Indiana Dunes National Park

May 19, 2023

This is a smaller park so I only spent one day hiking here. The park is spread across many miles of the southern Lake Michigan seashore however it is broken up into smaller chunks with two main ones that are east and west. There are city and state parks that are between sections also. Based on the trail reports, I went with two smaller areas of the western section. The first place I stopped was West Beach. I can see how this is very crowded in the summer. There are quite nice beaches, excellent covered picnic areas and a fancy bathhouse for showers after playing in the water. I hiked 3.5 miles along three loops that included beach, dunes and Long Lake. Long lake is long but not very scenic as it is shallow and choked with lily pads. The trails are mostly loose sand which is kind of difficult to walk in. Over the main dunes there is a boardwalk and lots of stairs which makes it easier. The wild lupine was blooming and smelled wonderful. I saw a bride and groom having wedding pictures taken on a trail near Long Lake. There were showers off and on, but nothing compared to last week.

My next hike was a drive over to the farthest western section at the Paul Douglas Miller Woods. I had to drive through a city park to get to the next section. This is a prime area for bird watchers in a unique oak forest. On this 3.5 mile hike, the only birds I recognized were a robin and white egret fishing in a small lake for lunch. This trail to the beach was a bit better until I reached the largest lake and then it was deep loose sand. I startled a cute muskrat that was swimming across the lake. He had swum across from the other side, saw me and swam all the way back! I guess I am scary for muskrats. By the time I got to the beach, there was nobody in sight and I had a very long beach to myself. The only bad part about this park is the industrial noise. The park is next to steel mills and the freight trains go past every few minutes.