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| Sunset at Indiana Dune National Park's Portage Lakefront & Riverwalk on Lake Michigan. NPS photo. |
Located in northwest Indiana on Lake Michigan’s shores, Indiana Dunes became our nation’s newest and 61st national park in February 2019. Indiana Dunes attracts about 3.6 million visitors per year, making it the seventh most visited national park.
Interstate 90 heads east from Chicago and west from South Bend, Indiana. Interstate 94 also enters the park as heading east from Chicago and then west from southern Michigan. Interstate 65 heads north from Indianapolis.
Most trails in the park can be accessed by a road intersecting either U.S. Hwy. 12 (aka as Dunes Highway) or U.S. Hwy. 20. Each runs roughly west-east between Chicago and Michigan City, Ind., right through the park’s heart. Because of that, explanations of how to reach trailheads for the featured trails begin with directions from those two cities.
If you don’t want to drive, there is a great option in Chicago for reaching the park. The South Shore Line, a commuter rail line running between downtown Chicago and South Bend International Airport, includes a Dune Park stop east of Cowles Bog and south of Indiana Dunes State Park; you can pick up the Calumet Trail at the station. From April through October, you can bring bicycles on the South Shore Line train.
The best months to day hike Indiana Dunes are May through September. Depending on the year, April and October also can be pleasant.
As with the rest of the Midwest, summers can be humid, especially July and August. Rain also can occur during the afternoon even when the morning is sunny, so always check the weather forecast before heading out.
November through March usually is too cold for day hiking. Once snow falls, some trails are used for cross-country skiing or snowshoeing. Early spring often means muddy trails thanks to snowmelt and rainfall.
Here are the park’s five must-see sights and the trails to reach them:
• Mount Baldy Summit Trail – Clamber to the top of a 12-story living sand dune on this 0.8-mile hike.
• Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk – Explore West Beach, dunes, a waterfront, fishing pier, and 900-foot breakwater leading to a lighthouse on a 0.9-mile loop.
• Pinhook Upland Trail – Discover the unique plants of a beech and maple forest and a bog on this 2.1-mile round trip route.
• Cowles Bog Trail – Enter, if you dare, a mysterious fen on a 2.85-miles round trip hike.
• Great Marsh Trail – Spot sandhill cranes and great blue herons at the largest wetlands complex in the Lake Michigan watershed on this 1.26-miles trail.
