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| The Dunes Succession Trail at Indiana Dunes National Park explores the four stages of dune formation and includes 250 steps to the top of one dune. NPS photo. |
Most of the park’s dunes can be reached via a day hike:
• Calumet Dunes Paved Trail – This half-mile loop heads over a dunes formed 12,000 years ago during the last ice age when Glacial Lake Chicago’s surface was at 620 feet above sea level, as opposed to Lake Michigan’s 580 feet today. The trailhead is on North Kemil Road just north of U.S. Hwy. 12 outside of Chesterton, Ind. The loop connects with the large Glenwood Dunes Trail system; to avoid getting lost, veer left at each junction. The trail is wheelchair accessible.
• Cowles Bog Trail – The third/westernmost loop of this 3.65-mile trail crosses high dunes for a great view of Lake Michigan. The dunes’ high points actually have names – Mount Bentley at 689 feet elevation is on the the east side, and the more prominent Mount Tuthill at 758 feet on the west. Pick up the trail from the parking lot off of N. Mineral Springs Road north of Hwy. 12.
• Dune Ridge Trail – Sweeping views of the Great Marsh await on this forested 0.7-mile lollipop trail near Beverly Shores, Ind. Before reaching the vista, the route heads through a foredune and oak savanna. The trail starts from the lot off of East State Park Road north of Hwy. 12 with an elevation gain of 73 feet and 4 percent average grade.
• Dunes Succession Trail – This excellent 1-mile trail takes hikers through the four stages of dune development and offers a fantastic view of Lake Michigan and the distant Chicago skyline. Hikers have to climb 250 stairs to the vista. The trail also passes through a jack pines grove, which is among the southernmost spots these trees have settled, thanks to ice age glaciers transporting seeds here thousands of years ago. Pick up the trail from the parking lots at the end of West Beach Road north of Hwy. 12 near Ogden Dunes, Ind.
• Glenwood Dunes Trail – Day hikers can walk across a forested dunes on a 2.8-miles lollipop trail. Almost all of the trail passes through a hardwood forest, known for its colorful fall foliage. Among the dominant trees are eastern black oak, white oak, sugar maple, dogwood, and yellow poplar, which top a dunes rising 640 feet above sea level. The trailhead is at the parking lot off of School House Road immediately north of U.S. Hwy. 20.
• Mount Baldy Summit Trail – Hikers can clamber to the top of a 12-story living sand dune on this 0.8-miles trail. The 126-foot-tall sand dune on Lake Michigan’s southern shore is “living,” as it shifts about 4 feet every year. Whenever the prevailing northwest wind tops 7 mph, the beach sand moves. The trail can only be accessed on a ranger-led hike but is well worth the wait at the nation’s newest national park. Times for the hour-long daytime and sunset treks on summer weekends are listed in the park's newspaper (The Singing Sands), the park’s website calendar, and its Facebook page. Park in the lot off of Rice Street north of Hwy. 12.
• Paul H. Douglas Trail – This 3.2-miles trail (formerly the Miller Woods Trail) heads through an oak savanna-covered dunes. After crossing the Grand Calumet River, the trail goes over and around towering dunes on the way to a Lake Michigan beach, offering a chance for hikers to walk through loose sand. Pick up the trail from the Douglas Center for Environmental Education in eastern Gary, Ind.
• Tolleston Dunes Trail – There’s plenty of wildlife to be seen on and around the dunes. One good spot to catch them is this 2.6-mile trail, which traverses a variety of ecosystems, including rolling sand dunes formed 4700 years ago when Lake Michigan’s water level was about 25 feet higher and reached this far inland. Among the wildlife here are cottontail rabbits, garter snakes, opossums, raccoons, red fox, squirrels and white-tailed deer. Look to the sky, and you’re likely to see great blue herons, hawks, mallards, turkey vultures, and a range of songbirds. The trail starts at the parking lot off of Hwy. 12 just west of Hillcrest Road near Odgen Dunes.
