
Trail 9
Indiana Dunes State Park
TH Elevation: 606 ft.
High Elevation: 695 ft. (above Beach House Blowout)
Distance: 3.80 mi. (my FR230)
Elevation Gain: 687 ft. (estimate)
Start Time: 12:01pm
End Time 12:45pm



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Beautiful Lake Michigan view |
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Trails going every which way in the Beach House Blowout |
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Hiking across the upper part of Beach House Blowout |
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Beautiful tall grass area atop Beach House Blowout |
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Thick sandy section atop Beach House Blowout |
Trail 10
Indiana Dunes State Park
TH Elevation: 606 ft.
High Elevation: 677 ft.
Distance: 6.91 mi. (my FR230)
Elevation Gain: 412 ft. (estimate)
Start Time: 12:54pm
End Time 2:15pm![]() |
Bird observation tower |


After Paradise Valley the trail makes a hard left to head northwest towards the beach. It climbs up and over the only main hill on this trail and then opens up into a beautiful view of the beach. There were a number of people down at the beach just in this area, I was curious if they had walked several miles to get here or if there was a closer access.
Here I captured a Photosphere/360 Photo of the area. It was pretty sweet.
Here I captured a Photosphere/360 Photo of the area. It was pretty sweet.
Running along the beach proved to be a real challenge. It was hot and sunny and so I was downing my water constantly. It was also impossible to find consistent footing in the sand. I had really hoped to find compacted sand near where the tidelines were and for sections at a time I would, but they didn't seem to last long. Otherwise I was constantly fighting small slopes of sand, loose sand, rocky sand, and other obstacles including an increased amount of people. It proved impossible to keep up much of a pace through here and so I just slogged on whether running or walking. On the plus side, it is a beautiful endeavor and I could even see the Chicago Skyline over Lake Michigan. It was also an eye-opening thought to think that this summer I've now seen Lake Michigan from near its very southernmost point and its northernmost point. A few weeks back we took a family trip to the Upper Peninsula and on the day we drove home we were on highway 2 heading for St. Ignace along the northern tip of Lake Michigan, incredibly beautiful up there.
As I neared the main beach area for the State Park the beach became packed. It appeared as though most of Chicago had come over to the Dunes to enjoy a Saturday afternoon. I walked through all of the crowds to regain the parking lot and then headed on to the very nicely boardwalked Beach Trail. This headed through some beautiful terrain back to the campgrounds. I jogged on the camp roads to a tiny connector that then put me back into my starting point in the Nature Center parking lot.
While it was an enjoyable loop, with beautiful moments, the beach section proved to be very difficult running. The first two miles of the forest section would be fun to do again as an out and back. After this run I was drenched in sweat and looking for a change of clothes but I had one more run to do.

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The beautiful initial section of the Beach Trail heading to the campgrounds |
Three Dunes Challenge - Trails 8 + 4
TH Elevation: 606 ft.
Mt. Jackson Elevation: 175 ft. dune
Mt. Holden Elevation: 184 ft. dune
Mt. Tom Elevation: 192 ft. dune
Distance: 1.37 mi. (my FR230)
Elevation Gain: 431 ft. (estimate)
Start Time: 2:27pm
End Time 2:47pm
Three Dunes Challenge Trip Report:
My third trail run at Indiana Dunes got changed up a bit from my original plans. Despite my efforts to get fresh clothes on me, the sweaty, soggy state of my body from the day's exertions and heat had left me with bad chafing. This left me in a state of pain with any running I would do. My previous two runs had me at 10.7 miles for the day and so I decided I would do the recommended "easy" version of the Three Dunes Challenge to complete my time at the Dunes. I had originally hoped to run trail 8 from the Nature Center over all 3 dunes and then to the lake, and back. The sign suggested hitting the 3 dunes for the challenge and then taking the easier trail 4 back. So I did.
The trail again leaves from the Nature Center area and was well signed. Fairly quickly it begins an initial sandy ascent which made for a slow pace. It leveled out for just under a quarter mile until the ascent up Mt. Jackson. Most of the dune ascents were in the 30 degree range and loose which meant a power-hiking pace at best. As I worked my way through here I passed numerous people going both up and down the dune.
From Mt. Jackson it was a quick down and back up over to Mt. Holden for dune #2. I thought it nice the State Park had excellent signage for their "Three Dunes Challenge" which it appeared a number of people were doing. They even offered free stickers and other memorabilia (for purchase) to folks who really wanted to get into it. From Mt. Holden it was a slightly lengthier stretch through the woods until the ascent to Mt. Tom. In this stretch the trail passes a junction with Trail 7 and then just before Mt. Tom Trail 4 joins up with Trail 8 to ascend a staircase up to Mt. Tom's summit. This ascent was so steep I could see why a wooden staircase was used as opposed to people scrambling hand and feet, and eroding like crazy, this last stretch. Mt. Tom's summit was all on boardwalk and even the initial descent on Trail 4 from the summit remained on boardwalk. From there it was an easy, mostly sandy descent back to the campgrounds and then on to the Nature Center. The distance turned out to be a bit shorter than advertised but it was still a fun, albeit, less runnable loop.
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Mt. Jackson summit |
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Mt. Holden summit |
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Mt. Tom summit |
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Boardwalk descending from Mt. Tom |
Track:
I have a track and waypoints from the hike all contained in a KML file that you are welcome to download and use (at your own risk).
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