Indiana - Indiana Dunes National Park

Late August 2020, and its in the middle (hopefully not the beginning!) of the COVID epidemic. My kids and I are getting stir crazy, so Angee, Matt and I decided to take a camping road trip around Lake Michigan.

We got up early on our last day and headed to the Indiana Dunes National Park. The first stop was the National Park visitor center was interesting, but because of COVID, they could not show any videos. This park is the newest National Park in the NPS system at the time of our visiting. Many of the signs were not updated yet. There were a few interpretive signs we could read, but thats about it. We learned a bit about the park and got some advice on a hike from the ranger. We headed to the West Beach, and the Dune Succession Trail Loop. What a cool hike!! Most of the hike is on a boardwalk / stair structure, going over the oldest dune first, then on the way to the beach, traveling over newer dunes. The structure was great, but the kids reminded me that we weren’t there to marvel on the stairs, that we were supposed to see the nature. Whatever.

The hike ended on the beach, which was rather crowded since it was nearing 90 degrees out, so we quickly made our way out of the park and headed towards home.