The Indiana Dunes Visitor Center has gotten a refresh and now includes an outpost of the region’s hippest coffee shop, Fluid.

Shortly after we bought a house in Beverly Shores some nine years ago, friends from Chicago came to visit, setting off one morning for a hike. They said they’d be walking trail 9 or 10. 

I was confused. I had downloaded or picked up several guides to trails in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (as the National Park was then called), but didn’t recall any trails identified by number. My friend insisted these were the proper names of the trails, and said they had driven just a few minutes to get to the trailheads. 

Then she mentioned paying a fee to enter the park. A-ha! They had gone to the State Park (where we had not yet been, and which borders Beverly Shores), not the national entity. 

The Indiana Dunes, as many Diva readers no doubt know, is made up of both the Indiana Dunes State Park and the Indiana Dunes National Park (until 2019, known as the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore). 

People often visit the state park and believe they’ve been to the national park. That’s probably because the state park has an official entrance, with a guard taking fees. The 2,000-acre state park, founded in 1926, actually predates the Indiana National Lakeshore (established in 1966). It has campgrounds, three miles of lakefront with wide beachs, a renovated bath house (now home to two restaurants and event center). Sixteen miles of trails are popular year round, with several leading hikers to beaches. 

The National Park, in contrast, has no official entrance, instead featuring several parcels of land that are not contiguous, stretching along the lake from Miller Beach near Gary to Mt. Baldy near Michigan City. It’s interrupted by a steel mill and several small lakefront communities. Several other trails in the National Park system are also found on the north side of Dunes Highway (12); one of the most biologically diverse, with rare orchids and other plants, is the park’s Pinhook Bog in La Porte, a full 17 miles from Cowles Bog. Parking passes are required at any of the National Park lots.

It’s no secret that there’s confusion. The Indiana Dunes National Park Visitor Center on Rt. 49 in Porter has a big helpful display that lays out differences in the two, fees required (you’ll need to pay separate fees for each park), receration offered, and more. 

The Visitor Center has just undergone a major redo. In a large room that had been used for educational programs, there’s now a gift shop featuring park merchandise but also goods by local artisans. And, perhaps most exciting: a Fluid Coffee Shop. Fluid is a locally owned business with cool cafes in Chesterton, Michigan City and Valparaiso. If you’ve never been to the Visitor Center, this might be just be your reason.