Editor’s note: Many of these activities require reservations and/or a nominal fee. Please check in advance. Information on all DNR properties can be found at the DNR Web site: www.dnr.IN.gov

Anyone who sits around gaping at the TV during a Hoosier winter just isn’t being imaginative.
Indiana never stops offering outdoor fun — some of it will literally take your breath away!

Pokagon State Park
The home of a quarter-mile toboggan track that sends you zipping along at speeds up to 40 miles per hour, Pokagon State Park is so popular that folks will wait in line two hours for a ride in January and February.

Savvy Hoosiers will visit Pokagon’s toboggan track on November and December weekends. The track opens the Friday after Thanksgiving (November 25 this year), and operates Fridays 5-10 p.m. (an especially light time of the week), Saturdays 10 a.m.-10 p.m., and Sundays, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Closed Christmas Day and Christmas Eve, park staff offer special hours for the toboggan run between Christmas and New Year’s — call the office for details.

Of course, a seasoned skier can always avoid the toboggan run lines and just enjoy cross-country skiing every weekend from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Pokagon grooms several trails with a snowmobile and special drawn sled. Call ahead for trail conditions.

Ice skaters take advantage of Lake James when conditions permit. If you don’t mind bringing your own skates, you can skate on a cleared area in front of Potawatomi Inn, and even clear additional areas with provided shovels, if you’re ambitious.

Fred Wooley, interpretive naturalist at Pokagon, said, “When we get good winter weather; if the snow cooperates, every weekend is a winter festival up here. Between the toboggan, cross-country ski rental, winter hiking, winter picnics, snowshoe programs, interpretive events at the nature center, and our full-service lodge with a cozy wood-burning fireplace, the whole park takes on a winter festival flavor.”

Pokagon State Park is located near Angola off I-69.
260-833-2012

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