Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

After leaving Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, we drove to the Lower Peninsula and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on Lake Michigan near Empire, Michigan.

The Mackinac Bridge connects the two Michigan Peninsulas. The waters underneath connect Lakes Michigan and Huron.

When we got to Sleeping Bear Dunes, it was mid-afternoon, and we had limited time in the park. We decided that the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive was the best choice.

Stop #2. Glen Lake Overlook.

Stop #9/#10. Lake Michigan Overlook. Signs warn that it is easy to go down 400 ft to the beach, but climbing 400 ft back up the dune is extremely strenuous and not recommended!

Looking up at the top of the dune. At the top is a grand 360° view.

Looking back at the Lake Michigan overlook from the top of the dune.

Stop #11 - Looking south from North Bar Lake overlook. South Bar Lake is barely visible in the foreground. Lake Michigan is on the right.

The Anishinaabek Story of the Manitou Islands and Sleeping Bear Dune

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 cubs, 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. Soon after, the other also drowned.

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

As told in the National Park Service brochure