Living Our Dream

Sleeping Bear Dunes

Traverse City, MI - Events of Monday, August 22, 2011

As we said in our last post, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, which is located on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan about 20 miles from Traverse City, was our primary reason for stopping in Traverse City. We headed to the dunes on Monday.

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is a strip of land that covers about 45 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline plus North and South Manitou Islands located several miles offshore. Small towns separate the park on the mainland into three sections. The central section seems to be the most popular, so that's where we headed after stopping at the visitor center in Empire, MI.

One of the overlooks recommended in the visitor guide was Inspiration Point. We made that our next stop. The lake in the foreground is Glenn Lake, which is a large, two-lobed lake that is separated from Lake Michigan by a strip of land. Beyond the strip of land is Lake Michigan, and in the far distance is North Manitou Island.

Sleeping Bear Dunes gets its name from an Indian legend that says a mother bear and her two cubs swam across Lake Michigan to escape a forest fire. The cubs didn't make it and are represented by two islands (North and South Manitou Islands). A large dune on the mainland represented the faithful mother bear who slept on the shore as she waited for her cubs.

From Inspiration Point, we headed to Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. Pierce Stocking was a lumberman who worked in the forests of Michigan. He spent much of his spare time learning about nature, and he liked to walk the dunes and bluffs above Lake Michigan. He wanted to share the beauty of the area, so he built a road atop the dunes that was opened in 1967. Upon Stocking's death in 1977, the 7-mile loop became part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, and it is not to be missed if you visit Sleeping Bear dunes.

The scenic drive winds through the dense forests on the back sides of the dunes.

There are numerous scenic pull-offs along Pierce Stockton Drive including the one shown below where we could see the lighthouse in the distance on South Manitou Island. There are ferries over to both North and South Manitou Islands where you can hike, camp and tour the lighthouse.

The Lake Michigan Overlook has a boardwalk along the top of the dunes that provides scenic views of the lake.

There is also an observation platform that takes you out over the edge of the dune...

... where there were beautiful views of the dunes at the shore line.

We could also see over the edge of the dune down to the water. A lot of the specks in the next photo are people walking down to the lake like they did at Dune Slide at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. This dune is about 450 feet above the water, and it is a long, steep climb back up. Unlike Dune Slide that was all loose sand, however, this dune has a lot of rocks and gravel in it that help keep the surface a little harder and little easier to climb. The gravel is part of a moraine left by the glaciers after the Ice Age.

A little farther up the boardwalk we got another great panoramic view of the dunes.

The dark vegetation in the distance just to the upper left of center in the next photo covers what's left of Sleeping Bear Dune. The dune used to be much larger and covered the large depression to the right of the vegetation; but the sand is constantly changing, and most of Sleeping Bear Dune has been blown out. In the far distance are South Manitou Island (left) and North Manitou Island.

A little farther along Pierce Stockton Scenic Drive is a stop where you can get another view of the dunes to the south. The small, narrow lake is North Bar Lake.

From the scenic drive, we headed north and stopped at Dune Climb where you can climb the back side of a 110-foot high dune. There were lots of shoes piled at the bottom as well as grandparents watching the fun.

To the north of Dune Climb is the historic village of Glen Haven, which is a restored logging village that was founded in 1857. We stopped in the general store, which also has a small display depicting the history of Glen Haven.

D. H. (David Henry) Day was an early resident and entrepreneur in Glen Haven. He began selling cord wood to steamships. When the ships switched to coal, Day bought a sawmill and went into the lumber business. By 1910, he owned more than 5,000 acres of forest.

When logging bagan to decline, Day planted fruit trees. By the 1920s, he had over 5,000 cherry and apple trees on his 400-acre farm. Day recognized the type of soil and the moderating effects of Lake Michigan and Traverse Bay were ideal for growing fruit. Today, the area around Traverse City grows 70 to 75% of all the tart cherries grown in the United States. Sweet cherries are also popular at roadside stands throughout the region.

D. H. Day also built the Glen Haven Canning Company on the waterfront to can cherries.

The cannery has been converted to a museum for some of the old boats used in this area. The photo below shows a 36-foot, unsinkable lifeboat. This boat was self-bailing if it got swamped, self-righting if it capsized, and its hull is filled with cork so it was unsinkable even if it got smashed against the rocks.

Lifeboats like the one shown above could travel farther and faster and in rougher water than the surf boats that had to be rowed. By the 1920s, unsinkable lifeboats made beach-side rescue stations obsolete.

Speaking of rescue stations, there is a rescue station museum about half a mile east of Glen Haven. It was getting late, so we decided to pass on that since we had seen a similar museum recently at Whitefish Point.

We headed back to Traverse City from Glen Haven and stopped at Qdoba for a late lunch. Although we had several more days scheduled in Traverse City, we're starting to slow down a bit and we didn't have any additional sightseeing planned. We ran a few errands, Paul did some motor home and car maintenance, and we relaxed. From Traverse City, we continued to make our way south. We'll tell you where we landed in our next post.

