Indiana Dunes State Park

Indiana Dunes State Park is the spectacular heart of the Indiana dune country, a 2,182-acre park enclosed within the larger Indiana Dunes National Park on the southern shore of Lake Michigan. Famous for its towering, dramatic dunes — the highest in the Indiana dunes, including Mount Tom rising nearly 200 feet above the lake — the state park offers a beautiful swimming beach, a rugged dune-and-forest nature preserve, and some of the most challenging and rewarding dune hiking in the Midwest.

Its signature adventure is the grueling ‘3 Dune Challenge,’ a 1.5-mile trail that climbs the park’s three highest dunes — Mount Tom, Mount Holden and Mount Jackson — for sweeping views over Lake Michigan. Beyond the dunes lies a designated nature preserve of remarkable biodiversity, with trails winding through forested back-dunes, wetlands and blowouts. With its high dunes, fine beach, challenging trails and rich nature, Indiana Dunes State Park is a beloved Lake Michigan destination and the dramatic centerpiece of the dunes.

Indiana Dunes State Park offers a beautiful Lake Michigan swimming beach, the famous and grueling 3 Dune Challenge that climbs the park’s three highest dunes, and miles of trails through the dunes, forested back-dunes, wetlands and a rugged nature preserve. Hiking, dune-climbing, swimming, sunbathing, birding, picnicking, camping and a nature center are the draws. With the highest dunes in the Indiana dune country, a fine beach and challenging trails, the state park is a premier and beloved destination for hikers, beachgoers and nature lovers on the lake.

Summer is the busy peak for the beach, swimming and dune-climbing, when the lake is warmest, while spring and fall bring spectacular bird migration and milder weather for the strenuous dune trails and the 3 Dune Challenge. Fall adds color to the forested dunes. Winter brings quiet beauty, shore ice and birding. The beach is busiest on summer weekends, so arrive early; spring and fall migration and cooler hiking are highlights. The park rewards visits year-round with dunes, beach and rich nature.

Indiana Dunes State Park, established in the 1920s, was one of the early victories in the long campaign to save the Indiana dunes from industrial development, preserving the highest and most dramatic dunes and a stretch of Lake Michigan beach for the public. Its creation predates the surrounding national park by decades. The dunes here were among those studied in the pioneering ecological work of the region. Long a beloved getaway for the Calumet region and Chicago, the state park remains the dramatic centerpiece of the Indiana dune country.

Indiana Dunes State Park contains the highest dunes in the Indiana dune country, including Mount Tom at nearly 200 feet above Lake Michigan, built by the Ice Age and the ongoing work of wind and waves piling sand along the shifting lakeshore. ‘Blowouts’ — great bowls scoured by the wind where vegetation is lost — reveal the dynamic, living nature of the dunes, while older dunes inland are stabilized by forest. The interplay of glacial sand, wind and the great lake created the towering, dramatic dunes that define the park.

The dunes, forests, wetlands and beach of Indiana Dunes State Park host white-tailed deer, foxes, coyotes, and an exceptional diversity of birds along the Lake Michigan flyway, including warblers, waterfowl, raptors and rare migrants, while the varied habitats shelter reptiles, amphibians and a remarkable range of insects and plants. The park’s nature preserve protects especially rich and undisturbed habitat. The meeting of diverse species makes the state park, like the surrounding national park, an outstanding place for wildlife watching and birding.

Indiana Dunes State Park shares the extraordinary biodiversity of the Indiana dune country, with its designated nature preserve protecting some of the richest and most undisturbed habitat — dunes, blowouts, forested back-dunes, wetlands and rare plant communities — at the crossroads where northern, southern, prairie and forest species meet. The dynamic living dunes and the stabilized forests illustrate the dune-succession that founded ecological science. Protecting the dunes and the nature preserve sustains an exceptionally biodiverse and scientifically significant landscape on Lake Michigan.

Indiana Dunes State Park, with its towering Mount Tom, its famous 3 Dune Challenge and its beautiful beach, holds a cherished place as the dramatic heart of the Indiana dune country and an early triumph of the long fight to save the dunes. A beloved Lake Michigan getaway for generations of Calumet-region and Chicago visitors, and a centerpiece of the region’s ecological and conservation heritage, the state park embodies the wild grandeur and rich nature of the dunes.

Indiana Dunes State Park is enclosed within Indiana Dunes National Park on the Lake Michigan shore in northwestern Indiana near Chesterton, reached via State Route 49 off Interstate 94 and US-12, about an hour from Chicago. A state park entrance fee is charged (separate from the free national park). The park offers a beach, bathhouse, the 3 Dune Challenge and other trailheads, a campground, a nature center and picnic areas. Check the Indiana Department of Natural Resources for fees, beach access and conditions before visiting.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources protects the high dunes, beach, forests, wetlands and the biodiverse nature preserve of Indiana Dunes State Park. Visitors help by staying on designated trails (off-trail travel destabilizes the living dunes and tramples rare plants), respecting the nature preserve and wildlife, swimming only when safe, packing out everything, protecting water quality, and following park rules. Protecting the dramatic dunes and the rich nature preserve sustains both the ecology and the scenic grandeur of the centerpiece of the Indiana dune country.

Lake Michigan’s currents and waves can be dangerous, especially in high winds — swim only at the designated beach when conditions are safe, heed warnings and flags, and never enter dangerous surf, as drownings have occurred. The 3 Dune Challenge and dune trails are strenuous, climbing steep, loose sand that is hot in summer; carry plenty of water, wear sun protection, and pace yourself. Watch footing on steep dunes, supervise children near the water, and be mindful of ticks and poison ivy in the wooded areas.

A state park entrance fee is charged. Stay on designated trails to protect the fragile living dunes and rare plants; off-trail dune travel is restricted, especially in the nature preserve. Swim only at the designated beach when open. Camp only in the designated campground. Pets must be leashed and restricted on the beach. Drones generally require authorization. Collecting plants, animals or sand is prohibited. Pack out all trash. Check the Indiana Department of Natural Resources for current rules, fees and conditions before visiting.

Indiana Dunes State Park is surrounded by Indiana Dunes National Park, with the towns of Chesterton and Porter, the Calumet region’s cities, Michigan City and the broader Lake Michigan shoreline nearby. Chicago is about an hour west, reachable by the South Shore rail line. The state park and the enclosing national park together anchor the remarkable Indiana dune country, where towering dunes and extraordinary biodiversity meet the great lake, an easy and dramatic nature escape from the city.

Take on the famous 3 Dune Challenge — a short but grueling 1.5-mile climb over the park’s three highest dunes for sweeping Lake Michigan views — and cool off afterward at the beach. Carry plenty of water for the hot, strenuous sand, wear sun protection and good shoes, and stay on trails to protect the living dunes. Visit in spring or fall for birding and cooler hiking, arrive early on summer weekends, bring the entrance fee, and explore the rugged nature preserve.