October 16, 2017

Day at the Indiana Dunes

Last weekend I took a trip up to the Indiana Dunes State Park. The weather was very humid, but it was cloudy for the most part which helped. When we first arrived we noticed the entrance fee had gone up a bit. After doing some research later on I found all the state parks in Indiana have raised their fees to pay for new park updates. The main bathroom house was closed as well so be prepared if you are planning on visiting soon!

Once we got our map we decided to do a couple trails. The first trail we went on was a rugged trail (we are quite adventurous). Trail 8 brought us to all three of the mountains of sand. First up was Mt. Tom. It is the tallest of the three mountains reaching 192 feet above Lake Michigan. All together Mt. Tom is made up of 56 million cubic feet of sand. Getting up to the peak was a bit of a work out. There was a nice breeze once you reached the top as if Lake Michigan was rewarding you for climbing one of its camel humps.

Next was Mt. Holden. Climbing this one was a bit more difficult than the last. The trail to the top was steeper, I mean a lot steeper. We pretty much stood at the bottom and there was a wall of sand right in front of us. Nevertheless we made it.

The last mountain of sand was Mt. Jackson. Personally I thought this was the easiest to climb. Once you reach the top you can run down the 32 million cubic feet of sand back into the woods.

Seeing the three mountains took less than an hour so we decided to do Trail 10 afterwards. Trail 10 is the longest trail at 5.5 miles.

It takes you through a nature preserve areas including marsh lands and very tranquil woods area.

There’s even a lookout tower you can climb and view the marsh better.

Half of the trail is a walk on the beach if you choose.

Or you can spend that part of the trail on top of the sand dunes so the blowouts are visible.

I recommend walking on the beach first and then cutting into the woods for the last part. We chose to do the beach last and were dragging by the end. Walking on the sand for that long took a toll on our knees.