Tower Hill Dune Trail

Tower Hill is the centerpiece of Warren Dunes State Park and at 240 feet above the surface of Lake Michigan ranks among the highest dunes in the Great Lakes system. The climb to its summit is strenuous out of all proportion to its distance: the slope angle averages around 35 degrees, and every step forward in the loose sugar-sand slides back half a step, requiring a sustained aerobic effort that leaves most visitors breathing hard within the first hundred yards. Children race each other up and roll tumbling back down; adults tend to take it more methodically, angling slightly to find firmer footing near the sparse marram grass tufts that anchor the dune face. The summit rewards immediately with a panoramic view over Lake Michigan, the Chicago skyline visible on clear days as a gray smudge 60 miles southwest across the water, and the Indiana Dunes lakeshore visible to the south. The descent is quick and involves running or sliding down the face, arriving at the beach in seconds what took twenty labored minutes to climb. The dunes in this park are classified as perched dunes, meaning they sit atop a moraine bluff rather than directly on the beach, which accounts for their extraordinary height. The surrounding forest of cottonwood, oak, and serviceberry grows in the wind shadows behind the primary dune line.