On this trip, we find ourselves exploring Northwest Michigan. It took us from Leelanau State Park down around Lake Michigan to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
Sleeping Bear Dunes
At 65 miles long, Sleeping Bear Dunes is the largest freshwater dune system in the world. It's home to over 900 plant species, nearly 250 different birds and covers over 71,000 acres.
The park averages 1.6 million visitors per year coming to look at the dunes. Standing at over 450ft on the shore of Lake Michigan you'll find spectacular views. Here are some of the signs from the trail around the area.
How Sleeping Bear Dunes got it's name
There are 2 stories about how the dunes got their name. One story told by the local Odawa/Ottawa, Ojibway/Chippewa tribal members is as follows from the National Park Service website.
Once, long ago, in the land called Wisconsin across the great lake, there was terrible hunger and many people died. A bear and two little cubs were trying to leave that place and come around the lake where there would be more food.
They walked for many days on the beach together, but after a while the two little cubs began to whimper with hunger, and so the bear decided to swim across the rest of the lake.
They waded into the water, one cub on each side of the bear, and they swam off into the lake a long way. After a while the cubs began to get very tired, and so the bear said, “Try hard, the land is not very far.” And very soon they did come in sight of land.
But gradually the cubs got weaker, and only ten miles away, one cub sank into the water. Soon after, the other also drowned.
The bear’s heart was broken, but she could do nothing. She waded ashore and lay down, looking out on the water where her cubs had died. Eventually, both of them came to the surface as two little islands, and so the bear still lies there atop the dunes, looking after here children.
The 2nd story comes from the Potawatomi oral tradition is very similar and equally as sad.
Long ago, along the Wisconsin shoreline, a mother bear and her two cubs were driven into Lake Michigan by a raging forest fire. The bears swam for many hours, but soon the cubs tired. Mother bear reached the shore first and climbed to the top of a high bluff to watch and wait for her cubs. The cubs drowned within sight of the shore. The Great Spirit created two islands to mark the spot where the cubs disappeared and then created a solitary dune to represent the eternal vigil of mother bear.
If you look off in the distance you'll see North and South Manitou Islands. They are the 2 "bear cubs" that didn't make it to shore.
The main dune overlook stands at 450ft above the water. People are allowed to run/walk down the dune but are warned about if they can't make it back up. The only way out is by airlift from the Coast Guard and it's not cheap!
Is it really that steep? YES!!!
Here is a shot with my camera of the lookout pier and a GoPro pic from standing on the pier.
Still doesn't look that tall right?!?
Here is a trail down the dune. Look really close.
You see those little dots down at the bottom? That is a group of people who made it to the bottom. WOW!
There was no chance we were going down that hill. 😂😂😂
We headed North up the shoreline and got this picture looking back at the dune. The main lookout is up around the dune at the top of the shore.
Birds of the Area
We stayed just North of the dunes in Leelanau State Park. Like I stated above, this area is home to hundreds of different bird species. I was able to capture the following.
Canadian Geese
Swans
Song Sparrows
Red Winged Blackbird
Mallard Duck Pair
I even got a cool picture of this tiny bird. LOL
While non of the birds we saw were rare for the area, I'm happy to be able to get some pictures of them in the wild.
After a long day at the dune system, we were blessed with this sunset on the big water.
We hope you enjoyed our trip to Sleeping Bear Dunes. I've got a bunch of video from this trip I need to edit still. It's a beautiful area and we plan another trip there next year.
Here is the video I finished from the last post. Check it out and give us a follow over on YouTube!
Thanks for checking out our post and we hope to hear from you in the comments!
