Day 1 of our Midwest Road Trip continued with a drive up to the Indiana Dunes State Park right on Lake Michigan. This is our second visit to the state park but definitely not our last. There’s just something amazing about climbing the dunes, playing in the waves and making memories at the park!

Amazon affiliate links are included which means that if you click and make a purchase, I will receive a payment.

Indiana Dunes State Park: Chesterton IN

When you drive in to the Park, you can easily find a parking spot right near the Lake. You take a short walk around the watershed area over to Lake Michigan.

There are 3 main dunes that you can climb. We climbed Mt. Tom which is the tallest of the 3 dunes in the park at 192 feet. It may not seem very high when you stand at the bottom, but as soon as you take just a few steps in the deep sand, you know you are in for a fun climb!

It may be a challenging climb, but the views are amazing!

Indiana Dunes State Park has a 15-mile coastline with sandy beaches, more than 70 miles of hiking trails and more than 350 species of birds.

Looking back to 2013

Our first visit to Indiana Dunes State Park was in 2013. On that day, the skies were blue and we could see all the way to Chicago across Lake Michigan. And look how small the kids were!

3 Dune Challenge

For those of you who are always looking for a new running trail, check out the 3 Dune Challenge!

If your idea of fun is running up the stairs of a skyscraper or doing a marathon, try The 3 Dune Challenge trail with its towering sand dunes. And if you still want more, do the flip trip – running the trail from the finish to the starting point.