I Visited Nationwide Park in Midwest That Felt Like a Hidden Gem, Beachy

When most individuals consider a seashore trip within the US, they most likely think about a coastal vacation spot in locations like California, Hawaii, or Florida.

Nevertheless, I just lately visited a lovely seashore at Indiana Dunes Nationwide Park — a hidden gem proper within the coronary heart of the Midwest.

This sandy oasis combines the attraction of a coastal getaway with lush landscapes and considerable wildlife, making it the proper escape.

Indiana Dunes would not really feel like a typical nationwide park

Situated lower than an hour from Chicago, Indiana Dunes is made up of 15,000 acres of dunes, swamps, forests, and prairies. Nevertheless, it is a bit totally different than different standard nationwide parks.

Though elements of the park do certainly really feel distant and peaceable, it is situated close to one of many Ports of Indiana, a significant industrialized delivery port system.

The park can also be made up of scattered sections of land, which implies guests typically have to depart one space and drive by cities — and even previous industrial zones — to succeed in one other.

Although we handed towering smokestacks with steam billowing out of them, we additionally discovered superbly quiet stretches of sand.

The park gives a wide range of trails and distinctive seashores

Indiana Dunes options over 50 miles of various trails, from brief strolls by the sand to lengthy hikes by wetlands.

The park can also be recognized for its plant and animal variety, so there’s an opportunity to see one thing distinctive on each path. Throughout our go to, we noticed many various sorts of birds, each within the wooded space of the park and on the seashore.

My favourite hike was alongside the Dune Succession Path, which is a roughly mile-long loop with a community of boardwalks and picket steps.

We started by climbing a tall picket staircase to the highest of a dune, the place we have been rewarded with a lovely view of the shoreline. This clear line of sight disappeared shortly, nonetheless, as we ventured into the closely forested space of the woodlands.

Hidden beneath the shade of oaks, sassafras, and dogwoods, it was simple to neglect that we have been only a few hundred ft from a seashore.

We made our means by the timber till we reached the open dune space, the place the dense timber have been changed with shrubs and tall grass sticking up from the sand. From right here, it was only a brief descent to the seashore.

What actually blew me away concerning the park, nonetheless, was listening to the sounds of the sand. Sure, you learn that proper.

Indiana Dunes is among the few locations on this planet with “singing sand.” On sure days, if the situations are good, you may hear the grains of sand make a wierd, virtually squeaky sound beneath your ft.

We have been fortunate sufficient to listen to it throughout our go to — I used to be stunned by how loud it was.

Total, I used to be blown away by this park — and the way shut it actually was to Chicago

Once I was standing on the dunes looking at Lake Michigan, it actually felt like I used to be gazing into an countless ocean. So, after I noticed a skyline throughout the water, it virtually did not appear actual.

Nevertheless, Chicago is lower than 40 miles away from the park. As a result of it was a transparent day, I might clearly see the Windy Metropolis’s skyscrapers rising excessive within the distance. In my photographs, that faint skyline was the one clue that I wasn’t on a coastal seashore.

Though I wasn’t certain what to anticipate from this Midwestern nationwide park, I used to be impressed by its choices.

From serenading sands to a singular mix of metropolitan and pure landscapes, I might advocate it to anybody searching for a seashore getaway in America’s Heartland.