Trip 20: Indiana Dunes National Park

View of Lake Michigan from Indiana Dunes National Park

In the fall, we did a quick visit to Indiana Dunes National Park on the southern shores of Lake Michigan. The park is easily accessible from Chicago (a little more than an hour from Chicago O'Hare airport) but we decided to stay in South Bend, Indiana, for this trip, as we had never been there and it was less than an hours' drive to the park from there.

Indiana Dunes is the fifth smallest of the national parks and its primary features are the waterfront beaches and dunes. Beyond the beaches, the park includes areas of wetlands, oak savannahs, and woodlands, with hiking trails through them. There is also a scenic drive along Lake Front Drive that provides beautiful views of Lake Michigan and the opportunity to drive by the five 1933 World's Fair "Century of Progress" homes, which featured innovative building materials and new construction techniques for their day; the homes were moved from Chicago to this location in the 1970s. Four of the homes have been restored and their interiors can be seen during an annual tour during the last weekend of September, but even just driving by the homes is worthwhile as they still look very modern more than 90 years after they were originally built.

It was unfortunate that we encountered unexpected rainstorms on the day of our visit, which limited our hikes. We did complete the Mount Baldy Beach Trail hike in the east end of the park. Mount Baldy is the tallest of the dunes in the park at 125 feet above sea level. Hiking on the main part of the dune itself is allowed only on ranger-led tours, but the beach trail hike provides a good look at the dunes with a steep climb down loose sand to the beach.

As for brew pubs, we found Shoreline Brewery in Michigan City about 10 minutes from the east end of Indiana Dunes National Park. They had a nice assortment of beer and very tasty food...definitely worth the stop. We also found several brew pubs in South Bend. Our favorite (and perhaps our favorite brew pub location of all time) was the Studebaker Brewing Co, which was located in the old Studebaker (of car fame) mansion "Tippecanoe." We were able to walk through the 1889 mansion and check out all the old rooms while enjoying a beer (or two!). Unfortunately, we learned that location shut down in January 2026; however, the brewery has a new location in nearby New Carlisle, Indiana, which is conveniently located between South Bend and Indiana Dunes National Park. We also checked out the South Bend Brew Werks and Evil Czech Brewery and Public House in South Bend.