INPAWS Hike: Bendix Woods Nature Preserve May 5
Sunday, May 5 – 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. – Eastern Daylight Time (RSVP by May 2, details below)
Bendix Woods Nature Preserve, St. Joseph County, Indiana. This is a joint field trip between INPAWS (state) and INPAWS – North Chapter. View full hike report
Leaders: Scott Namestnik, Senior Project Scientist and Botanist, Cardno JFNew. Deb Marr, Associate Professor of Ecology, Indiana University–South Bend.
Trail Conditions: Some small hills on well-established trail. Pace will be slow with frequent stops to discuss the plants we see and allow time for photographs of the flora.
What To See: The spring wildflower display at Bendix Woods Nature Preserve has been described as one of the finest native floral displays in the state. Our hike will traverse old-growth beech-maple forest, within which we should see ephemeral gems including wild ginger, purple spring cress, blue cohosh, squirrel corn, Dutchman’s breeches, yellow trout lily, false mermaid, wild geranium, blue phlox, large-flowered trillium, red trillium, Canada violet, and the locally rare crinkleroot, in addition to several ferns and a diversity of mesic upland forest sedges.
Directions: Bendix Woods County Park is on the east side of Timothy Road, south of US 20, near New Carlisle, Indiana. From SR 31, take the US 20/SR 31 bypass to the LaPorte/SR 2 exit, and continue west for approximately 9 miles. Turn left (south) on Timothy Road. The Park entrance will be on your left. From the west, go east on SR 2, approximately 1 mile east of the LaPorte County line. Turn right (south) on Timothy Road to the park entrance on your left. We will meet at the Hardwoods Picnic Area parking lot inside the park.
There is a county park vehicle fee of $4.00 for out-of-county cars and $3.00 for St. Joseph County vehicles. A map of the park can be found at http://www.sjcparks.org/maps/pdfmaps/bwtrmap.pdf.
Questions? Contact Scott Namestnik at scott.namestnik@cardno.com or (574) 229-8748. An RSVP is requested by May 2 to John Smith at johnjs@goshen.edu or (574) 533-9496. We will hike rain or shine.