ABOUT THE PARK:
Indiana Dunes State Park Gate Fee:
$7 - noncommercial vehicles with Indiana license plates, every day, including holidays.
$12 - noncommercial vehicles with out-of-state license plates, every day, including holidays.
DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 41.659540, -87.050578
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| Nature Center Parking Lot |
TRAIL MAP: HIKE DISTANCE: 9.8 miles
THE HIKE:
Day of 2 of the semi-annual drive and hike trip from New Jersey to St. Louis, Missouri.
It was a bit confusing getting started because the trail is designed to loop around the three dunes for The 3 Dune Challenge and back to the nature center but I wanted to hike a much longer loop which incorporated the dunes so it was trial and error to get started hitting the three dunes first. I wanted to do that early on because that is the main attraction and it gets busy even on a weekday and it is ascending on loose sand which apparently takes over twice the energy over climbing on solid ground. I would say so - it was EXHAUSTING!
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| We worked our way around the campground because the trail I had planned on taking ended up going through the campground and was posted "campers only". |
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| After going the perimeter of the campground, found a trail behind the restroom that would take us to the lake and dunes. |
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| Beach walk along Lake Michigan. You tend to forgot it's a lake, not an ocean. |
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| Brodie was jumpy when waves crashed but he eventually got used to it. |
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| Heading up to the dunes for the challenge. This was MUCH steeper than it looks in the picture. |
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| At the top, Trail 8 and ... |
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| ... Mt. Holden. |
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| On to the next one. |
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| Up a long flight of steps to ... |
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| ... Mt. Tom. |
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| View from Mt. Tom. The Chicago skyline was visible farther to the right but it was hazy early in the morning. We'd get a clearer view later on. |
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| This is the way back down to the nature center but we had another dune to climb. |
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| So back down the steps leaving Mt. Tom. |
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| The final dune, Mt. Jackson. |
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| Now on to the rest of the hike. |
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| Finally out of the loose sand and on hard packed trails. There was more sand in my shoes than I realized. |
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| After another brief climb up, views of Lake Michigan from above ... |
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| ... before descending back down to the beach and loose sand. The shoes came off this time. |
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| Chicago skyline across Lake Michigan. |
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| Another stretch of beach walk ... |
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| ... before heading back up to the trails and out of the loose sand again. |
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| Trail 2 has a very long section of boardwalk through a lovely marsh. |
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| On the drive out we stopped at the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center to claim our challenge sticker. |
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| We worked hard for this climbing in that loose sand. |
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Hi Daniela -- excellent hike! I *loved* the shots of the Chicago skyline! And great pic of the emptying of the shoe of the sand...I play beach volleyball in Brigantine in the summer, and wear sand shoes...and find myself doing the same thing periodically, especially when the sand is dry; and I do a very "comprehensive' dumping of sand before returning home, lest I invoke the wrath of my wife if I track sand into the house! LOL! Also, I've seen you do plenty of "road walks", but I like the idea of "*beach* walks" much better! A final note: Go Brodie!! :-)
ReplyDelete-- Jim
I rarely get blisters but had 3 after this hike from all that sand in my shoes. There is no getting it all out and what is left behind is like walking with sandpaper between your toes. Ouch! But a different and fun kind of hike nonetheless.
DeleteHi Daniela. The most interesting park. I love the lake/beach photos. Walking through sand is very difficult. I use to walk with Abby at Sandy Hook all the way at end of park. Never knew to where sandal's, bare foot or my hiking boots. In any case, very tiring. Have a good next hike. Looking forward to seeing the photos.
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