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Outdoors: Indiana Dunes State Park Indiana Dunes State Park Beaches in Indiana? You bet - Indiana Dunes State Park is located on Lake Michigan and is home to wide beaches and mighty big sand dunes. Mount Tom is the largest of these, topping out at 192 feet above Lake Michigan. Mount Holden (184 feet) and Mount Jackson (176 feet) are nearby. On a clear night, try hiking trail #4 to the top of Mt. Tom for views of the Chicago skyline, stars, and perhaps a meteor. Trail 4 is only one of seven hiking trails in the park. The trails range in length from three quarters of a mile to 5.5 miles, and in difficulty from easy to rugged. The trail system can take you through many of the distinct habitats of the park, from the shoreline to the foredunes, dunes proper and woodland and wetland habitats farther inland. Trail #2 will take you across a boardwalk that stretches for several hundred feet over a wetland. Trail #2 is one of the best trails in the park for spring wildflowers, and visitors may be able to see such species as Spring Beauty, Prairie Trillium, Ginger, Bloodroot, Rue Anemone, and Dutchman's Breeches. Trail #10, at 5.5 miles the longest trail in the park, passes through the 1,530 acre Dunes Nature Preserve and takes hikers along most of the State Park's Lake Michigan shoreline. Other features of the park include a nature center with displays on the geological and natural history of the dunes area, a wildlife viewing area, and a well-stocked reading library. The camp ground has nearly 300 sites, camp store, flush toilets and hot showers. The campground is very popular and sites are rather close together, but in the early hours of a quiet morning you may be lucky enough to hear the call of the Barred Owl - "Who Cooks for You... Who Cooks for You All?". For daytime visitors, shelters and a picnic area are available. Swimming is permitted at the beach (in season) and there is a large bathhouse with ample parking. The season begins the Saturday before Memorial Day and ends no later than Labor Day. To Get There: Dunes State Park is located in Porter County, in northwestern Indiana. Follow Indiana 49 north from Chesterton or from the intersections of Indiana 49 with U.S. 12, U.S. 20, or U.S. 94. Indiana 49 runs directly to the park entrance. DNR's Indiana Dunes Page