We made a stop for a couple hours in Indiana Dunes as we drove from Cuyahoga Valley to Theodore Roosevelt. We stopped by the visitor center (that had just opened that day, lucky us) and asked the rangers what we could do in a short time. Luckily, they suggested precisely what we were planning on doing! For many people, the park is a great place to spend the day on the beach of Lake Michigan, a great lake whose water extends into the horizon. For us however, we wanted to go for a short hike. Here is what we recommend to do if you only have a short time at this park.
Dunes Succession Trail
This .9 mile trail has 270+ stairs and starts at the West Beach parking area. We accidentally took the trail backwards, starting at the first trail from the parking lot. You should walk down the road towards the water, enter the large entrance building (that has bathrooms) and head towards the beach. Just before you go down the stairs to the beach there is a sign on your right indicating the beginning of the trail. The box provided at the trailhead has materials on safety on the beach and information on the development of the dunes and plant communities. The trail has signs throughout it with numbers, supposedly indicating a stop for some interpretive tour. Unfortunately, we did not see any paper copies of information for the stops or information directing to the audio tour until the end of the walk. Be sure to follow the instructions at the kiosk near the parking area to get the full experience! Luckily, the information given on a number of signs near the building was enough to educate us on the processes there. The nearby education institutions use the dunes to this day to learn about the development of plant communities and forest succession!