Outdoor Adventure Festival in Indiana Dunes offers free activities
The annual Outdoor Adventure Festival brings more than 75 free activities to the Indiana Dunes area from Sept. 6 through 15. They include hiking, biking, photography, yoga, birding, geocaching, forest bathing, stargazing and more.
There are some self-led hikes, though many are guided by ecologists, rangers and experts. A guided 20-mile bike ride at 9 a.m. CDT Sept. 8 in Chesterton will study the area’s geology.
Indiana Dunes State Park will host historical re-enactors as a camp of fur traders on the beach from 9 to 5 p.m. CDT Sept. 7 and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. CDT Sept. 8. A naturalist will lead a hike to meet the fur traders at 10 a.m. CDT both days.
The Duneland Fall Festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. CDT Sept. 14-15 at the Indiana Dunes National Park’s Chellberg Farm will feature live music, demonstrations of early-1900s farming techniques and wagon rides. The farm is on Mineral Springs Road between U.S. 20 and U.S. 12 in Porter.
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There is no charge for the festival and no pre-registration is required for most events. The national park requires an entrance fee of $25 per car for a pass of up to seven days. The state park charges $7 per car if in state and $12 if out of state.
Find the full schedule at www.dunesoutdoorfestival.com.
Find columnist Joseph Dits on Facebook at SBTOutdoorAdventures or 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.
