1
Indiana Dunes National Park
Managed by National Park Service
1,263 acres8.9 mi of trail
Little Calumet River TrailBailly/Chellberg Trails
Dogs usually limitedNational parks restrict dogs on most trails. Check posted rules
Outdoors · Porter
Porter, IN parks, trails & bike paths
About 29% of Porter is conserved land, roughly 1,202 acres. There are about 9.5 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Indiana Dunes National Park (8.9 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Porter, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Porter outdoors
Conserved land
29%
1,202 of 4,117 acres
Trails
9.5 mi
1.5 mi per sq mi · 9 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
3
230 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
5.4 mi
0.6 mi lanes · 4.8 mi off-road paths
Conserved land is a share of the whole town area. Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number or a place below to zoom in© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Parks & preserves with trails
Ranked by mapped trail miles. Directions go to the nearest marked trailhead or public parking.
2
Hawthorne Park
Park
16 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Website
3
J.D. Marshall Underwater Preserve
Nature preserve
17 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Things to do
Beaches, playgrounds, falls & more
Pick a kind of place for the list, directions, or pins on the map above.
Beaches in Porter
Porter BeachIn Indiana Dunes National Park
Trails
Named trails
- Little Calumet River Trail3.1 mi
- Bailly/Chellberg Trails0.9 mi
Water
Lakes & rivers
Tap a name for directions.
Who protects the land
1,202 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 19 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes0.6 mi
- Off-road bike paths4.8 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
Courts & fields
- Basketball4
- Baseball2
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Public lands
The biggest protected places in Porter
From USGS PAD-US: who manages each one and whether visitors are welcome.
National Park 1,141 acConservation Easement 35 acLocal Park 25 acState Park 17 ac
| Place | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indiana Dunes National ParkNational Park | National Park Service | 1,141 | Open |
| Hawthorne ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 19 | Open |
| Indiana Dunes State ParkState Park | State parks | 17 | Open |
| Porter Cove ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 3 | Open |
| Unknown ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 2 | Open |
| Indian Springs ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
History
Historic places to visit
Borg FarmIn Indiana Dunes National Park · Farm · 1866
Chellberg FarmIn Indiana Dunes National Park · Farm · 1874
Lindstrom/Wahl FarmIn Indiana Dunes National Park · Farm
Lindstrom/Wahl FarmhouseIn Indiana Dunes National Park · Building · 1855
Lindstrom/Wahl Historic BarnIn Indiana Dunes National Park · Building · 1910
Nike Missile SilosRuins
Sugar Bush FarmIn Indiana Dunes National Park · Farm · 1887
Bailly CemeteryCemetery
Burstrom CemeteryCemetery
Nearby
Porter and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Porter | 29.2% | 9.5 mi | 3 |
| Chesterton | 13.1% | 10.1 mi | 7 |
| Dune Acres | 36.9% | 5.3 mi | 2 |
| Burns Harbor | 9.2% | 1.2 mi | 3 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Porter's trails yet. Muddy, icy, a bridge out, where to park: a quick post helps the next person.
Sources: trails, parks, preserves, courts and bike lanes © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), map data as of 2026-09-28. Conserved land: USGS Gap Analysis Project, Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). Measured against the Census town boundary.
How we measure
"Trails" are OpenStreetMap paths, bridleways, public tracks and unpaved footways, plus footways inside a park or preserve or on a named trail route. Sidewalks are left out. Areas are counted on a 20-meter grid, so overlapping parcels count once. "Conserved" includes conservation easements, which protect land from development but are usually private property. Trailheads are the nearest marked trailhead, public parking lot or information board within about 150 meters of a preserve. Dog rules come from OpenStreetMap when someone has tagged them; otherwise we show what's typical for the land manager, or say the rules aren't recorded.