September 1st Indiana Dunes NP

 

View from trail #9 in the state park, 3.75 miles 

We started this trail right from our campsite on a cloudy morning around 9:00 am.  The trail starts in the trees on packed sand but of course leads to soft sandy uphill climbs to the beach revealing beautiful views of the lake and a couple of dune blow outs.

A new meaning to surf and turf. 

 Chicago is in my rear view mirror for now.

Meanwhile Jim is holding the Chicago skyline.

Beach house Blowout.   Quite a bit of soft sandy trail walking around the outside top edge of this blowout. 

We meet a couple from Buffalo, New York on the trail who were just beginning their 75 day RV trip. (no picture just random information)  They just rented an RV and took off the next day.

 At the campsite we had some lunch before heading out to Mount Baldy, one of the largest moving dunes along the southern Lake Michigan shoreline.  It can move up to 10 feet away from the lake each year.

Apparently all of that movement does cover everything in its way as you can see from these 2 full grown trees have been covered by the sand.  Now that's crazy.  You can't climb this dune as it is too dangerous.  In 2013 a small child was trapped in a tube created by a decomposed trapped tree in the dune.  The child was rescued after being trapped for 4 hours.

We did our best to beat the rain, but it started to fall on our drive to Mt Baldy but we persevered and I was happy for it.  There is just something about walking in the rain that gives me joy.

Happy rain walkers at the beach at Mt Baldy.  That's all for today.  

Our next stop is Cuyahoga National Park in Ohio so tomorrow will be a travel day.