Bailly Chelberg Loop Trail - Indiana Dunes National Park

There are several trails in the Bailly Homestead and Chelberg Farm area of Indiana Dunes National Park. We walked a few of them as shown on the map below during our October 2019 trip to the park. According to the park trail map, this should have been a 1½ mile loop, but my GPS shows it to be slightly over 2 miles. All-in-all, it was an interesting short walk in the woods.

GPS street map

Looking back toward the parking lot

Volunteer office and restrooms

Reaching the loop, we turned right...

...and stayed on the mostly level ground

Trail junction for the parking lot

Another view of the parking lot

Staying on the loop, we approach...

...the Chelberg Farm's maple syrup shed

Path to the picnic area

Approaching the rear of the Chelberg Farm house

Leaving the Chelberg Farm, we rejoin the loop trail

A sturdy bridge spans the drainage

Bench and stairs down into the gully

Descending into the gully

Bridge and boardwalk

A pair of bridges cross and re-cross the creek

Unnamed stream

Climbing out of the gully

Looking back

Straight leads to the cemetery, left keeps us on the loop

View of the creek from the bridge

Typical trail conditions

Fall foliage

Keep left at this fork to stay on the middle loop

Transition from single lane to single file

Keep right as inner loop enters from left

The western half of the trail is single track

Continuing through the understory

More forest

Light at the end of the tunnel

Bailly Homestead

Back to a wide path

Open forest

Another bench

Tree trunk turned into a water bar

Returning to the volunteer office

Entry to Indiana Dunes National Park is free. However, an expanded amenity fee of $6 daily is collected at West Beach from the Friday of Memorial Day weekend through the Monday of Labor Day weekend from 8:00 am to as late as 7:00 pm Central Time. This fee is used to provide the bathhouse and lifeguard service.

The park website is https://www.nps.gov/indu/index.htm.