7 national parks on Great Lakes, including Apostle Islands, Indiana Dunes and more
Caitlin LoobyHere in Wisconsin we have quick access to a crown jewel of North America: the Great Lakes.
Yes, you can see it from the Summerfest grounds or the art museum. But if you feel the urge to travel out further − or get a little lost in nature − there are lots of great options.
From multicolored rock cliffs to towering sand dunes, there's no shortage of beauty all around the Great Lakes. Best of all, you can see these things while crossing another national park off your list.
Here are some of the national parks, lakeshores and monuments you can visit in the Great Lakes basin.
More:You can visit these 16 national park sites in the Midwest on a tank of gas from Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Lake Superior, Wisconsin
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore shows off more than 160 miles of Lake Superior shoreline, including 21 islands and 12 miles of mainland. The lakeshore is known for its wave-formed arches and caverns as well as ice formations in the winter. It’s a popular spot for camping, hiking, paddling and sailing. Clean water, underwater rock formations and shipwrecks also make it a prime scuba diving location.
Lighthouses are also an iconic part of the national lakeshore, which boasts more than any other site in the national park system. The lakeshore is also a popular bird watching spot, as more than 240 species breed or migrate through the lakeshore, like the endangered piping plover.
A ferry can take visitors out to Madeline Island, which is the largest of the Apostle Islands, but not a part of the national park system. Madeline Island was a spiritual and economic center for the Ojibwe – the original inhabitants of the lakeshore. But the creation of the national lakeshore affected many natural and cultural resources, which the park service is helping to restore.
And while Lake Superior is largely thought of as pristine, blue-green algae blooms have started cropping up even along the national lakeshore. Scientists say this is likely a result of warming water temperatures and intensifying storms from climate change.
More:No longer a Midwestern secret, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore celebrates 50 years
Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Lake Erie, Ohio
Decades before this Great Lakes site became a national park in 2000, severe pollution ravaged the Cuyahoga River – so much so that the river caught on fire a dozen times. In 1969, the river ignited a thirteenth time, spurring the creation of the Clean Water Act and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The river – one of the main tributaries that feeds Lake Erie – is now a recreation hotspot and a natural oasis for nearby urban centers. Cuyahoga Valley National Park sits a little more than 20 miles south of Cleveland and the lake. It’s known for its forests and canyons as well as recreational opportunities, especially along the well-known Towpath Trail.
Grand Portage National Monument, Lake Superior, Minnesota
Grand Portage National Monument sits along the north shore of Lake Superior just south of the U.S.-Canada border. The monument explores the partnership between the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and the North West Company during the North American fur trade. The monument is co-managed by the Band and the National Park Service.
Grand Portage was a pivotal location as the fur trade expanded into western Canada. Between the mid-1700s and early 1800s, thousands of people shuttled supplies and fur across the portage that were bound for Europe and beyond. The historic 8.5 mile portage corridor helped bypass unnavigable portions of the Pigeon River to connect Fort Charlotte and Lake Superior.
Indiana Dunes National Park, Lake Michigan, Indiana
Indiana Dunes National Park hugs 15 miles of shoreline at the southern tip of Lake Michigan stretching from Gary to Michigan City. Just 35 miles outside of Chicago the national park is known for its diverse habitats made up of dunes, oak savannas, wetlands, prairies, rivers and forests.
But the park's characteristic dunes are not just piles of sand – they are active, moving land forms that change over time. Lake Michigan’s southern shoreline was first unveiled 10,000 years ago when glaciers retreated northward. Since then waves have eaten away at the shoreline creating sediment that moves south and deposits sand on Indiana’s beaches. The sand dunes that visitors see today started forming nearly 6,000 years ago.
Despite only consisting of 15,000 acres, the national park is the fourth-most biodiverse national parks in the U.S. It’s also an important feeding and resting area for migratory birds.
More:America’s newest national park, Indiana Dunes, is also the closest one to Milwaukee
Isle Royale National Park, Lake Superior, Michigan
In the middle of Lake Superior, Isle Royale National Park is a remote cluster of islands roughly 55 miles from Michigan’s mainland. The park consists of a 45-mile island – one of the largest lake islands in the world in fact – surrounded by more than 400 smaller ones. Because of its seclusion, it’s the least visited national park in the continental U.S.
There are hundreds of inland lakes on the islands as well as more than 160 miles of wilderness trails. Moose and wolves are some of the most notable residents. And it’s the only national park that completely closes in the off-season because of Lake Superior’s extreme weather conditions.
Isle Royale’s isolation from human influence makes the impacts of climate change more apparent. Warmer temperatures, higher water levels and more severe storms are altering habitats, cultural resources and wildlife on the islands. For instance, winter ticks are becoming more abundant with warmer temperatures and are killing moose at alarming rates. There can be as many as 100,000 ticks feeding on a single moose, causing hair loss and hypothermia as well as blood loss, which can be fatal.
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Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Lake Superior, Michigan
In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore stretches across 42 miles of Lake Superior’s southern shoreline. The lakeshore boasts 15 miles of multicolored rock cliffs as well as sandstone formations, sand dunes, beaches and forests. It’s a popular site for sightseeing, hiking, camping and leaf peeping. In the winter, frozen waterfalls make it one of the Midwest’s prime locations for ice climbing.
More than 230 species of lichen – an organism made up of algae and fungi that live together and form crusts on trees and rocks – are found in the national lakeshore. Dense networks of fungi live beneath the forest floor, and mushroom foraging – with restrictions – is allowed within the park.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Lake Michigan, Michigan
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore houses the largest freshwater dune system in the world, which were created millions of years ago when glaciers retreated. The dunes can rise more than 450 feet above the lake and continue to grow as wind coming off the lake moves the sand around and piles it on top of these formations.
The park consists of 35-miles of Lake Michigan’s northeast coastline in Michigan’s lower peninsula and includes wilderness areas of North Manitou and South Manitou islands. The name “Sleeping Bear” comes from an Ojibwe oral tradition about one dune in particular, known as Mother Bear.
Like other national lakeshores in the Great Lakes, Sleeping Bear Dunes is an important spot for birds, as more than 240 species have been identified along the shoreline.
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Caitlin Looby is a Report for America corps member who writes about the environment and the Great Lakes. Reach her at clooby@gannett.com or follow her on X @caitlooby.