Indiana Dunes: 3 Days of Dunes, Bogs and Lake Michigan Shore

Begin on the park's far west side, where a wooden, pod-shaped building sits on a dune above a pond. It has hands-on exhibits, ranger-guided hikes, a Nature Play Zone and live animals such as amphibians and snakes, and the building is a passport-stamp location. It is also the trailhead building for Miller Woods, so it is a natural place to ask a ranger about trail and beach conditions before you commit the day.

The center is open 9:00 am to 4:00 pm Central Time and closed Mondays and Tuesdays, so this plan puts the visit first on the day and works best Wednesday through Sunday. If you arrive on a closed day, skip straight to the trail; the trailhead and parking lot are open daily. This is also one of the places listed for buying entrance passes (credit only).

Miller Woods is the quiet warm-up. The trail threads wetlands, globally rare black oak savanna, open dunes and the beach, with the payoff being views over the dunes to the lake. The featured route is essentially an out-and-back of 3.4 miles round trip with only about 46 feet of climbing, so the effort is more about soft sand underfoot than about hills.

Two warnings are worth taking seriously: stay single file, because poison ivy crowds the trail edges and the lupine habitat is fragile, and expect ticks, which are present year-round on park trails. Long sleeves and a tick check afterward beat any repellent story you have heard.

Drive east to the park's most developed beach, which is the most popular destination in the park each summer. The main lot holds about 600 cars, with year-round restrooms and drinking water at the lot, plus a picnic area, showers and lockers in season. Seasonal snacks, coffee and ice cream are also listed, but treat food service as a bonus and pack a picnic to be safe.

Lifeguards are on duty only from the Friday of Memorial Day weekend through the Monday of Labor Day weekend, and the lifeguarded swimming area is the one place dogs are barred. Outside that window, swim at your own risk. Eat first, hike second: the loop hike that follows ends in full sun.

Reward the stairs with an hour on the sand. If you are here in lifeguard season, this is the park's most supervised swimming; outside it, wading and beachcombing are the plan. Visitors are reminded that glass, fires and removing plants, rocks, shells or fossils are prohibited on park beaches. Rinse off at the seasonal bathhouse showers if they are open, then head for dinner.

Five odd little houses stand along Lake Front Drive that were once exhibits at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. They were floated across the lake and trucked in to help sell lots in the resort community of Beverly Shores, and four looked so modern in 1933 that they still do today; the fifth, the Cypress House, resembles a rustic log cabin. They are on the National Register of Historic Places.

These are leased and lived in by private families, so this is a look-from-the-road stop: visitors are asked not to trespass. A slow drive past plus the story on the park's page is plenty.

The Great Marsh is the largest interdunal wetland in the Lake Michigan watershed, a critical habitat for breeding and migratory birds, and the trail is a 1.3-mile lollipop that is essentially flat (about 9 feet of gain). It ends at an observation deck over the marsh.

The main trailhead is the south lot, north of U.S. 12 on Broadway Avenue. Waterfowl and wading birds are the draw during migration; coots, wood ducks, herons, egrets and warblers are among the species seen.

A short hop west, Central Avenue Beach is where towering sand dunes back right up against the shoreline. Parking is a couple of blocks from the water; restrooms and water are seasonal. It is an excellent place to walk along the shore, which is the plan: an unhurried stroll, a look at the dune wall, and photographs.

A short, sandy loop from the Kemil Beach lot. It runs through a foredune, then oak savanna with firmer footing, then a forested dune ridge with views south over the wetlands and woods, part of what gives the park its standing among the most biologically diverse national parks. It is 0.7 miles with about 73 feet of gain as a lollipop. Kemil Beach, at the same lot, is an easy add; year-round restrooms and potable water are listed there.

Close the trip where many visitors start. The Dorothy Buell Memorial Visitor Center has lobby displays, two short orientation videos, an Eastern National bookstore and brochures on the national park, the state park and Porter County. It is a passport-stamp location, and it is listed among the places to buy entrance passes (cash or credit), so it also solves the fee question if you have not sorted it yet.

The center is open every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day; daily hours change by season (see current conditions).