If you live anywhere in Northern Indiana and want a quick beach getaway, the dunes on Lake Michigan are where you go. For anyone who hasn’t been to a Great Lake, they are amazing! It’s like looking at a freshwater sea. The view goes on for miles. The air has that seaside crispness (minus the salt) and the breeze feels just as good as the one the Atlantic brings while it trolls ashore. For a landlocked girl from Nowheresville, IN, Lake Michigan was her ocean.

I always preferred the Warren Dunes in southern Michigan to the Indiana Dunes. I don’t know why. These aren’t your typical sand dunes, either. The Warren Dunes tower up to 260 feet above the lake. People climb them and then surf, run, or even roll back down. But it isn’t as easy a feat as one might think.

Home from school one summer, Clifford in tow, I wanted to go to the park. Clifford, Darewood, my older sister, and I piled into a car and headed to Michigan. The Warren Dunes were only about an hour and a half away, so an easy day trip. Though Clifford had grown up in South Africa and traveled extensively in his younger years, he had never seen anything quite like our dunes. Needless to say, he was impressed.

I think Darewood had decided early on that he was going to climb the tallest dune. Clifford looked it up and down and decided he was in. You only live once, right? The thing is, this was back in the day where Darewood was still fairly athletic and Clifford was a cigarette smoking fiend who felt that sitting on a couch watching TV exerted too much energy. But hey, who am I to judge?

So this is where I need to explain what climbing the largest dune can be like. It sits at more than a 45 degree angle in several locations. It’s steep. The sand is also ridiculously soft. Tower Hill, the most popular and prominent dune, sits 240 feet above the lake. A climb to the top is not for the faint of heart. Tower Hill can be a challenge for youths, let alone adults striving to prove their worth. It is a chore, but a rewarding one. There’s nothing quite like the experience of reaching the top, scanning the shoreline and observing the sun setting over the great lake.

Perhaps not so impressive? Just a small hill, right? (image: campsitephotos.com)

How about now? See that tiny little guy about to climb? (image: michianacindy.blogspot.com)

Darewood was ready. Clifford was, too. My sister and I were contemplating it. We thought we’d wait and see since we’d been watching people repeatedly making it half way, throwing in the towel, and running back down.

So Darewood began jogging up the hill. Well, jogging the best one could through several feet of sugar soft sand. Clifford, watching Darewood’s technique, decided to follow suit.

Let’s just say each of these boys was not like the other.

As Darewood continued to bound up the 240 ft peak fairly effortlessly, but still sucking some wind, Clifford wasn’t having quite the same success. In fact, he was on his hands and knees, crawling and gasping for air, looking a little something like this …

Cliff climbing Tower Hill.

But a touch more desperate and his face had a tinge of blue.

By this point my sister and I were walking past him, staring in awe. Oh yeah, and laughing our asses off. We had decided to embark on the same quest, but were taking a more leisurely approach by walking to the top in a round about way. Still with the hill so steep, walking can be almost worse than jogging. So yes there were times we struggled with our footing, and yes, we too were out of breath, but our experience was nothing like that belonging to the crippled puffing mass dragging his body up the hill, spitting the sand particles out of his mouth while whimpering in pain.

Should I have stopped and helped the guy out? Meh. Who am I to come between a man and his failing attempt at simulated glory?

Besides, he did make it to the top – eventually. He also thought we may have to call him an ambulance, but that’s part of the fun, right? I was pretty proud I made it to the top that day, and though I felt like I needed to catch a bit more than a breath, Clifford was sincerely requesting an oxygen tank. But just check out that view …

View from the top of Tower Hill. We did it! Wish I had photos to commemorate the occasion. (image: Jung Family at avoision.com)

Have you ever been to the dunes of Great Lake Michigan? Share your experience with the world below.