Sleeping Bear Dunes

Out and about yesterday, including a stop at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

The Legend of Sleeping Bear

Once, long ago, across the great lake in Wisconsin, there was terrible hunger and many people and animals died.  A bear and her two little clubs, desperate for food, left that place to swim the long distance to the other side of the lake.

After a while, the cubs became very tired, and so the bear said:  "Try hard, the land is not very far"  but gradually the cubs weakened. Exhausted, one cub sank into the water when they were within sight of land and soon after the other also drowned.

The bear's heart was broken, but she could do nothing.  she waded ashore and climbed the bluff to lie down looking out on the water where her cubs had died.  However, both of them surfaced as two little islands.  And so the bear still lies there now, looking after her children.


The Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive was lovely.

There are 12 stops along the way, including some hikes (which I didn't take due to the heat/humidity, which is just kicking my rear).



The lake above is Glen Lake.  Divided by M-22 causeway, Big Glen Lake (closest to you) is only 12 feet deep.  Different shades of blue indicate lake levels.  The long ridge running along the north side of Little Glen is called Alligator Hill.

This is the dune overlook, in the middle of an approximately 4 square mile area called the Sleeping Bear Dunes complex.  This high plateau gently dips to the lakeshore to the north and Sleeping Bear Bay.  However, to the east, the dunes rise dramatically, almost straight up from the water.

From the Lake Michigan overlook platform, about 450 feet above the lake, you can see South Manitou Island 10miles to the northwest, Empire Bluffs just four miles to the south and Platte Bay just beyond that.  Wisconsin is just 54 miles due west. 

At this stop, you can also climb the dunes for another look at the national park, but I didn't make the climb.  The wind was so strong that the blowing sand not only hurt but was getting my eyes as well.

There was a sign stating that if you climbed down the dunes to the water and could not get back up, it would be a 2-hour wait and a fine for rescue.

I made a few stops on the way to Sleeping Bear.  I also drove past Interlochen, which was Michigan's first state park. 

The Sara Lee bakery outlet in Traverse City displays the cherry pie pan that made the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest for baking cherry pie pan. The pan's diameter measures 17-feet, 6-inches, and the pie weighed 28,350 pounds.

 Created by local art students, this giant grasshopper sculpture is 18 feet long, 10 feet tall, and composed of old junkyard items such as a Weber grill, brake drums, old railroad spikes, and shovel blades. The piece is titled A Farmer's Nightmare.

This sculpture garden had several other interesting sculptures.

And this street sweeper was kicking up quite a cloud..

The other "interesting" thing that happened during my sightseeing drive .... I was listening to a book on tape - a King & Maxwell "big brother" FBI, government, spy kind of story - and I noticed a car "following" me.  Now imagination is good most of the time, but this car followed me for at least 26 miles, through 4 highway changes, right into the same gas station and Wendy's.  Spooky, huh?  With the crowd I found at Sleeping Bear, he could have very well been going to the same National Park, but still ... I shut off the book.  😎

Today I head across the state again, from the Lake Michigan shore to the Lake Huron shore and the Saginaw area.  Maybe it'll be cooler?