We found that the curious name for this national park came from the landmark high on the dunes overlooking Lake Michigan. In the picture above, you can see Denisa in the foreground, and Mark is the shadowy small figure in the middle of the photo. But if you look in the upper right corner in the distance, you can see a clump of trees on the ridge. That shaggy clump has changed size and texture over the years, but it resembled a bear sleeping on that prominent point. For years that "sleeping bear" helped guide boaters on the lake below. The next picture is an attempt to capture just how far down it is to the waters of Lake Michigan.
Our first introduction to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is the hike up to Empire Bluff Point. We were blessed with a beautiful blue-sky day, and the lake is surprisingly calm this morning.
These sand dunes rest atop 300-400 foot cliffs, giving spectacular views of Lake Michigan.
Signs at the top of the dunes warn visitors to "enjoy the view from here" because the national park will charge you the rescue fees if they have to carry you back up that steep dune.
But as Denisa looks down over that 400-foot steep stretch of sand, we see that a few people want to attempt the climb down and then back up. We talked to a man that comes here on a regular basis, just to prove that he can still do it. We also talked to a young woman that made that steep climb in just 17 minutes (but she said she was motivated because she really needed to go to the bathroom!)
The walk back to the car is through a cool forest of tall hardwood trees. We are guessing that this walk will be very colorful in a few weeks when the leaves change to their fall foliage colors.
We also took the drive around the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, for more views of the dunes that are available for those not up to a hike. But our next stop is a sand dune where visitors are encouraged to climb. This is the "Dune Climb" where a picture frame stands instead of a warning sign.
That's because the exertion comes at the beginning of the hike going up the dune. The national park won't have to rescue hikers on this trail because you could always just roll back down the hill if you got tired.
Of course, we had to make the climb to the top of the dune. From the top, we could get a view of the little people at the bottom, as well as an in-land lake far below us. Denisa started down the dune first, so she is that single "little people" in the middle of the picture.
When we were taking pictures toward the ridge of the sand dunes, Denisa realized that Mark was blending into his environment today.
He had managed to wear sand-colored pants and a sky-colored shirt. So he blended into the background when he stood near the top of the dunes.
The national lakeshore continues for many miles along Lake Michigan, and contains more than just sand dunes. It also preserves Glen Haven Historic Village, where pioneers struggled to make a living when they settled here in the 1800's. Several of the buildings are still open for visitors, including the blacksmith shop. We watched as they used the same techniques from the 200 years ago to bend and form metal pieces.
We also went to the boat museum to stand beside some of the old wooden boats that spent their life fishing on Lake Michigan. The museum is now housed in the village's old cannery building, where many residents made their livelihood preserving the area's fruit harvest.
Being in this little lake-front village also allowed us to get close to Lake Michigan and a walk on the beach.
It's another sandy beach with a ridge of beautiful lake stones that have been washed ashore. We're trying NOT to find any Petoskey stones here, as the national park system doesn't allow visitors to remove them.
After stopping for lunch at the iconic Art's Tavern in Glen Arbor, we are making our way to the third and final section of the national lakeshore. We've been told to hike the Pyramid Point trail for more great views over Lake Michigan. In the distance we can see the North and South Manitou Islands. Indian legend explains that the drought in Wisconsin caused a mother bear and her two cubs to swim across Lake Michigan to find food on the other shore. The two cubs drowned on this long swim. The mother bear now sleeps atop the ridge of the dunes as she looks down over her cubs that became these two islands.
Mark took a panorama shot from Pyramid Point to show the great view we were enjoying at the end of our hike. We have been blessed to wander through more of God's wonders all day!
We had also been given advice about some lesser-known things to see while visiting this northern section of the park. We hoped we wouldn't meet another car as we made our way down a very narrow forest road.
Our plan was to kayak on this secluded little inland lake. But it was already getting late and we were a long ways from home. So we left with only a picture of Shell Lake.
It was 6:30 p.m. by the time we pulled into the little town of Leland. Known as a fishing village, the boats were lined up in the marina this cool evening.
We were here to see "Fishtown," the historic village where fishermen have come to sell their Lake Michigan catch for over one hundred years. We had planned to buy the area's well-known delicacy--smoked white fish--so we were disappointed to see that the fishtown fish market was already closed for the day.
It was dark by the time we rolled back into our camp site 50 miles south of our last stop in Leland, Michigan. It was a full day of sight-seeing and wonder-watching at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Who knew this retirement gig would be so tiring?!?
I obeyed that sign. We knew that if we walked down, we would be paying somebody to bring us back up.
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