This national park is hilarious: (1) grocery stores and bass pro shop is 10-20 minutes away (dependent on which part of the park you are located) ; (2) within a walking distance of the campsite, there is a restaurant and a convenient store with an excellent ice cream —- in case you messed up your food over the camp fire, there is a backup :D; (3) our camp site manager stated that the best fishing is outside the national park like in Washington Park; (4) the best hiking is in the Indian Dune State Park, which is inside the national park, but you have to pay the entrance fee one more time to the state park :); (5) when you drive from one spot to another spot of the national park, sometimes, you are on a highway and see those container trucks and cementer mixer driving by, as well as the factories not far away (that old midwest feeling), lol

Well, I guess it is not that bad :). At the visit center, you hear people say: “In the Indian dunes, I touched the earth and become stronger thereby”. Many different species of birds migrate from Canada to south, and will stay here for a period of time. In May, the park will host the birding festival. We were here in August, but did not see any special birds.

This park has a diverse of natural habitats, like marsh, swamp, bog and savanna. There are more than 1100 native plants. You can see exotic plants like the carnivorous plant (pitcher plant). There are many 1-2 miles short trails here, which work well for families. For example, in the Great March trail, you see many wild flowers and the beautiful heroin.

A famous trail here is the 3-Dune challenges. Most of the time, you are just sinking in the sands and fighting with the slopes like almost 45 degrees :). You are debating “should I be bare feet or wear my hiking boot?”:D It’s not a great trail to see the shape of dunes but fun to hike.

The great place to see dunes is Mt Baldy. Coming to the national parks, you see the evidences that nature hands shape things, like carving a lake and moving the dunes. I sometimes accelerate the process and visualize it in my head. This whole space is formed by glacier carving and moraine. The dunes are moving yearly due to the wind of the lake Michigan, and the forests are then buried under the sand. Some dunes are not safe to hike, there are holes where people can drop in. The largest moving dune here is called Mt Baldy. It moves 20 feet away from the lake every year. There are vegetation like marram grass and cotton wood trees covering the dunes here and there.

Another great trail to see the dunes are the west beach trails. There are three trails connected here, several miles. The first part of the trail is an easy access of stairs. You will give a smile after several days walking in the sink sands on the trails 😀

At the end of this trail, we arrived at the beach. Mt Baldy trail also leads to a very good beach. There were not many people during week days. It is easy to stay here for hours just to enjoy the tranquility, hear the winds, read books, talk to friends, feel the sun, trek the water or skip the stones on the water.

Here comes the fishing. The ranger recommends a place called the “portage lakefront” in the park. The pure blue sky, open water beautiful view was so pleasant. We were there whole afternoon, picnic, reading and yoga/pilate. My son caught an 19 inch long fish. Nobody voted to eat that poor fish, we believed it can survive so we released it. There is this steal factor right besides us, not sure how clean this water is.

My favorite about camping trips? many! Almost every day, there was this cool morning sun, and its ray directly arrived at my eyes when I waked up. There were beautiful stars in the dark at night. There were thunderstorms and lightening one night and the whole tent was shaking :). There was also that coyote who waked me up around the midnight, and it lasted quite a long time.

Camp sites need to book months in advance, especially for the weekends. The dune wood camp grounds are in the woods and have showers. The camp site is clean and spacious.

Besides hiking, fishing and camping, there are also kayak (you need to bring your own) and biking (rental available at the visitor center). In winter, it will be cool to watch how ice is formed on the lake Michigan and there is also awesome cross country. In the visit center, there is a great video which can make you super excited about this “uncool looking” park :D. It is always a good start point of your trip.

National parks never disappoint me. I always find so much beauty and then give it a smile. Going to museums, you discover your favorite arts, while going to the nature, you find your favorite scenes, scents, sound and stories.