By Kristine

I don’t really remember the first time I saw the Sleeping Bear Dunes.  I’m guessing that’s because I was still a baby when I originally encountered those mountainous sand hills.  I know we made a pilgrimage to the dunes every year for most of my childhood.  I can still remember fighting to climb through the slippery sand, and thinking the top of the dune looked much too far away.  I can also remember emptying my shoes, my pockets and generally my clothes of small piles of dune sand when we headed back to the car. 

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore lies in Benzie and Leelanau Counties in Northern Lower Michigan.  The Dunes themselves took their names from an Ojibwa legend about Mother Bear and her two cubs that were driven out into Lake Michigan by a fire.  The cubs swam bravely, but were too small, and finally slipped beneath the waves.  When Mother Bear reached shore she climbed to the top of a sand bluff and waited in vain for her cubs.  Finally, the Great Spirit took pity, and raised North and South Manitou islands to mark where Mother Bear’s cubs had been lost.  He also sent Mother Bear to sleep and gradually the dunes grew over her.

For those who’ve never visited, the Dunes can be quite an awesome site.  They look like some giant child has dumped buckets of sand everywhere.  Wind and water carve some of the dunes into fantastic shapes.  The odd tuft of grass gains a foothold here and there and sprouts bravely like the last few hairs on a balding man’s head.  There are trails to walk, and huge hills of sand to scramble up, and clear blue water in which to cool your feet when the sand gets too hot.

A day at the Dunes is also a fairly economical way to spend a vacation day. Up until 1998, the Park Service did not charge fees for walking the Dunes.  Today a Park Pass, good for seven days, is 10 dollars, and an Annual Park Pass, good for 12 months, is 20 dollars.  Fees for camping near the dunes are also quite economical.  You can learn more about the Dunes at the Official Sleeping Bear Dunes Website.  If you’re a rebel, you can also read about the Dunes at the Unofficial Sleeping Bear Dunes Homepage.

If you’re looking to add some water to the sand of your Dunes adventure, you might also want to canoe the Platte River.  We did this several times when I was a kid, and it was a lot of fun.  The Lower Platte, which we canoed most often, ends on a sandy beach in Lake Michigan.  The Upper Platte is not white water, but is a faster water trip.  The river also has a lot more twists and turns, so it is a trip for canoeists who are more experienced.

Finally, if you like music, you may want to consider attending the Sleeping Bear Dunegrass and Blues Festival at the end of July.  I’ve never been to this music festival but I’ve heard from people who have been that it’s a lot of fun.  The dates of the festival are July 31 – August 3, and there are already a lot of local and national artists scheduled to play. 

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