Pinhook Bog in the Indiana Dunes National Park is home to several different orchids and carnivorous plants. The bog trail is only open in conjunction with park ranger led hikes that happen throughout the summer. Typically they start at 8am on Saturdays meaning I have to get up at 5:30am to make it in time, but it is worth getting up early for.
The first unusual plant you encounter as you enter the bog is the carnivorous Pitcher Plant. The body of the plant contains water and digestive enzymes. Insects become trapped inside and are digested, providing nutrients for the plant.
The flower of the Pitcher Plant blooms atop a stalk high above the bug eating pitcher.
This fly is resting on the lip of the pitcher, apparently unconcerned by the prospect of falling in and becoming a meal for a plant.
Bogs are fascinating places, full of moss and water. What looks like solid ground is actually wet, spongy moss out of which this Pitcher Plant is emerging.
A little further down the trail from the Pitcher Plants you may find Orchids depending on the time of year. I was out on the trail in late spring at the start of the Pink Lady Slipper bloom.
This was the only Pink Lady in bloom on this day. I photographed it enough it was probably ready to get a restraining order on me.
At the end of the trail you can find a lot of Sundew, another carnivorous plant. This plant is covered in long stalked glands that excrete a sticky liquid that both attracts and traps insects.
Sundew grows in impressive large patches. On this day the largest concentrations of plants were a good ways off the trail, the few that were close enough to photograph well were much smaller in extent.
The third Carnivorous plant found in the bog is the aquatic Horned Bladderwort. Unlike the Pitcher Plant and Sundew which trap insects that land on them, Bladderwort has numerous small sacks which are able to suck in small organisms. A more active method of capture as opposed to the more passive approach of the other two carnivores found in the bog.