Indiana Dunes National Park – What Most Visitors Don’t Know

We were in Elkhart for a few days. On the last morning, there was a class on the schedule. We looked at each other and drove the other direction. An hour later, we were standing at Indiana Dunes National Park — and it turned out to be one of the more interesting stops we’ve made. Here’s what you should know before you go.

Indiana Dunes National Park: One of America’s Newest

Most people driving I-80 through northern Indiana have no idea this place exists. Indiana Dunes became the country’s 61st national park on February 15, 2019 — one of the newest in the country. Fifteen miles of Lake Michigan shoreline. Fifty miles of trails. Nearly 2,000 recorded species. It’s considered the fourth most biodiverse national park in the United States.

The park is clean. The beach is good. Grizzly had strong opinions about the 55-degree water — but that’s in the video.

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The History Behind Indiana Dunes — Most People Never Hear This

Here’s what makes standing on that beach feel different from most national parks you’ve visited.

U.S. Steel arrived at Lake Michigan in 1905 and built what became the largest integrated steel mill in the United States. Four thousand acres. Seven miles of shoreline flattened for industry. And they weren’t the only ones — a glass company dismantled a 200-foot sand dune called the Hoosier Slide. Took it apart completely. For raw material.

The entire southern shore of Lake Michigan was being consumed by industry. What you’re standing on today exists because a botanist, a local schoolteacher named Dorothy Buell, and an Illinois senator named Paul Douglas spent forty years organizing to stop it. The national lakeshore was established in 1966.

Then came the nuclear plant.

In 1970, a utility company called NIPSCO applied to build a 685-megawatt nuclear reactor right next to the national lakeshore. They called it Bailly Nuclear I. The community fought back — and in the process discovered that NIPSCO had falsified their own site maps. Entire towns had been left off the documents to make the location look more remote than it actually was. The reactor was never built.

The large structure you can see standing at the shoreline near Michigan City? Not a nuclear plant. It’s the Michigan City Generating Station — a coal-fired plant built in 1950. People have been mistaking it for nuclear ever since.

Before the Clean Water Act of 1972, industries dumped directly into the waterways feeding the lake with no regulation at all. In 2017, U.S. Steel spilled toxic chromium into park waterways. Two years later, a cyanide spill killed thousands of fish. The fight for this park is still ongoing.

But the park itself — the dunes, the beach, the trails — that part is good.

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What You’ll Actually See from the Waterline

Stand at the water’s edge and look around. Clean sand under your feet. Chicago forty miles across the lake on a clear day — you can actually see the skyline. To the west, the Gary steel mills. On the horizon, the cooling tower people keep mistaking for nuclear. Smokestacks in both directions.

It’s one of the stranger views in any national park in this country. And once you know the history, it makes complete sense.

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Bringing Your Dog to Indiana Dunes National Park

Indiana Dunes is dog friendly — the National Park Service allows leashed dogs on most beaches and trails. Grizzly was on leash for the full visit. What he thought of 55-degree Lake Michigan water is in the video.

A few things to know before you bring your dog:

• Dogs must be on a leash no longer than six feet at all times
• Dog access varies by beach section and by season — some designated swim beaches restrict dogs during peak hours
• Check current access rules at nps.gov/indu before you visit — policies can change
• Bring water for your dog — the beach walks run longer than they look on the map

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The Bonus Stop: RV/MH Hall of Fame Museum in Elkhart

If you’re heading to Indiana Dunes from the east — or you’re already in Elkhart for an RV factory tour or rally — the RV and Manufactured Housing Hall of Fame Museum is worth an hour of your time.

Elkhart County builds more than 80% of all RVs manufactured in the United States. Every brand you’ve heard of has roots here. The museum’s collection starts in 1913 with the Earl Travel Trailer — the oldest surviving RV specimen known to exist — and walks you through a full century of how this whole thing evolved. There’s a trailer Charles Lindbergh used after his Atlantic crossing. A custom rig built for Mae West. RVs used as military command posts in World War II.

The museum is dog friendly. Grizzly walked the entire thing.

One exhibit worth seeing if you follow the YouTube RV community: Keep Your Daydream’s 1984 Bluebird Wanderlodge “The Bird” is on display here. Mark and Trish drove it from Chicago to California on Route 66 — Route 66 upholstery on every surface. If you’ve followed their channel, seeing it in person is a different experience than watching it on screen.

Watch the Keep Your Daydream Route 66 series here.

Worth the stop. You’ll leave feeling differently about the rig in your driveway.

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Watch the Full Episode

The full day trip — museum walkthrough, Indiana Dunes, the history of what nearly replaced it, and Grizzly’s take on Lake Michigan — is in the video below. We also cover the national parks poster scratch-off and the view from the beach that you have to see to understand.

New episodes every Sunday — subscribe on YouTube so you don’t miss the next one.

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