Indiana's Surprising Coastline: Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

3/6/2013

Yes, Indiana does, in fact, have a coastline. A whole 40 miles of it! And 15 out of that 40 is protected as a part of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. The park is situated at the southern tip of Lake Michigan and makes for an excellent day trip from Chicago - it's just an hour's drive from downtown.

See? Indiana DOES have a coastline!

Indiana's seacoast is popular with both humans and sea gulls.

The most notable feature of the park are, of course, the dunes. The dunes formed at the end of the last ice age as the glacier that covered the entire Great Lakes region receded. The melting glacier left behind Lake Michigan (which started off a lot bigger than it is today), as well as a LOT of debris. The water level in the early Lake Michigan fell in several stages over the millennia following the end of the ice age, and as it did the shoreline moved northward. The dunes, as well as the area surrounding them, are made of the rocks and sand that were left behind.

My visit to the park took me to the eastern end of the National Lakeshore, where you can find one of the park's taller dunes, Mount Baldy, which stands an impressive 126 feet tall. You see the dune right away, as the parking lot is right up against it.

Your first view of Mount Baldy from the parking lot

One of the most remarkable things about the dunes here is that they are STILL MOVING. Not fast enough for you to sit there and see it happen, but still.

Science Lesson: How does a sand dune move? Well, the prevailing winds come in from the direction of Lake Michigan, and as these strong winds blow, they pick up and carry grains of sand and dust up the windward side of the dune (the side facing the lake), and blow it over the top where it then rolls down and settles on the leeward side (the side opposite from the lake). The leeward side faces the parking lot, so that's the side we're looking at here. So from our perspective, the dune is moving toward us.

All those trees you see seemingly growing out of the side of the dune? Well, when they first sprouted, they were on flat ground and the dune was standing behind them, much closer to the lake. In the time it's taken those trees to grow, the dune has moved inland enough to subsume over half of their height! Eventually, the dune will move far enough forward to completely cover them in sand. It will take years, but it will happen.

a tree half submerged by the dune

another tree awaiting the inevitable

If you walk back towards the entrance of the parking lot, you'll find the roundabout trail that takes you up to the top of the dunes, and over to the lakeshore. The path to the top is somewhat steep (and, of course, made of sand) so it might be a difficult trek for anyone with mobility issues, but there is a lower and gentler path to the lakeshore that accesses the lakeshore by going around the dune's peak instead of over it. But if you can manage the climb, the views from the top are spectacular! So spectacular that I'm just going to shut up and let the views speak for themselves.