Taiga is a word of just two syllables, and yet it connotes remoteness. Its synonym – boreal – is slightly more familiar, though it too conjures the distant, the mysterious. But if you travel to the Great Lakes, to the national lakeshores that line the southern shores of those inland oceans known as Superior and Michigan, you can find yourself deep in the coniferous forests, the taiga or boreal forests, more familiar to the Canadian landscapes to the north.

The National Park Service will offer ranger-guided hikes on Mount Baldy this summer at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. The hikes will use a trail on the western edge of the dune that has been determined to be safe from holes.

With no available money to truck in 74,000 cubic yards of sand to replenish one of their beaches, officials at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore are hoping fencing and vegetation will help them preserve a beachfront that storms last fall took a big chunk out of.

Winter isn't a slow season at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore on the shores of Lake Michighan. The park has a long list of activities planned for the winter months.