Mount Baldy Beach
Michigan City, IN
Mount Baldy Beach sits below Mount Baldy, a 126 foot moving dune at the east end of Indiana Dunes National Park near Michigan City. The dune is migrating inland and has buried trees in its path. The summit is closed except on ranger-led hikes, but a trail leads around it to the beach.
A dramatic moving dune above a sandy beach, though the summit is off limits without a ranger.
How we score beachesJoin a ranger-led summit hike on a summer weekend; it's the only way to the top.
A lot at the Mount Baldy trailhead.
A sandy trail leads around the dune to the beach.
Ranger-led summit hikes run on summer weekends, including sunset hikes.
More Great Lakes beaches

Sleeping Bear Dunes Beach
Empire, MI · Great Lakes
Freshwater Lake Michigan surf below towering sand dunes, some over 400 feet tall, with water clear enough to rival a coastline and a hike back up the dune to burn it off.
New Buffalo City Beach
New Buffalo, MI · Great Lakes
New Buffalo City Beach is the first real Lake Michigan beach you hit crossing from Indiana, a wide stretch of sand at the end of Whittaker Street beside the harbor and the Galien River channel. Chicago weekenders fill it in summer. The town's shops and restaurants are a five minute walk back up the street.
Warren Dunes State Park
Sawyer, MI · Great Lakes
Warren Dunes State Park in Sawyer has roughly three miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and some of the tallest dunes in southwest Michigan. Tower Hill rises about 260 feet above the lake, and climbing it and running back down is a rite of passage. On a hot July Saturday the beach feels like a small city.
