Parking
No verified public lot or approved roadside parking is identified for this trail. The mapped east end meets Summit Drive, but confirm with the Town of Dune Acres whether it is an authorized visitor entrance before driving there.
Overview
About Heenan Trail
Why go
- A very short named path between Summit Drive and another footway.
Heads up
- Public entry and parking arrangements remain unverified.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Indiana Dunes map
Full mapElevation699–712 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
4 active Indiana Dunes alerts
- ClosureTrail closures and flooding-related access limitsSeveral Indiana Dunes trails are closed or partially inaccessible because of tree damage, riverbank collapse, flooding, and Marquette Greenway construction; stay out of closed sections and use…Official details
- ClosureBailly/Chellberg Trail stair sections closedPortions of the Bailly/Chellberg Trail with stairs are closed through October 30, 2026, to allow completion of a boardwalk replacement project. Check current park conditions before setting out.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Indiana Dunes Tour Guide
Your drive to Heenan Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Indiana Dunes National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this area
Cowles Bog: Woods to Lake0:00 / 0:23
“You're nearing the north trailhead for Cowles Bog, where wetlands and oak savanna lead to a Lake Michigan beach. The full four point seven mile hike takes about four hours, with steep dune crossings through loose sand.”
Plays on the road 0.9 mi from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Indiana Dunes Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Greenbelt: The South Route to the Beach
- A Heron's Hidden Reach
- Bailly–Chellberg: Houses with a History
- Porter Beach: The Johnson Inn Shore
- 51 audio storiesacross Indiana Dunes’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Bald Eagle, Sandhill Crane, White-tailed Deer, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 34 trails, 30 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Heenan Trail
The short versionThe Heenan Trail is a 0.
The Heenan Trail is a 0.13-mile point-to-point footpath in Dune Acres, inside the Indiana Dunes National Park boundary. Its mapped named section starts at a junction beside Summit Drive and runs west to another footpath. No official visitor directions or public-entry terms were found, so check access with the Town of Dune Acres before setting out. With no confirmed parking or documented return route, treat this as a brief local connector rather than a full park hike.
What the line coversThe route follows only the short footpath mapped as Heenan and takes about five minutes one way.
The route follows only the short footpath mapped as Heenan and takes about five minutes one way. Its west end meets an unnamed path; neither the route beyond that junction nor a return itinerary is documented, so the 0.13-mile figure does not include a return. The available visitor photo shows a leaf-covered path under deciduous trees, but reliable details on footing, grade, wayfinding, or seasonal conditions are limited.
Where the name comes fromThe trail is named for Jane Heenan; a memorial account says her family donated land to Dune…
The trail is named for Jane Heenan; a memorial account says her family donated land to Dune Acres for a trail. The much longer Cowles Bog Trail is a separate 4.7-mile loop nearby, not an extension of this mapped line. No Heenan-specific parking, facilities, pet rules, or visitor access instructions were confirmed.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Indiana Dunes
85 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
48 sightingsSandhill CraneMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
113 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
23 sightingsCoyoteMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
49 sightingsBeaverMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
13 sightingsBarred OwlMost seen around 6 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Indiana Dunes. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
