This comprehensive website provides a thorough introduction to this serene, 15,000-acre Lake Michigan sanctuary on the fringe of one of the Midwest's most populated industrial centers, as well as information about activities, events and where to look for food and lodging. Standing atop 120-foot-high Mount Baldy, the park's tallest dune, you can look west to the hulking steel plants of Gary, Indiana. Chicago's skyscrapers are visible across the lake's blue waters.

Botanists marvel at the diversity of the dunes, where prairie, marsh and forest entwine and Arctic-region bearberry grows only steps away from desert-friendly prickly pear cactus. The lakeshore ranks fourth among national parks in the variety of native plants that it supports. Follow a wooden boardwalk into Pinhook Bog to observe its lush population of orchids, tamarack trees, pitcher plants and other carnivorous species.

Hikers can trek miles of beach or follow more than half-dozen trails that skirt dunes, marshes, bogs and patches of wet prairie. Near the visitor center, take the kids on a tour of a reconstructed wilderness home and a 19th-century Swedish immigrant farm.

From the lakeshore's website, you can link to related sites such as the Friends of Indiana Dunes site, with pictures of the preserve, and to neighboring Indiana Dunes State Park.

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