INDIANA DUNES STATE PARK

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'Indiana Dunes'
''Designation(s)''	State Park; National Natural Landmark
''Location''	Indiana USA
''Nearest City''	Chesterton, Indiana
''Coordinates''
''Area''	2,182 acres
''Date of Establishment''	1925
''Governing Body''	Indiana DNR

'Indiana Dunes State Park' is located 47 miles east of Chicago, Illinois. The beaches are bounded by Lake Michigan and the National Park Service operated Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. The 1,530 acre (66.2 km²) Dunes Nature Preserve makes up the bulk of east side of the park and includes most of the park’s hiking trails and dune landscape. This was one of the first places Richard Lieber considered when establishing the Indiana state park system. Like all Indiana state parks, there is a fee for entrance into the park.
The beaches were formed by winds coming off Lake Michigan, which drop sand when the wind hits plants, dunes, and hills. As the lake level of Lake Michigan dropped at the end of the Ice Age, the shoreline receded, and new dunes were formed along the lakeshore. Vegetation took over the previous dunes, and eventually forests grew on top of them. There are "blowouts" along the dunes, where dead stumps were revealed after the wind blew the sand from ontop of them; the most notable such blowout (geology) is Big Blowout.
Indians used the area for years; the Potawatomi and Miami tribe chief among them. The Dunes were along trade routes the Indians from the Mississippi River used to trade goods with Indians along the Great Lakes.

Contents

Notable Attractions

Facilities and activities

External links

Notable Attractions

★ Sand dunes

★ Singing sand

★ Smelt Fishing

★ Haunted Shores (Diana of the Dunes)

★ Birding

Facilities and activities

★ Swimming and Sunbathing A small portion of the shoreline is set aside as a public swimming beach and is protected by lifeguards between Memorial and Labor Day weekends. It is a clean, all sand beach. The remainder of the beach (approximately 2-miles) is open for sunbathing, beach combing, and other similar activities. Dogs are permitted on the non-swimming portion of the beach, so long as they are kept on a short leash and any feces is promptly and safely removed from the shores.

★ Beach house with concessions during summer season.

★ Observation platform near the top of Mt. Tom. Looking west, Chicago can be seen above the forested sand dunes. Gary, Indiana, is also visible.

★ Birdwatching (A bird observation tower is located along Trail 10 overlooking a marsh community.)

★ Nature Center The nature Center is a year-round facility that has a wildlife observation window, library, and a large auditorium. An interpretive naturalist provides public hikes and programs.

★ Picnic Shelters

★ Hiking trails 16 miles (26 km), some of which pass not only the sand dunes, but historic structures and wet prairie

★ Guided Hiking Tours

★ Cycling is not permitted everywhere within the park, but the Calumet Trail runs through the park and provides both cycling opportunities as well as access to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore as well as to some neighboring communities.

★ Interpretive Naturalist Service

★ Arts and crafts

★ Camping The campground was totally rebuilt in 2004. It has 140 roomy campsites laid out on sand with new, level, asphalt paved pads, 50 amp electrical hook-ups, picnic tables. Drinking water hydrants are located throughout the campground. The roads are newly laid out and paved in 2004, arranged in several connecting loops. The smoothly paved loops of roadway lend themselves to bicycling, rollerblading, etc. Most of the trees were spared during the rebuilding so that many sites have full or partial shade. There are two, large, newly built shower house/restroom structures. There is a short, level forest path to the swimming beach.
The park also has a Youth Tent Area separate from the public campground.

★ Sledding

★ Cross-country skiing

★ Sand Trapping

External links

★ Indiana Dunes State Park DNR Site

★ Dunes Nature Preserve Indiana DNR Site

★ The Prairie Club

★ Save the Dunes Council

★ Friends of the Indiana Dunes

★ Friends of the Indiana Dunes Photo Album