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> 1. There's virtually no nature within a 2 hour drive Indiana Dunes National Park is less than an hour away! Don't get me wrong, I wish the region had mountai
by binarynate 4y ago
> 1. There's virtually no nature within a 2 hour drive
Indiana Dunes National Park is less than an hour away! Don't get me wrong, I wish the region had mountains, but Indiana Dunes has both great forest trails and giant sand dunes you can climb to get a great view of Lake Michigan.
- throwaway894345 4y agoMaybe from the loop or the south side, but from my place it's 1.5 with normal traffic and 2+ with rush hour. You're not going to get out there in an evening, eat a quick meal, and have any daylight left to actually do anything (maybe in the peak of summer you can have enough daylight for a meaningful after-work trip, but most times of the year I doubt it).
- binarynate 4y agoThat's fair—driving to Indiana from the north side of Chicago can be surprisingly grueling. And taking the train there isn't ideal if you want to take a cooler and beach gear.
- kasey_junk 4y agoThe “right” way to do Dunes is to bike camp there. Ride your bike to your nearest train that gets you to the loop and take the southshore train (or do the whole thing by bike). You can do a similar trip to Zion up north which is even easier from the Northside. You can be sleeping in a hammock walking distance to the water in either direction pretty trivially. I’m less familiar with the western suburbs version but have friends that do starved rock this way. I don’t think it invalidates your point and the time it takes to get to somewhere “outdoors” is actually my biggest complaint about the area but both of those parks are definitely doable after work… so long as you stay the night. Here is a link to a group that does those trips as tours and does advocacy: https://www.oofd.org/ https://www.oofd.org/
- Kon-Peki 4y agoGreat website! Thanks for sharing