18-May2024 Indiana Dunes National Park

I sure did not picture the shores of Lake Michigan to have giant sand dunes and pristine waters - but that’s exactly what I found at Indiana Dunes National Park, located on the southern curve of Lake Michigan:

The national park spans about 15 miles of shoreline and wetlands. I climbed “Mt. Baldy”, a 60-foot dune that overlooks the lake. There was such an interesting juxtaposition; when you look left you see shoreline and nature, and when you look right you see the cooling tower of a large power plant. Odd to be near industry when in a national park! Interesting fact: the prevailing wins from the north are pushing the dunes about 4 feet south every year!

It couldn’t have been a better day to be at the shore - temperatures were in the 80s and sun was abundant. It sure is a lot of work climbing steep sand dunes! I hiked up my shorts and waded into the water to cool off - it was refreshing and nice.

Afterwards I headed an hour northwest back to Chicago (check out the pic where my GPS showed there were about a dozen different lanes of traffic to choose from!) where I will be cat sitting for the next 4 days (meet Willow and Cherry). I love the location of the apartment that I’m staying in. I’m about 6 miles north of downtown Chicago and about 4 blocks in from the lake and a beautiful public beach. It’s a great neighborhood walkable to a supermarket and I am looking forward to biking along the lakefront while here.