West Beach — Attraction in Portage

I lead hiking 1-2 times per day all around and in the Indiana Dunes National Park and Indiana Dunes State Park and Shirley Heinze Land Trust Nature Preserves. is perhaps the single best location of the Indiana Dunes And you can hike with me daily at Indiana Dunes Hiking DOT com for FREE with a Indiana Master Naturalist

Why. Is West Beach so great?

It has the super cool 259 step Diana of the Dunes Dare staircase going through forest, Savanah, Jack Pine trees from the extreme north to Eastern prickles pair cactus from the south. No where else are they side by side. They have a federally endangered Thistle. There are fantastic view of Gotham Cory and you need to know Batman movies to know what real city. You see plant succession from the bushes to the Mariam grass. As you get closer you hear the waves.

It has a beach with lifeguards. It is soooo wide as in mikes.

4, It has a humongous bathhouse clean and with lots of showers.

It is a few minutes drive from Miller OizA where their is a tool slice lunch special from 11 AM - 2 PM

It easily gotten to from I94, I89, US 13, Us 20.

Diana of the Dunes lived here.

There is shelf ice in the winter BUT NEVER RVET GO IN IT. There was a tragic incident on 3/22/2922. On my website I explain about shelf ice in CBS2 and in Napster and written in my website Indiana Dunes Hiking DOT com.

It had a grand entrance.

It has over 659 parking spaces.

It had the fantastic Long Loop trail

9, it has Long Lake with beavers and big birds like Sandhill Cranes and Blue Herons and Great White Egret and an occasional Bald Eagle. Use the AUDUBON APP to learn when they are seen.

Mt. Chicago is in this lark which you can see but you can’t climb too. Use the GAIA APP to find out where to see it. There used to be a house in the top.

On 9:11 each year it is turned into an obstacle race for the military and first responders and if they don’t teach 250 takers then anyone can sign up. Google LEON’S HEROES which has the name AMERICA’S RACE. There is also AMERICA’S HIKE and AMERICA’S AFTERNOON HIKE led by me. See Indiana Dunes Hiking dot com to learn more. There is a search button at top of website powered by Google.

I2. On 9/9 there is the AMERICA’S HKKE which leads you to Lake Michigan at sunset and then on a night hike where you see all the obstacle for 9/11.

13, There are tons of Eastern Prickley zoster Cactus.

There are wildflowers

There is a great collection of mushrooms including perfect specimens of Turkey Tail the greatest fighter of cancer — Sorry big Harmeceutical industry.

One can see interdunal wet lands

17 I like it and I know the Dunes and there are more resins but I hate typing on my smarty phone with auto...

My review is based on the hiking experience. Around 90-95% of the people coming through this section of the Dunes is going to the Beach and the path to get there is a very simple short walk (under a quarter of a mile) directly to the beach.

For the hiking aspect, you’ll love it if you’re looking for an easy level of difficulty. In exception to roughly 10% of the path walking in the sand, majority of the trail is flat land and set paths (constructed stairs and wooden walkways)

If you’re looking for a challenge you’ll be very bored regardless, there are still plenty of scenic spots. It was cool checking it out but not worth a...

Beautiful beach and it is also clean. Close to Chicago downtown and a nice place to view the sunset. We visited this beach on a labor day weekend and it was pretty crowded. Do visit the Information center to know more about the different beaches, hiking trail and the Parking spot availability. You can also view the miniature version of the Chicago Skyline across the Lake and during sunset it looks beautiful. From the Parking area, you can take the trail with wooden steps. There is also another shorter path to the beach if you don't want to climb steps. Shower rooms and restrooms are...