INDIANA SAND DUNES NATIONAL PARK
PORTER, INDIANA: Visited November 2023
Indiana Sand Dunes National Park was established in 2019, making it one the newest parks to be added to the list. The park is quite small, sitting at only 23 square miles (a size that makes the NPS wonder if it really counts as a national park). The park runs alongside Lake Michigan and offers plenty of hiking through forests, marshes, and dunes that have been enjoyed by locals when it was a State Park
COWLES BOGGS TRAIL
Distance: 4.3 Elevation Gain: 214ft Estimated Time: 2.5 hours
Cowles Bogg Hike is a fairly popular hike. There is a parking lot at the end of short dirt road (turn right before you get to a private neighborhood).
The hike is fairly easy, like a nice stroll through the woods with nice fauna and flora. The hike ends overlooking the dunes and Lake Michigan
This hike also gives you a straight view of the powerplant, which is strange, but easy to ignore.
I, sadly, got here a little late (due to daylights saving time when it got dark at 4:30!) so I only hiked about a mile there and back
It was still very pretty and the sunset was nice to see! Very easy to do a little trail run!
DUNE SUCCESION TRAIL: WEST BEACH
Distance: 1 mile Elevation Gain: 140 ft Estimated Time: 45 minutes
This trail is probably the most “iconic” when you see pictures of Indiana Sand Dunes. This trail is paved part of the way with a boardwalk, LOTS of stairs, and a walk through the sand.
If you go left at the parking lot, the first part of the walk takes you to a “bath house” (CLOSED DURING THE WINTER) that had bathrooms, showers, and maybe even a place for vendors.
Past the bath house is a bridge with stairs down to the beach where you can see Chicago on the other side of Lake Michigan! I went during sunset which was an absolutely GRORGEOUS time to go. I believe you “can” swim during the summer, though the waters can be pretty rough.
If you were to go right at the parking lot (or continue down the beach if you go to the bath house first), you will hit stairs and boardwalks.
This area is also known as Diana’s Dune. Diana was an iconic woman who left her busy life in Chicago to live in a shack on the sand dunes across the river. You can read all about her in the visitors center as well as at the bath house. This area has the “Diana of the Dune’s Dare”. If you complete the hike, read about Diana (also named Alice), a post a selfie, you will receive a badge of honor for following in her footsteps!
Gary, Indiana
Former Murder Capital of the United States, birthplace of Michael Jackson
Just right next door (actually where I stayed without knowing it) is Gary, Indiana. This city was once a striving city, known for it’s steel industry with over 200,000 residents. But eventually, it became known as the murder capital of US in 1993. By 2010, over 2/3rds of the city was abandoned. Now, it is home to under 60,000 residents.
This city, although still “alive”, feels more like a ghost town. With buildings, including banks, schools, churches, and homes becoming completely empty and falling to decay, it gives a very erie vibe to the place.
Although the murder rate has “dropped”, this city is not for the fate of heart (or Instagramers looking for urban wreckage for a photoshoot), The old buildings, although incredible and “beautiful” in their own way, littered with belongings, history, and street art, are still very dangerous. The foundations are crumbling, roofs are caving in, and many of the buildings are not completely “abandoned”. If you chose to explore, PLEASE be careful.
Indiana Sand Dunes National Park is interesting and pretty in it’s own way. In my personal experience, it doesn’t offer the aww and beauty other National Parks, especially those in west, have though. Most of the park is sandwiched between large, industrial plants throwing smoke in the air. It felt very urban. It is nice to know the park is a protected area, but with it’s neighboring city being Gary, Indiana, the murder capital of the US, I don’t know if I would travel exclusively to see this park. Although, if you are trying to see them all (like me), you find yourself in the area, or you really love creepy, abandoned towns, it is worth a quick visit.
