Waves, wild dunes, and plant species scientists are still discovering on Indiana’s lakefront

Indiana’s shoreline that most people drive right past

Most people think of Indiana and picture cornfields.

They don’t picture 15 miles of sand along Lake Michigan, dunes that climb nearly 200 feet, or a national park so packed with plant life that scientists still haven’t finished counting it all.

But that’s exactly what’s waiting about an hour east of Chicago. You can be on a freshwater beach with waves rolling in before lunch.

And that’s barely the beginning of what this place holds.

From a glacier’s leftovers to a national park

About 13,000 years ago, a glacier pulled back from this part of the country and left behind the Great Lakes and a thick layer of quartz and silica sand.

That sand eventually piled into the dunes you walk on today.

A University of Chicago botanist named Henry Chandler Cowles came to study the plant life here in the late 1800s and ended up helping create the modern science of ecology. Conservation efforts followed in 1899.

Indiana Dunes State Park opened in 1926, and in February 2019, the area became Indiana’s first national park, the 61st in the country.

Nearly 2,000 species packed into one park

Acre for acre, Indiana Dunes ranks among the most biodiverse parks in the entire national park system. Close to 2,000 plant and animal species call it home, and more than 1,100 of those are flowering plants.

Walk one part of the park and you’ll find arctic bearberry. Walk another and you’ll spot prickly pear cactus.

The landscape shifts between sand dunes, bogs, wetlands, oak savannas, prairies and forests, sometimes within the same short trail. Four National Natural Landmarks sit within the park boundaries.

Nine beaches, from packed to practically empty

West Beach draws the biggest crowds, and it earns them.

There’s a large parking area, a bathhouse, a concession stand and lifeguards from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

Indiana Dunes State Park beach stretches more than three miles with a restored pavilion and summer lifeguards. Porter Beach and Portage Lakefront have paved paths and easy access.

If you want something quieter, Kemil Beach, Dunbar Beach and Lake View Beach have limited parking and almost no amenities. Swim there at your own risk, but you’ll likely have the water mostly to yourself.

Climb the three tallest dunes in Indiana back to back

The 3 Dune Challenge covers 1.5 miles at Indiana Dunes State Park and takes you up Mount Jackson at 176 feet, Mount Holden at 184 feet and Mount Tom at 192 feet above Lake Michigan.

Parts of the trail hit 40-degree slopes in loose, deep sand. You’ll take two steps forward and slide one step back.

Mount Tom has a staircase to help with the climb, but the other two don’t. Finish all three and you can pick up a free commemorative sticker at the visitor center.

Mount Baldy moves four feet inland every single year

Mount Baldy is the largest living dune in the park, meaning it’s always shifting. Wind pushes it inland at about four feet a year, burying everything in its path.

When the wind later uncovers what got swallowed, it leaves behind what locals call a tree graveyard, the bare trunks of trees that vanished under sand years ago.

The whole dune summit is off-limits unless you’re on a ranger-led tour. One more thing: the sand here makes a sound when you walk on it.

People call it singing sands.

The trail named for a woman who walked away from Chicago

West Beach has more to see than just the shoreline.

A one-mile loop called the Dune Succession Trail, also known as the Diana of the Dunes Dare, climbs about 250 steps to a ridge with open views across Lake Michigan. On a clear day you can make out the Chicago skyline.

The trail takes its name from Alice Mabel Gray, who left her life in the city in 1915 and lived alone in a shack in the dunes for nine years.

Along the way, watch for prickly pear cactus growing right out of the sand.

Over 350 bird species have passed through here

Indiana Dunes sits along a major migration route, and more than 350 bird species have been spotted in the park. Songbirds, raptors, waterfowl and wading birds all move through in waves depending on the season.

The Indiana Audubon Society runs the annual Indiana Dunes Birding Festival each May, with guided tours and expert talks.

If you hike the Heron Rookery Trail along the Little Calumet River, you’ll find kingfishers, woodpeckers and nesting warblers. The state park also has an accessible bird observation tower.

Bogs, prairies and forests line more than 50 miles of trails

The national park has over 50 miles of trails cutting through habitats that don’t usually show up this close together.

Cowles Bog Trail passes through ponds, marshes, black oak savannas and steep dunes before it drops you out at Lake Michigan. The bog earned National Natural Landmark status in 1965 because of its plant diversity.

Pinhook Bog, another National Natural Landmark, is accessible only through ranger-guided hikes.

The Mnoké Prairie along the Little Calumet River Trail is an ongoing restoration of tallgrass prairie, one of the rarest ecosystems left in Indiana.

A fur trading post and a working Swedish farm, side by side

In 1822, a fur trader named Joseph Bailly set up a trading post here that became the only stopping place for travelers moving between Chicago and Detroit.

The Bailly Homestead earned National Historic Landmark status in 1962.

A short walk away sits Chellberg Farm, established by Swedish immigrants in the 1870s and still operating today as a heritage farm with the same livestock breeds the original family kept.

Each spring, the farm’s sugar shack runs maple syrup demonstrations. A 1.1-mile loop trail connects both sites through forest and ravines.

Five houses from the 1933 World’s Fair still stand on the lakeshore

After the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair closed, a developer named Robert Bartlett bought five of its showcase homes and moved them across Lake Michigan to Beverly Shores. Four crossed by barge.

The fifth, a Cypress Log Cabin, came by truck. The collection includes the House of Tomorrow, the Florida Tropical and three others, all now on the National Register of Historic Places and owned by the National Park Service.

Private residents have restored four of them under lease. Tours run one day each October, by reservation only, and they sell out fast.

A fishing pier, a riverwalk and a skyline view on reclaimed land

Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk covers 57 acres that used to be an industrial site.

The park now has an indoor pavilion, a concession stand with outdoor seating and an accessible boardwalk along the water. A fishing pier extends into the lake and draws anglers at all hours.

A short hike up nearby Pinky’s Dune puts you above the lakefront with an open view in every direction. On a clear day, the Chicago skyline sits on the horizon to the west.

The water stretches north with nothing blocking it.

Visit Indiana Dunes National Park and State Park

To get to Indiana Dunes, head to Porter County along Lake Michigan’s southern shore in northwest Indiana. The national park visitor center sits at 1215 N. State Road 49 in Porter.

Indiana Dunes State Park is at 1600 North 25 E in Chesterton. Both parks require separate entrance passes, so check the official website before you go.

The area runs on Central Time, one hour behind Eastern.

Leashed pets are welcome on most trails and beaches, just not in the swimming areas at West Beach or the state park beach.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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