We continued our October 2019 visit to Indiana Dunes National Park with a short hike to the beach at Mount Baldy at the eastern end of the park in Michigan City, Indiana. Getting to the trailhead during summer likely requires a bit of patience as US 12 transitions from two lanes to four lanes in a curve where Rice Street intersects the highway at an acute angle. Complicating the situation even further is Beverly Drive which also intersects the highway at an acute angle on the outside of the curve. While it was possible to reach Rice Street from Beverly Drive when we visited, I wouldn't recommend it.
Paved parking at Mount Baldy seems plentiful with about 75 spaces. However, the dune is quickly encroaching on some of the visitor facilities, especially the one-way road leaving the parking lot. The trail to the beach is approximately ¾ mile round-trip. The trail surface is soft sand. The trail climbs and descends twenty to thirty feet a couple of times on the way to the beach before climbing about twenty feet to the top of the foredune 75 feet above the beach. The final descent to the beach is an average 40% grade.
Mount Baldy is a blowout dune that moves south at a rate of five to ten feet per year. At an estimated height above Lake Michigan of 125 feet, it is the highest point in the national park. However, three dunes in the Indiana Dunes State Park are higher. The dune is closed to visitors except for seasonal ranger-lead hikes. The reasons for the closure are described at the trailhead kiosk and quoted below:
Can You Control a Dune?
Mount Baldy is one of the largest moving dunes along the southern Lake Michigan shoreline and can move up to 20 feet away from the lake each year. All of this sand movement makes for a beautiful, dynamic landscape while at the same time making it difficult to provide visitor trails and access. The park has closed the dune to hiking or climbing for two important reasons. First, geologists have discovered a significant number of small to large holes in the dune which were formed by trees being covered by moving sand and then decomposing at differing rates. These tubes or holes can be deep and dangerous for hikers. In 2013 a small child was trapped in such a tube for four hours before he was successfully rescued. We do not want any other hikers to trip or fall into these holes.
Secondly, the dune vegetation on Mt. Baldy is returning thanks to a large restoration effort by the park and its partners. Park staff are attempting to stabilize sand by planting dune grasses along the northern slope and in areas where sand has been exposed. The planting efforts are paying off with increased marram grass and cottonwood trees growing on the foredune in front of Mt. Baldy. Maybe, in the future, Mt. Baldy might not be so bald?
Please help us take care of this magnificent ever-changing dune by staying on the designated trail [to] the beach and enjoying the beauty of Mt. Baldy from the shoreline.
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Comfort station and picnic tables
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Mt. Baldy encroaching on the parking area
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Paved parking for about 75 vehicles
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Trailhead kiosk
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Trailhead
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Turn right at the first intersection
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Typical trail conditions
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Closed trail to the summit
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Continuing toward the beach
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Found another frog
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The trail continues through the forest
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The trail to the left is also closed
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To the beach!
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A steep bit up leads to...
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...a bluff
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Lake Michigan from the trail
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Another view of the lake
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Michigan City Generating Station
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Top of the foredune with Mount Baldy in the distance
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Trail down to the beach
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One more view of the lake and beach
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Entry to Indiana Dunes National Park is free. However, an expanded amenity fee of $6 daily is collected at West Beach from the Friday of Memorial Day weekend through the Monday of Labor Day weekend from 8:00 am to as late as 7:00 pm Central Time. This fee is used to provide the bathhouse and lifeguard service.
