Indiana Dunes National Park is located near the southern tip of Lake Michigan, covering 15-miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and comprised of over 15,000 acres of dunes, oak savannas, swamps, bogs, marshes, prairies, rivers, and forests. Originally authorized as the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in 1966, a name change to the Indiana Dunes National Park was approved by Congress in 2019, making it the 61st national park.
We visited the Indiana Dunes National Park in late May 2025 while staying at the Thousand Trails Bear Cave RV Campground in Buchanan, Michigan about an hour away. We started our visit at the Visitor Center and watched a short movie that highlighted the biological diversity within the park. Over 1,100 flowering plant species and ferns make their homes in the park. The wildlife is also diverse. The park is renowned for its bird life; more than 350 species have been observed here. The park is an especially important feeding and resting area for migrating land and water birds.
From this Visitor Center we headed to the Dune Ridge Trail parking lot. Before taking the 0.7 mile loop trail, we walked the short distance along the road to Kemil Beach on the shore of Lake Michigan. Waves were breaking on the sandy beach, and the vast lake seemed just like an ocean shoreline. From the shoreline we could see the skyscrapers of the distant Chicago skyline across the lake to the northwest.
The Dune Ridge trail headed south from the trailhead parking lot through sandy dunes which quickly transitioned into a dense oak savanna. The loop trail led us to the top of the dune with sweeping views of the Great Marsh. One of the Park Rangers had recommended this trail to see the many diverse habitats in a short trail. It certainly did not disappoint, and we used our Seek App to identify many of the plants and trees along the trail.
From the Dune Ridge Trail we drove along East Lake Front Drive through the resort community of Beverly Shores. Along the way we passed the five historic homes from the 1933 Century of Progress World’s Fair. The homes were built to demonstrate modern architectural design, experimental materials, and new technologies such as central air conditioning and dishwashers. The buildings were moved by barge and truck to Beverly Shores after the fair. Today the houses are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and have been leased by the non-profit organization Indiana Landmarks. Through this organization, private individuals or families have subleased the homes and are rehabilitating them.
We spent an interesting few hours at the Indiana Dunes National Park and were surprised by the biological and ecological diversity so close to the shoreline of Lake Michigan. Had we stayed longer in the area we would have returned to experience some of the other areas of the park and the more than 50 miles of hiking trails.
Photos from our visit to the park are provided below. Click on the thumbnails for the photo links.
