Do you love the great outdoors? Take a hike! Vandolah Nature Preserve (16151 Tother Road, Leo, IN 46765) is a wonderful refuge in this busy world. Owned by The Acres' Land Trust, this preserve contains 47 acres (45.5 of the 47 acres have been dedicated through IDNR's Division of Nature Preserves) with a 1.5 mile loop trail.
Allen County ACRES Sites
Away from computers, phones and automobiles nature's balm will soothe your soul! Take a hike down steep ravines, through old fields to a bluff with views of Cedar Creek As you walk you may see some Great Blue Herons, Green Herons, Hooded Mergansers, and Wood Ducks in the preserve's marsh. You might even see some deer, raccoons, beavers, minks and foxes. No matter what you see, your soul will be satisfied.
You can hike rain or shine, so dress according to the weather and possibly muddy trails. No gear is necessary to enjoy the preserves! Just bring your curiosity, sense of discovery and maybe a companion.
ACRES' Land Trust properties are free to the public. So, a hike at The Vandolah Nature Preserve in any families' or person's budget.
Dustin, Johnson and Whitehurst Preserve
This trail takes visitors through three nature preserves in the Cedar Creek Corridor— the largest forested corridor remaining in Allen County. Tom and Jane Dustin, Robert C. and Rosella C. Johnson, and Whitehurst nature preserves provide critical habitat for wildlife, including river otters and bald eagles. Starting at the Tom & Jane Dustin Preserve parking lot, visitors can access the loop trail on either side of the red barn. The trail winds through meadows and woodlands, passing a wetland filled in springtime with horned bladderwort and the call of spring peepers. The southwest portion of this trail follows a bluff 80 feet over Cedar Creek, one of only three designated Indiana Natural, Scenic and Recreational Rivers. The ACRES office is located at this preserve. Built on a bluff high over Cedar Creek, the office was originally the home of Tom and Jane Dustin, two of ACRES founding members.
TRAIL DESCRIPTION
Length: 1.5 miles
Category: Hike
Type: Loop
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate.
McNabb-Walter Nature Preserve
This preserve protects a picturesque high south bank of the St. Joseph River, the ravines of Davis Fisher Creek and an old-growth maple woods with sugar maple, tulip, red and white oak, beech, ash and sycamore. Spring brings a carpet of wildflowers beneath the trees: spring beauty, large-flowered trillium, cut-leaved toothwort and many more. Alwilda “Wilda” Walter cherished this land to which she had a lifelong connection. Born on the McNabb homestead in 1903, she and her husband, Martin Walter, purchased her parents’ home and farm in 1944. The property’s sugar maple woods was used for a maple syrup business, and today there are still remnants of the sugar camp. In 1982, the couple donated the old homestead and farm to ACRES to forever protect the special place they called home.
TRAIL DESCRIPTION
Length: 0.9 miles
Category: Hike
Type: Loop
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
Mengerson Nature Preserve
Tucked between a residential area and a bustling shopping center, this urban preserve was originally part of the Carl Mengerson family farm. The wooded plot was gifted to ACRES in 1989. At this preserve, visitors will see different stages of forest succession, from an open meadow with stands of hawthorn and gray dogwood, to a mature forest of sugar maple, beech, oak and shagbark and shellbark hickory. The reserve plays an important role in absorbing stormwater runoff and providing a sanctuary for plants and animals. In the spring, seasonal pools of water called vernal pools provide “nurseries” where many species begin their life cycle, including frogs, salamanders and dragonflies. The trails at this forested wetland are often muddy, so be sure to wear appropriate footwear.
TRAIL DESCRIPTION
Length: 1 mile
Category: Hike
Type: Loop
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
Blue Cast Springs
Located along the banks of the Maumee River, Blue Cast Springs is in an area with a rich history of Native American settlement. Several ravines running through the upland forest feed into the river. Bluffs 30 feet high offer vistas of the river and one of its islands. Large trees along the riverbank are home to an active blue heron rookery. This property was the site of a natural spring once thought to have healthful properties. In 1901, New Haven businessman Henry F. Schnelker purchased the land where he bottled and sold spring water and aspired to open a sanitarium. Although later owners realized his dream, the enterprise was short-lived. Financial troubles closed the sanitarium by the 1920s, and it later fell into disrepair. Today visitors can still see the building’s foundation.
TRAIL DESCRIPTION
Length: 1 mile
Category: Hike
Type: Loop
Difficulty: Easy
Vandolah Nature Preserve
Although the hum of Interstate 69 is ever-present at this preserve, the woods and wetlands here serve as reminders of how this area looked before the highway and subsequent development transformed the region. James and Rebecca Vandolah moved to the area in 1837, raising a large family on the homestead. The property remained in the family for four generations before the Vandolahs’ great-grandson, (Charles) Byron “Barney” Stellhorn, gifted the land to ACRES. Visitors can enjoy views of Cedar Creek from a high escarpment, as well as trails through old fields, by a marsh and across ravines. Beneath the trees, twinleaf, hepatica, Dutchman’s breeches, bloodroot and rue anemone bloom in spring, and in the wetland, wood ducks and great blue and green herons are frequently seen.
TRAIL DESCRIPTION
Length: 1 mile
Category: Hike
Type: Loop
Difficulty: Difficult
Bicentennial Woods
This is hill country, carved by glaciers and covered with towering oaks, hickories and sycamores, some more than 200 years old. This area was shaped by water gushing from a rapidly melting glacier more than 10,000 years ago. The meltwater dumped its sediment load at Bicentennial Woods, creating the preserve’s sandy hills. This nature preserve is part of the Cedar Creek Corridor, the largest forested corridor in the region. The mature forests found here are uncommon in our region today. Some of the largest oak trees in Bicentennial Woods sprouted during the Civil War. A variety of woodland birds can be seen and heard in spring and summer. Spring wildflowers include wild geranium, bloodroot and Jack-in-the-pulpit.
TRAIL DESCRIPTION
Length: 2 Miles
Category: Hike
Type: Loop
Difficulty: Difficult
Spring Lake Woods and Bog
Spring Lake Woods and Bog has long been recognized as significant to preservationists due to its sphagnum bog, orchids, pitcher plants and plant life distinctive to northern muckland woods. The preserve protects the shoreline of Lake Everett, Allen County’s only natural lake. It is also home to the rare four-toed salamander and features distinctive plant life including cypress-knee sedge, skunk cabbage and large cinnamon ferns. Deep in the bog, plant life is sensitive, and the ground is not solid enough for trails. The bog smells like rotten eggs and is surrounded by poison sumac. To protect the bog, this preserve’s trail does not go near the bog.
TRAIL DESCRIPTION
Length: 0.7 miles
Category: Hike
Type: Loop
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate