Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore, Michigan

We started the day out today taking the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive.  The Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive is a 7.4 mile self-guided auto tour on the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. When you start the drive you can pick up a brochure that lists about 10-12 stops along the way and gives information about what you'll see at those stops.  It is well worth taking with you!

This covered bridge is close to the beginning of the Pierce Stocking drive in the heart of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The original structure was built by Pierce Stocking in the 1960s. The bridge had to be reconstructed in 1986.

Glen Lakes

There were several places along the route to get great pictures of Glen Lake.  The lake appears to be divided into two parts at what appears to be a bridge.  The two parts are called Little Glen Lake (in the front) and Big Glen Lake.  

We stopped at the Picnic Mountain picnic area for lunch and had the place to ourselves which was nice!  

Our next stop was at the Dune Overlook which was just a short distance from the picnic area.  What a glorious view!  From here we could see both the north and south Manitou islands, part of the park and Sleeping Bear Bay.

Indigo Bunting

As I was taking pictures I noticed this blur of blue land on this wonderfully bare tree so I grabbed Lee so he could get a picture of him.  I decided that he was an Indigo Bunting but he was too far away for my camera.  I just love it when birds cooperate so well and sit still in a place we can actually see them!

At the next stop, the Cottonwood Trail, we were afforded the opportunity to hike the trail on the dunes.  It started out with a nice boardwalk so we thought how bad could it be.  Well, it started out fine.  At first it was a boardwalk - no problem.  Then it went into a tightly packed sand trail which wasn't too bad.  Later though we were slogging through deep sand and climbing up and down hills.  I can't remember how long they said the trail would be, but it felt like it was three times that! Sleeping Bear Dunes covers an area of four square miles and I swear we walked it all! lol

This is a bowl-shaped dune known as a blowout.  We're getting into some pretty sloggy sand here and going up hill.  We got our work out today!

Gorgeous views as we walked!  If you do decide to do this, take some water with you.  That would have helped!

We walked all the way to the Climbing Dune.  We drove past the Climbing Dune yesterday on our drive and we couldn't believe that we actually walked all this way.  We watched a few people trudge up the hill.  I think they actually had it easier going straight up than we did walking all the way to it!

Can you see that little dot in the sand?  That is a person climbing the dune!

She made it and now another one is coming up!

Views from the top of the climbing dune!

Okay, now we are continuing on the path back to the truck.  We could see our truck in the picture below (Lee zoomed in to get the picture), but there was no straight trail to it.  The path wound around forever before we got to it.  We were about at the half way point when we saw the truck!  

We finally made it back to the truck and we were never so glad to see our iced tea and get into some air conditioning!  When we reached the boardwalk back to the truck we noticed the sign that read:  This trail is strenuous in places.  It also told us that we walked 1.5 miles.  We've hiked that far many times but maybe the difference is the slogging through deep sand.  Your muscles really have to work!

On the way out of the dunes area, you come into some forest.  Some of the trees have very twisted trunks due to the sandy soil.  This is a basewood tree.  The roots stay close to the top of the ground and gather whatever moisture they can find.

You can really see how the dunes can be dangerous at the Observation Deck at Lake Michigan Overlook which is near Parking Lot 9 and 10 on the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive.   The deck is about 450' above the lake level and the angle of the dunes to the lake is really REALLY steep.  There are signs that tell you that you will be charged for a rescue if someone has to come and rescue you after you try to climb down this dune.  Naturally, we were not the people that they had to ask twice being of sound mind!

The Sleeping Bear Dune that the area is named after is hard to see.  It has been eroding for years and at some point will disappear all together.  The dune used to stand 234' high but in 1961 it was only 132' high and in 1980, it was 103'. 

Lake Michigan Overlook on the Pierce Stocking Drive

Lake Michigan is the largest lake that resides completely in the United States and it is the fourth largest fresh-water lake in the world.    It is a product of the Ice Age that advanced across the continent.

All in all, we had a wonderful visit to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore!  We'd highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys beautiful scenery.