• Illustrated cover in a vintage poster style: pale sand dunes with clumps of marram grass and a wooded dune crest slope down to a long Lake Michigan beach, blue waves rolling in under a teal sky, dark green shrubs in the foreground. Title: Indiana Dunes National Park, History, Highlights, and One- to Three-Day Adventures, by Brian D. Russ, in the series Brian Russ's Guide to National Parks.
  • Sample page from the Indiana Dunes National Park guide, wildlife chapter. Entry: Monarch, with how to recognize it, where and when to see it, and a photograph.
  • Sample page from the Indiana Dunes National Park guide, a day itinerary with times, distances, and a photograph: Boardwalk on the Succession Trail.
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Brian Russ Guides

Indiana Dunes National Park: History, Highlights, and One- to Three-Day Adventures

Indiana Dunes National Park: History, Highlights, and One- to Three-Day Adventures

$2.99 USD
$2.99 USD
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An hour from Chicago, grass-covered dunes rise above 15 miles of Lake Michigan beach. This guide helps you plan one, two, or three days at Indiana Dunes: which beaches and trails to choose, how the scattered park fits together, and how it differs from the state park in its middle.

What's inside

  • Nine ready-made itineraries: one, two, and three days, each at easy, moderate, and strenuous effort, from the Bailly Homestead, Lake Front Drive, and the Great Marsh to the Dune Succession Trail at West Beach, Miller Woods, Cowles Bog, Mount Baldy, and the 3 Dune Challenge, each with a weather backup
  • The park's history, from the Potawatomi homeland and the Bailly trading post to Henry Cowles, Dorothy Buell, Senator Paul Douglas, the 1933 World's Fair houses, and the national park of 2019
  • Sightseeing highlights, with clear notes on what's in the national park, what's in Indiana Dunes State Park, and what each one costs
  • A wildlife chapter profiling 14 commonly seen animals, from red-headed woodpeckers and great blue herons to six-lined racerunners and Fowler's toads, each with a photograph and notes on where and when to look
  • Trip planning for seasons and shelf ice, the South Shore Line train, fees, camping, rip currents, pets, and accessibility
  • 36 photographs and 4 orientation maps

What you'll receive

  • EPUB ebook (Indiana_Dunes_National_Park_Brian_D_Russ.epub, about 13 MB) for Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play Books, and most e-reader apps. Kindle readers can send it to their library with Amazon's Send to Kindle.
  • PDF (Indiana_Dunes_National_Park_Brian_D_Russ.pdf, 96 pages including the cover, about 28 MB) for any device, and for printing pages. It opens on the illustrated cover.

Your download link arrives by email right after purchase.

Edition

First illustrated edition, October 2026, with research completed October 2026. Trails, beaches, and parking change with storms and construction, so check the park's current alerts before you travel.

Pack a towel and good walking shoes.

This is an independent guide. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Park Service.
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