and an Eagles nest.

Rhonda
2 attendees
1 seat left
Sat, Oct 25 · 9:00 AM CDT
Indiana Dunes 8, 6 or 3 miles hike
Indiana Dunes State Park, 1600 North 25 E, Chesterton, IN, US
This is 10am ET, 9am CDT

This hike will be held jointly with Michiana Adventures

Join me at Indiana Dunes 8, 6 or a 3 miles hike https://meetu.ps/e/PvvnX/DHtSM/i

We can meet at the nature center parking lot. Go through entrance and take the nature center exit at the roundabout.

There will be 3 options

Option 1 is an 8 mile hike at a good pace of 3 miles an hour. We will start on trail 8 down to the beach and take trail 9 back to the nature center. There are challenging inclines on this path.

Option 2 is an easy hike through the wetlands, this is a 3 mile hike. If you want to add trail 3 in, it would add another mile to your hike.

Option 3 is a moderate hike, we will start on trail 7 , to 10 which is a walk along the beach, then hop on trail 9 to 10 and take that to the wetlands trail 2. This should be around 6 miles with no real challenging trails.

Option 1 will
If you have an Indiana State Park Pass, this works here. If not, it’s $7 for in-state parking I believe.

Please keep your rsvp updated.
Be mindful of your own fitness level.

Those who want to go out to eat after, check out the restaurants in the area and see what sounds good.

Rhonda
19 attendees
Sat, Nov 15 · 11:00 AM CST
Dunes Heritage hike
Indiana Dunes National Park Chellberg Farm, 709-747 N Mineral Springs Rd, Porter, IN, US
if you can't find parking at the main lot, there is a huge overflow parking area across Mineral Springs rd.

meet near the washrooms at Chellberg Farm at 11 CT, 12 ET

this hike will be held jointly with

Michiana Adventures https://www.meetup.com/meetup-group-yjezdrty/

Wabash Valley Hiking & Social Group https://www.meetup.com/wabash-valley-hiking-social-meetup-group/

dear hiking friends--

today's hike features a cross section of the history of the region during the 19th and early 20th centuries. we have taken this hike every year since 2002, except for 2020.

please check the weather before departure and have appropriate clothing and equipment https://weather.com/weather/today/l/46301:4:US . bring along a lunch which we will eat on the trail, plus enough water (one quart minimum).

remember, this is a fee area--you must DISPLAY A PERMIT to park here--so before you come to the lot, make sure you study the rather Byzantine and non-user-friendly fee structure at the National Park website

https://www.nps.gov/indu/planyourvisit/fees.htm

i'm not sure how much they enforce this off season, or what the fines are, but be informed and beware.

this is a complex route, with lots of unexpected twists and turns--if you get ahead of Eileen, make sure to stop whenever you come to a junction with another trail or road, or in any place where the trail is ambiguous or confusing. also, make sure you know where your car is parked.

i also encourage you all to take and post pictures to the site. if you don't know how to post to the site, text pictures to me, and i will post them.

i decided to tweak our route so that we hit more of the points of historic interest first, and move the long walk across the prairie, over the river, and through the woods to later in the hike.

we will gather near the restrooms off the parking lot, and wait till 11:20 CT for all to arrive. then we will turn right at the valley's edge and walk a short distance till we come to the Chellberg Farm.

this is a preserved farmstead which was owned by Swedish immigrants to the region, and run in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. there are animals in the farmyard and the barn.

after that, we will ascend some bridges and stairs up a streambed and across a road to the Bailly Family Cemetery. it is quite elaborate for a pioneer graveyard, with a stonework mound and a tall wooden cross, and carved gravestones with passages from the Bible and the Apocrypha.

we will tarry there awhile, then cross Oak Hill rd, and begin the west leg of the Bailly-Chellberg trail. after a short distance, we will come to a junction where you can make a choice.

if you go left, within a half a mile, we will come to the Bailly Homestead, with preserved buildings covering about a century of construction from the family of fur trapper-trader Joseph Bailly and his descendants. we will look around for a while, then arrive back at the parking lot in 0.3 miles, for a total day's hike of 1.8 miles.

if you go right, we will walk about 3/4 of a mile through the woods, then over a boardwalk, and cross the Little Calumet river on a bridge, then ascend a hill, and cross the Mnoke' Prairie, then back over the Little Cal, and arrive at the Bailly Homestead, and back to the parking lot for a total day's hike of 4.0 miles.

