Indiana Dunes State Park and National Lakeshore

June 3 - June 5, 2012




We spent two nights at Indiana Dunes State Park and National Lakeshore. Having lived on the East coast all my life, it never occurred to me that there were dunes anywhere but at the Ocean. I've seen plenty of Eastern lakes, but the only sand was carted in for small man-made beaches. But, then again, I'd never seen a lake as large as Lake Michigan. And who knew that Indiana even had a coastline.

Before leaving Florida I visited my local AAA office and picked up free maps and tour books for all the states that we planned on visiting or passing through. While the tour books aren't as detailed or well written as a real guidebook that you'd buy at the bookstore, they're a good starting point. It was the AAA tour book that gave us the idea to take a look at the Indiana Dunes.

The Indiana Dunes are pretty amazing. They stretch for miles on the Southern shore of Lake Michigan, and are some of the largest dunes I have ever seen. Formed by the most recent ice age, they are constatly changing as a result of sands dropped by the unrelenting northwest winds. The back dunes are thousands of years old and have been stablized by soil and vegetation. The largest dune, 126 foot "Mt Baldy" is on the move. It advances 4-6 feet south from the lakeshore every year. Note the trees which have been submerged in it on its current path.

We took several nice hikes in the area, one in the woods and one on the lakeshore. I was amazed at how clear the water is. You might think this was the gulf coast of Florida if you couldn't see Chicago's skyline off in the distance. If you click on the picture you can enlarge it, and Chicago should be visible.



We chose the state park over the national park campground because the state park had an electric hookup. We made a mistake. The national park campsites were much larger, prettier, and more private. We would gladly have lost the electric hookup for the more scenic campground. And, to make matters worse, the state park had several campsites full of teenagers, off on their own and looking for a party. It was loud. And, naturally, there was a train nearby. In my previous description of the county park where we stayed in Chicago, I forgot to mention the train. I've decided to keep track and figure the percentage of campgrounds with train noise at the end of the trip!