I haven’t quite figured out how you hide over 21,000 acres of wild land from the public, but as I stood under the big blue sky on a massive prairie in Newton County, there was plenty of elbowroom.

In an area measuring over 30 square miles, I ran into no other hikers on a beautiful, sunny Saturday morning.  It is obvious that the area is suffering from some kind of identity crisis.

For those who appreciate solitude, that is a good thing.

My weekend ramble would explore the area surrounding the relatively new Kankakee Sands nature preserve.  At over 7200 acres alone, the Nature Conservancy-owned preserve serves as the anchor for a huge area of publicly accessible land along the Indiana-Illinois border between Kentland and the Kankakee River.

The preserve was acquired in 1996 and serves to link up the 9000-acre Willow Slough Fish and Wildlife area with Beaver Lake State Nature Preserve, Conrad Savanna and Conrad Station preserves, along with Iroquois County Conservation Area and Hooper Nature Preserve across the Illinois border.  Together, the goal is to restore a “landscape scale” wetland and tallgrass prairie in this otherwise agricultural area.

The area of Kankakee Sands was actually submerged 150 years ago under the shallow waters and marshland of Beaver Lake.  Beaver Lake was Indiana’s largest natural lake at nearly seven miles long (actually an extension of the massive Grand Kankakee Marsh) but was drained in 1870’s for agricultural purposes.  With human habitation and roads encroached in the area, it is impossible to restore the lake and wetlands but the Nature Conservancy, Indiana Department of Natural Resources and other public/private partners are working to restore a large-scale version of the northern Indiana landscape as it existed before the steel plow.

Centered on U.S. 41, the preserves offer miles of off-trail hiking for those who enjoy unfettered rambling.  Willow-Slough also offers fishing in 1200-acre J.C. Murphy Lake along with hunting and camping opportunities.  Just north of these areas is LaSalle State Fish and Wildlife Area that also offers similar activities along the Kankakee River.

All told, the area offers a rich array of recreational opportunities that are relatively unknown by most Hoosier outdoor enthusiasts.

Actually, I did see a few fisherman and campers at Willow Slough but the only talking I heard the entire day was my own voice echoing among the rare black oak savanna at Conrad Station.

Conrad Station was actually a town built by land baron Lemuel Milk, the man behind the draining of Beaver Lake.  As fortunes changed and family died out, the farm was sold off in pieces and the town died.  Later, the area became a Nature Conservancy preserve.

The sole trail through the area wanders under the black oaks and to the site of Conrad Station.  Aside from a historical marker explaining the area and a few scattered foundations, the town exists only in memory.

Fire is the primary factor that shaped the ecosystem of prairie and savanna.  As you hike through Conrad Station, the downed tree limbs and stumps are blacked from fires used to control undergrowth.  In fact, my light-colored pants bore black charcoal marks after brushing against downed limbs.

One of the biggest surprises on the hike was the incredible array of plant life in residence under the oak canopy.  Though the forest is very open, an incredibly diverse array of wild flowers is thriving in the sandy soil of the preserve.  The Conservancy is working to restore more than 400 plant species and has already cultivated 121 species for replanting.

Animal life was also very apparent.  I saw several bird species I couldn’t identify along with deer, squirrels and other critters.  According to one source, the number of amphibian populations in the area has increased from 14 in 1998 to 172 in 2003.

Though the landscape looks thin and uninviting to the untrained eye, the biological diversity is incredible.

The bulk of the land is prairie in various stages of restoration.  With sightlines measured in miles, it is hard to feel true solitude when barns and vehicles can be seen in the distance but if you ignore such far-off distractions, the area is truly a unique experience for those who enjoy wide-open spaces.

I hiked one area that had obviously been under cultivation just a few years ago.  Among the prairie plants were bits of cornstalk and broken cobs.  I hiked out into the area to visit a “blowout,” an area where topsoil had been blown away to expose a pure sand deposit underneath.  To stand in the untracked sand as wind blew silently through the surrounding stalks of last-year’s prairie grass, the Information Age seemed very far away indeed.

If you’re looking for a unique landscape with plenty of breathing room to enjoy yourself from horizon to horizon, head north to Kankakee sands.

Just don’t tell anybody.

Map to Kankakee Sands:

Conrad Station