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

Start at the Paul H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education

Begin on the park's far west side, where a wooden, pod-shaped building sits on a dune above a pond. NPS describes 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.

NPS lists the center as 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 NPS lists for buying entrance passes (credit only).

Paul H. Douglas Trail through Miller Woods

Miller Woods is the quiet warm-up. NPS describes the trail as threading 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 NPS 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 NPS says are present year-round on park trails. Long sleeves and a tick check afterward beat any repellent story you have heard.

Picnic lunch at West Beach

Drive east to the park's most developed beach, which NPS calls the most popular destination in the park each summer. The main lot holds about 600 cars, and NPS lists year-round restrooms and drinking water at the lot, plus a picnic area, showers and lockers in season. NPS also lists seasonal snacks, coffee and ice cream, 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.

Beach time at West Beach

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. NPS reminds visitors 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.

Century of Progress houses, Beverly Shores

Five odd little houses stand along Lake Front Drive that were once exhibits at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. NPS says they were floated across the lake and trucked in to help sell lots in the resort community of Beverly Shores, and that 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: NPS asks visitors not to trespass. A slow drive past plus the story on NPS's page is plenty.

Great Marsh Trail

After a long morning, this is the easy one. NPS calls the Great Marsh 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 per NPS). It ends at an observation deck over the marsh.

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

Central Avenue Beach

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

Dune Ridge Trail from Kemil Beach

A short, sandy loop from the Kemil Beach lot. NPS describes a foredune, then oak savanna with firmer footing, then a forested dune ridge with views south over the wetlands and woods, part of what NPS credits for the park's 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; NPS lists year-round restrooms and potable water there.

Indiana Dunes Visitor Center

Close the trip where many visitors start. NPS says 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 NPS lists it among the places to buy entrance passes (cash or credit), so it also solves the fee question if you have not sorted it yet.

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