The Chainlink

Gary, IN?

My friends and I are planning a bike trip around the coastline of Michigan in August. On the first leg of our trip were considering riding the dunes hwy (12) straight through Gary, IN. I was curious if anyone else has made this ride and would recommend it? Is it THAT unsafe? Should we stay out of Gary like the Blue Chip Casino security guard in Michigan City, warned us. "I'm an ex-cop! And I don't go anywhere near Gary[,IN] without at least TWO guns!" 

We could get a bunch of guns, but they'd be so heavy!

Also, anyone have any friends or family that might be able to host bikers for a night of our journey, let us know!

Love,
Matt Kwain

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Permalink Reply by Elliot Bennett on April 20, 2010 at 12:19pm
Here is the route I took last summer to Muskegon MI. It was a great route, and it avoided Gary for some very nice scenic bike trails...

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/il/chicago/750200588341
Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on April 20, 2010 at 12:20pm
http://www.warmshowers.org/

(Not a kinky sex site, don't worry . . .)

I've ridden through Gary and through areas with a lot of people in the street.
They waved and said hi.

I probably wouldn't want to pass through late Friday or Saturday night, but on a Sunday morning/afternoon you'd be fine.
Permalink Reply by Michelle Green on April 20, 2010 at 12:30pm
Remy, didn't we learn our lesson That Fateful Night? Remember how we threw caution to the wind and went to Gary anyway? Remember how much danger we were in? While we saw literally not another living soul? Except that cat bike guard? And whoever was driving that minivan?

GARY OR BUST
Permalink Reply by Joe TV on April 20, 2010 at 12:38pm
I've never ridden through Gary, on purpose. I did however quite enjoy the bike trails south of there. Plus its an excuse to go to Three Floyds. I'm with Elliot.

I'd guess my map is quite similar to his.

http://www.mapmyride.com/run/united-states/il/chicago/3431241767679...
Permalink Reply by Primitive Don on April 20, 2010 at 2:18pm
+1 on the routes suggested. There are some recently constructed trails through the area that will avoid Gary and other urban areas. As a cyclist I'd more concerned about speeding traffic on Hwy 12 going through Gary than I would about other aspects of safety. 12 also runs through the steel mill areas in Porter County, so you would need to seriously look out for semis.
Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on April 20, 2010 at 2:36pm
No idea on biking it but do some research on your route and stick to routes people have used before.

I spend a lot of time in Gary for work and have done a lot of urban exploration there and like any other city Gary is made up of many areas of varying degrees of sketchiness. However it seems to me that most of Gary is sketchy as hell; I would make sure it was a say time trip and stick to proven routes not just for safety but because the roads there are HORRIBLE and there are huge coil trucks everywhere.
Permalink Reply by Patrick O'Connor on April 20, 2010 at 5:42pm
Seconding this due to working in Gary.

notoriousDUG said:
No idea on biking it but do some research on your route and stick to routes people have used before.

I spend a lot of time in Gary for work and have done a lot of urban exploration there and like any other city Gary is made up of many areas of varying degrees of sketchiness. However it seems to me that most of Gary is sketchy as hell; I would make sure it was a say time trip and stick to proven routes not just for safety but because the roads there are HORRIBLE and there are huge coil trucks everywhere.
Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on April 20, 2010 at 5:49pm
Avoiding Gary like the others suggested will add hours to your day. How far are you going your first day? Camping in the dunes? If so that's already a long day.

If you're riding around the lake you're going to be spending a lot of time on small highways, not unlike highway 12 through Gary. I'd suggest you buck up, and take the more direct route. Its really not that bad...No worse than chicago.

I'm sure the Blue Chip Security guard security guard would have said the same thing about Humbolt Park.

also- Check out Warmshowers.org for places to stay along the way. I did the same ride last year and stayed with 4 or 5 people from that site. Good Luck!
Permalink Reply by Juan 2-3 or more mi. on April 20, 2010 at 8:11pm
An adventurous friend and I wanted to go to the dunes. So we followed the L.S.D. path all the way south. We wanted to stick as close to the lake with a the help of a map. IT SUCKED! On our way there some friendly locals laughed and said "hey look some white people!" Into Gary it was a different story going down MLK drive. It was a nasty westside type ghetto. Getting back, we took the train tracks along the lake in order to avoid going through Gary again.
Permalink Reply by S on April 20, 2010 at 9:34pm
Juan Dominguez said:
An adventurous friend and I wanted to go to the dunes. So we followed the L.S.D. path all the way south. We wanted to stick as close to the lake with a the help of a map. IT SUCKED! On our way there some friendly locals laughed and said "hey look some white people!" Into Gary it was a different story going down MLK drive. It was a nasty westside type ghetto. Getting back, we took the train tracks along the lake in order to avoid going through Gary again.

Going south along US 41 isn't all that bad. I've done the ride to Schererville, IN a bunch of times with my cycling club and it's moderately pleasant since you can use the greenway to go from the south side to wolf lake and indiana and from there it's fairly empty roads for the most part with one stretch that's along the highway although that isn't too bad either.

Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on April 21, 2010 at 10:04am
Juan Dominguez said:
An adventurous friend and I wanted to go to the dunes. So we followed the L.S.D. path all the way south. We wanted to stick as close to the lake with a the help of a map. IT SUCKED! On our way there some friendly locals laughed and said "hey look some white people!" Into Gary it was a different story going down MLK drive. It was a nasty westside type ghetto. Getting back, we took the train tracks along the lake in order to avoid going through Gary again.

I've had pretty much this exact experience a few years ago except the phrase was something along the lines of "...white guy on a BIKE!" I had the impression that both were completely alien. I took the same route back and never had any actual problems.

But next time I do it (tentatively planning on a long weekend camping ride to the Dunes this summer) I think we will take the southern route. The sketchy is nerve-wracking, but perhaps more harmful to one's spirit is the utter bleakness and and despairing appearance of the place. I dunno... if one has never seen it it is probably a good thing to behold first hand, but I don't look forward to repeating the experience.
Permalink Reply by Barry Niel Stuart on April 21, 2010 at 3:05pm
If you really want to avoid Gary, come to Milwaukee, Bay View to be exact and take the Lake Express to Muskegon. It's only two and a half hours across and it's a very bike-friendly ferry. After that, enjoy plenty of Michigan hospitality.

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