Parking
West Beach Trailhead Parking Lots, 376 North County Line Road, Gary. The paved main lot is listed for 600 cars and 20 buses; year-round restrooms and potable water and covered picnic shelters are nearby.
Overview
About Long Lake Loop Trail (Loop 3)
Why go
- Lake birding and rolling dunes in one circuit.
- A climb opens a view over Long Lake.
Heads up
- Loose sand and a steep final descent slow the pace.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Indiana Dunes map
Full mapElevation607–705 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 Long Lake Loop Trail (Loop 3), 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 trailhead
West Beach: Sand and Skyline0:00 / 0:33
“You're approaching the entrance to West Beach, a good choice for a beach day with a picnic. The shore is about a quarter mile from parking, and covered picnic shelters with grills sit near the lot.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Indiana Dunes Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Tolleston Dunes Overlook: A Short Wetland Stop
- Marquette Trail: Woods Along an Old Rail Line
- Tolleston Dunes: An Old Shoreline
- Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk
- 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 Long Lake Loop Trail (Loop 3)
The walkLong Lake Loop Trail (West Beach Loop 3) follows Long Lake, climbs through undulating dunes,…
Long Lake Loop Trail (West Beach Loop 3) follows Long Lake, climbs through undulating dunes, then drops steeply to the picnic area and parking. The National Park Service lists the loop itself at 2.2 miles. The mapped walk here starts at its West Beach parking GPS point and includes the access path out and back, so the full parking-to-parking line measures 2.44 miles. Allow about 1¾ to 2 hours for that full walk. That's an estimate: the posted 2.5-hour time is for all three West Beach loops, not this loop alone.
The lake viewThe route stays with Long Lake before an initial climb opens a good view across the water.
The route stays with Long Lake before an initial climb opens a good view across the water. It's the reason to pause on this walk; the lake is also a West Beach birding spot. No particular bird species is guaranteed here, so treat sightings as a bonus rather than a promise.
Dunes and footingAfter crossing the entrance road, the trail winds over rolling dunes and finishes with a steep…
After crossing the entrance road, the trail winds over rolling dunes and finishes with a steep descent into the picnic area. Loose sand can slow the pace even though this is a short outing. The park rates Long Lake Loop moderate, with steep grades. The 270-plus stairs belong to the separate Dune Succession Loop, not this route.
Start and finishUse the West Beach Trailhead Parking Lots on North County Line Road.
Use the West Beach Trailhead Parking Lots on North County Line Road. The paved main lot has room for 600 cars and 20 buses; restrooms and potable water are available there year-round, with covered picnic shelters nearby. The NPS parking point and the Loop 3 line are separated by a marked access walk, which the mapped route includes in both directions. No refill point along the trail was identified.
A mined landscapeThe flat ground around the West Beach lots was sand-mined in the 1920s, when railcars carried…
The flat ground around the West Beach lots was sand-mined in the 1920s, when railcars carried the sand away for fill and construction. Activists Dorothy Buell and Charlotte Read helped preserve the rest of West Beach; the mined areas later filled back in with native vegetation. The dune loop now crosses a landscape shaped by both extraction and restoration.
Rules and hazardsA park entrance pass is required.
A park entrance pass is required. Leashed pets are allowed on the trail with a leash no longer than six feet; pets are excluded from the lifeguarded swimming area in summer. Expect steep grades and loose footing, cross the entrance road carefully, watch for ticks year-round and poison ivy at trail edges, and stay on the marked route through fragile dunes.
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.