hope to see you there,

Rick

directions:

from US 12, turn south on Mineral Springs rd; enter the parking lot marked "Chellberg Farm"; if the parking lot is full, there is ample overflow parking across the road; try to arrive by 11:00; we will wait till 11:20, then depart on foot.

from US 20, turn north on Mineral Springs rd; enter the parking lot marked "Chellberg Farm"; if the parking lot is full, there is ample overflow parking across the road; try to arrive by 11:00; we will wait till 11:20, then depart on foot.

to view photos of previous hikes by this group at this location, see below.

our group has actually been doing this hike since November 24, 2002, but photography was in its infancy then, so i don't have albums for those years. : )

2009 https://www.meetup.com/ricks-hiking-fun-group/photos/765778/

2010 https://www.meetup.com/ricks-hiking-fun-group/photos/1167250/

2011 https://www.meetup.com/ricks-hiking-fun-group/photos/4540442/

2012 https://www.meetup.com/ricks-hiking-fun-group/photos/11801082/

2023 https://www.meetup.com/ricks-hiking-fun-group/photos/33702266/

2024 https://www.meetup.com/ricks-hiking-fun-group/photos/34993307/
34 attendees
6 seats left
Sat, Dec 13 · 12:00 PM CST
Eileen's Third Anniversary Hike
Beverly Shores, IN, US
we must consider every winter hike to be automatically tentative, subject to weather. always check the announcement the night before and the morning of the event to make sure there have been no changes you should know about.

dear friends--

the winter solstice, with the shortest day of the year will soon be upon us, then the holiday season, followed by winter in earnest, so i hoped we could get outside and get together one last time while it still might be pre-winter.

this event will be the third anniversary of Eileen with the group. i felt a strong connection with her as soon as we met. our first major bond at her first event was that we both hiked all winter.

we will meet at 12:00 PM CST (1 PM EST) at the Beverly Shores South Shore line parking lot. though we will not be using the train, the lot is never full, and i've never heard of anyone's having problems parking there, but if you are uneasy about that, just park at the Great Marsh trail parking lot, a couple blocks to the north, and walk to the South Shore parking lot by 12:00.

note, however, that the Great Marsh parking lot is a fee area, so you will need a permit to hang on your mirror (you can purchase one at the Marathon station on the corner--but not cheap).

there is a washroom at the South Shore train station on Broadway, north of the tracks. there is also a washroom at the Marathon gas station south of the tracks.

since we'll be meeting in a (likely) cold parking lot, let's be moving by 11:20.

please check the weather before departure and have appropriate clothing and equipment https://weather.com/weather/today/l/46301:4:US . bring along a snack which we will eat on the trail, plus enough water (one quart minimum).

first we will hike the Great Marsh Trail to the wildlife viewing platform, and tarry there a bit if it's not too cold.

after that, we will go back to Broadway, turn right, and walk to Beverly rd. there is a nice Marsh overlook with benches at the corner.

be sure to take and post some pictures throughout this hike.

we will then turn left (west), and continue down Beverly, then cross Derby Ditch to the beginning of the Lost Roads. these are the old roads of the part of Beverly Shores that was condemned and torn down when the National Lakeshore was developed. the concrete and asphalt have crumbled into dust in the nearly 70 years since the park was founded, and what remains in a nice network of trails that have recently been cleared and signposted with the advent of the National Park.

we will then take the Lost Roads through the Beverly Shores woods back to the Great Marsh, and continue on the lost part of Beverly rd to Rafi's Bridge.

we will cross the bridge, and continue on Beverly to lost Carolina ave. there we will turn left and continue north to the Calumet trail. we will take the Calumet Trail to Broadway, and end up back at the train station and our vehicles.

after that we will visit the Christmas markets at the Depot and at the Goblin and the Grocer.

after that, we may have dinner at the Goblin. the details of this will be clarified as the time gets closer.

if you have symptoms of, or have recently tested positive for Covid-19 (or any other contagious disease), please DO NOT ATTEND.

to view photos from previous hikes at this location, see

2017 https://www.meetup.com/ricks-hiking-fun-group/photos/28366883/

2019 https://www.meetup.com/ricks-hiking-fun-group/photos/30533245/

2022 https://www.meetup.com/ricks-hiking-fun-group/photos/31961005/

2022 https://www.meetup.com/ricks-hiking-fun-group/photos/33052654/

2023 https://www.meetup.com/ricks-hiking-fun-group/photos/33990628/

hope to see you there,

Rick & Eileen
14 attendees

Past events

974

Organizers

Rick Malkowski and 8 others

Members

3,968

Related topics

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