Indiana Dunes: a year-round wonder on Lake Michigan
The hypnotic crash of waves on Lake Michigan, the soft breeze off the lake, warm sand between your toes, it's no wonder that so many flee the frenzy of urban life and escape to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore each summer. But the park, encircling the southern stretch of Lake Michigan, is a wonder to behold year round. Two million visit yearly.
In the summer, the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore provides swimming, fishing, boating, hiking, bird watching, picnicking and more. An hour southeast of Chicago, the Indiana Dunes extends along Lake Michigan's shoreline for 25 miles from Gary, Ind., to Michigan City, Ind.
The park's 15,000 acres contain sand dunes — one, Mount Baldy, rises 126 feet — marshes, woodlands, Chellberg Farm, river and bog — so much to explore! Many enjoy hiking trails that crisscross the different terrains year round. Learn more about the various trails and download maps here. Chellberg Farm, set at the turn of the 20th century, makes a great field trip.
You can ride along the Ly-co-ki-we Trail, which is open to horses from March 16 through Dec. 14, unless the snow gets deep enough for cross-country skiing.
In the winter, visitors can still hike and cross-country ski and snowshoe; however, you can't sled or snowmobile.
The sand dunes can be accessed by car from parking lots open from 7 a.m. to dusk; however, hikers and cyclists can get in an hour earlier. Hundreds of thousands go swimming in Lake Michigan, but lifeguards are only on duty at West Beach in the state park and only from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. from the Memorial Day to the Labor Day weekends. At other times, you swim at your own risk.
The Indiana Dunes first came to national attention when Henry Cowles, a University of Chicago botanist, publicized the diversity of the sand dunes' fragile ecosystem in 1899. Even after that, many feared that manufacturers, eager for sand to use to make glass, would destroy the Indiana Dunes (as they did an even larger sand dunes, the 200-foot-tall Hoosier Slide). By 1916, hearings were held in Chicago on making the Indiana Dunes a national park, but World War I put a stop to that. The Indiana Dunes didn't become a national lakeshore until 1966.
During the summer, the Visitor Center is open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. In the winter, the center closes at 4:30 p.m. The Visitor Center is closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. The West Beach Bath House is open from 9 a.m. until dusk from Memorial Day weekend until Labor Day. All beach parking is free of charge except for a user fee at the West Beach House, which is $6 per car per day, $1 for bicyclists or walk-ins per day and $30 per bus per day.
While the Indiana Dunes is an easy drive from the Windy City, that's not the only way to get there. The Chicago and South Shore Train make stops within the park.
Posted by Ivonne Rovira
