Indiana Dunes State Park, Chesterton, Indiana

This beautiful state park in Indiana has many things that make it a desirable place to stay. Set along Lake Michigan and bordering Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, this park offers beach and lake access, hiking trails, historical sites, and a wooded campground with great amenities. This is the only modern campground that offers direct access to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. A small creek flows behind sites 25, 26, 62, and 63, however access to the creek is impossible.  Interior roads and site pads are paved and level. All sites offer electric hookups, are spacious and have shade trees. Here you will also find playgrounds, bath houses, picnic shelters, and a camp store. The Beach Trail
is a nice hiking trail to the beach, or you can take the paved path, which meanders through the day use picnic area before dropping you out at the beach. Once at the beach, you will find a pavilion with restrooms, lifeguard tower, and food trucks to satisfy your hunger and quench your thirst. We stayed two nights here, and lucky for us, our stay over the weekend just before the Fourth of July included a spectacular fireworks show over Lake Michigan. While at the beach, you will have views of the Chicago skyline, which as sunset are stunning. If you want to head into the city, just outside of the park (a quick drive or couple mile bike ride) you will find the train that takes you into Chicago. We found our two night stay was not long enough to explore both the National Park's grounds, accessible by a bike path, and the city, and we wished we had another night to give us the time to do so. If geocaching is a hobby of yours you will also find several caches within the campground, and probably some friendly folks at the store to help you if you're stumped. We loved this stop on our cross country journey and plan on visiting again to explore even more of the park's attributes.

Location
Best Sites: 18-23, 63, 90, 92-94, 98, 100, 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, 112, 113
Poor Sites: None
Hookups: Electric
Potable Water: Yes
Dump Within Facility: Yes