and now, for something completely different.

[blaze]

A few shots from Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, in Michigan. From a long Memorial weekend trip to visit family.

Yes, the water really is that blue-green! It was warm enough to swim in yesterday after a hot (near 90 degrees) 4 mile hike.

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[una_dogger]

Question: how do you keep from getting sand in your shoes without gaiters?

 

[blaze]

Question: how do you keep from getting sand in your shoes without gaiters?

Numerous shoe-emptying stops were necessary! Especially on the Pyramid Point Trail, shown in photos 3-5. On that loop we took a short detour off the official trail to take in a view of the lake... well worth it, but it was a short, steep and very sandy climb!

 

[Jay H]

Nice pictures, hard to even tell that it is a lake.

your first picture, do you know if that lake just a bit inland from the big lake is natural or manmade? it just looks kind of odd being almost right next to lake michigan(?).

Jay

 

[Mark Schaefer]

Great TR and photos. Having grown up in Michigan we visited the Sleeping Bear Dune several times on summer vacations. That was before the National Lakeshore was established and before all these nice boardwalks were built. I use to love the sand scramble up the main dune at the old State Park area; which is now the "Dunes Climb" on the "Dunes Trail" near Glen Lake.

your first picture, do you know if that lake just a bit inland from the big lake is natural or manmade? it just looks kind of odd being almost right next to lake michigan(?).

That is South Bar Lake which is a natural lake between the village of Empire and Lake Michigan. That picture was photographed from the Empire Bluffs. The main Sleeping Bear Dune is in the distance.

There are many similar small natural lakes along the Lake Michigan shore. In this area I believe they are all natural. The dunes and the small lakes were both created by the shifting winds. It is all a matter of the where the dunes shifted over time and where gaps formed. There has not been too much human disturbance of the dunes in this area. However, in the southern part of the Michigan, especially south of Benton Harbor near the Indiana border many of the original large sand dunes have been mined for making glass. Much of the glass was for the automobile industry, but also for other uses. You might find more man made lakes in the south. The small lakes do extend the swimming season as they warm much faster than the Great Lakes.

 

[blaze]

Great TR and photos. Having grown up in Michigan we visited the Sleeping Bear Dune several times on summer vacations.

Thanks for the kind comments!

I am not from Michigan but we used to vacation there, and I have many pleasant memories of family trips to the area. Pictured Rocks Nat'l Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula (the "U.P.") is also well worth visiting, for those who have never been there! The ruins of my great grandfather's hunting camp are still there on what is now national lakeshore land.