The Indiana Dunes encompass more than the rolling sand hills along Lake Michigan's southern shore in Northwest Indiana. You will find older, forested dunes as you move inland -- created thousands of years ago when the Lake water level was higher.

The Indiana Dunes -- a mere 15,000 acres -- rank in the top ten of U.S. national parks in biodiversity -- the total flora and fauna and the diversity of habitats. Look here and you will find tallgrass and mixed grass prairie, swamp, marsh, bog and fen, white and black oak savanna, rivers and streams.

The Indiana Dunes stretch thirty-miles from the Illinois/Chicago border through Gary to Michigan City, Indiana. The Dunes are not one single entity. Units of the national park, the state park, and holdings of the Nature Conservancy are scattered among towns and cities, railways and highways, towns and cities.

For more information or to plan a trip, call Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore at (219) 926-7561