Indiana Dunes’ Mount Baldy keeps slowly blowing inland
Indiana Dunes National Park's Mount Baldy is shown Aug. 14, 2014, in Michigan City, Ind. (Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune via AP)
MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (AP) — A towering sand dune at the Indiana Dunes National Park has kept up its inland creep, covering up an access road and threatening to bury a parking lot in the coming years.
The park’s landmark Mount Baldy has largely been closed to public climbing since a 6-year-old boy was rescued in 2013 after being buried in sand there from a cavity that researchers blamed on decaying sand-covered trees.
A Park Service ranger says winds winds off Lake Michigan have taken as much as 30 feet off its previous 125-foot peak.
The shifting sands could eventually consume the entire parking lot and a restroom building near Mount Baldy.