Mackinaw City, MI to Traverse City, MI

Traverse City, MI - Events of Friday, August 19 to Saturday, August 20, 2011

Our next destination was Traverse City, MI, where we stayed at the Northwest Michigan Fairgrounds. It was a little less than a three-hour drive from Mackinaw City including a fuel stop. Since there was no major event going on at the fairgrounds during the time we planned on being there, no reservation was necessary even though we arrived on a Friday. Actually, if there had been a big event there, we would have probably stayed somewhere else to avoid the crowds.

Like most fairgrounds, the campground is nothing fancy. There are only electric hookups, but all sites have 30/50 amp. There are hose bibs about every 6 or 8 sites, but you need a special adapter (available from the hosts) to be able to attach a hose to fill your tank. There is an adapter and hose attached to the spigot in front of the hosts' site all the time, so we just filled our tank there after we got done registering.

The roads and pads are gravel, but the gravel on the roads is a bit old so the roads are a little dusty. There is sparse grass between the sites. The photo below shows our site at the fairgrounds.

The sites are a little close together and a little short, but it wasn't bad since there was hardly anyone else staying in the campground most of the time we were there. We parked our toad on the site next to us rather than trying to squeeze it in sideways in front of the rig.

The campground has little shade except for a couple of larger trees. The next photo shows the shady sites in the row behind us.

There are no shower facilities in the campground, only two porta-potties. They are planning to build a bath house; but for now, tenters and those in RVs who like to stretch their holding tank capacity by using the campground facilities will need to walk or drive over to the fairgrounds where there is a bath house available.

We were treated to several nice sunsets while we were at the fairgrounds, but the one the first night was the most striking.

The campground is pretty quiet at night. On weekdays, you can hear backup beepers and the mechanical equipment from the recycling center next to the fairgrounds. On the weekend, there was a BMX bicycle meet going on at the BMX track at the back of the campground. We could hear the announcer calling the races, but we were far enough away that it didn't disturb us. We even walked over to the track on Saturday and watched for a little while. There were classes for rookies and experienced, boys and girls, kids and adults.

The next photo shows the two leaders sprinting toward the finish.

The one thing we had on our minds to see in the Traverse City area was Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, which is located on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan about 20 miles away. The campground hosts had provided us with a bunch of brochures on things to do around Traverse City including a map and visitor guide for Sleeping Bear Dunes. That was nice because we were able to plan our visit ahead of time.

Look for our next post and we'll tell you all about our visit to Sleeping Bear Dunes.

Hiking Near Grand Marais, MI

Events of Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Grand Marais (pronounced mar-AY) is at the far end of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore about a 1¼-hour drive from Munising. There were several interesting-looking things to see at the other end, so we decided to drive to Grand Marais to have a look around.

Grand Marais is a little town on a small spit of land along Lake Superior. The French used the word "marais" to refer to a refuge or safe harbor, and the next photo shows the small harbor at Grand Marais.

We also stopped at the beach at Grand Marais. The calm nature of Lake Superior we had experienced ever since we first saw it in Duluth several weeks ago had changed completely. The skys were now gray and ominous, and the waves were churning relentlessly against the beach.

After going to the national lakeshore visitor center just west of Grand Marais to get trail info, we stopped at nearby Grand Sable (pronounced SAH-ble) Dunes. It was a walk of about half a mile through the woods to see a portion of the dunes. Climbing the dunes was difficult because of the loose sand. It was hard walking on the beach at Miners Beach, and this was worse because it was uphill.

The Grand Sable Dunes rise up to 500 feet above Lake Superior.

From the same parking area, the sign says it's only 500 feet to Sable Falls where Sable Creek tumbles 75 feet down several sandstone cliffs. What they don't tell you is after you walk 500 feet, there 169 steps down the hillside to the main viewing platform for the falls. Once you get there, however, the falls are fairly impressive. They're a lot bigger than they look in the photo. Rather than one big drop, the water cascades down several levels.

Of course, when you go down 169 steps, you also have to climb back up 169 steps. Margery was smiling at the bottom, but we both were dragging by the time we got back to the top.

From Sable Falls, we continued driving east and stopped at Log Slide. Log Slide is at the eastern end of Grand Sable Dunes, and it was an area where lumberjacks slid logs down a large wooden chute to Lake Superior. The logs were gathered up and floated to Grand Marais where they were cut into lumber. Both Grand Marais and Munising were lumber boom towns back in the late 1800s.

There is a little shed at Log Slide with a display of a couple of pieces of log-moving equipment from back in the day.

The walk from the parking area to the dunes was relatively short, but then we had to climb up the back side of the dunes again. At the top of the climb, you look down where the chute used to be located toward Lake Superior.

 

The distance to the lake is very deceptive because it doesn't look that far to the water. But signs warn it is 500 feet down, and it gets very steep near the bottom. While it only takes a few minutes to get down to the water, it can take an hour or more to get back up. There were lots of people climbing up from the lake, and most of them were on all fours looking very tired. To give you an idea of how far down it really is, the group of tiny dark spots by the white arrow is a group of about a dozen swimmers. Needless to say, we did NOT go very far down Log Slide.

The view from the top of Log Slide is spectacular. To the north are the Grand Sable Dunes. We climbed up the back side of those dunes farther up the coast at our last stop.

To the south of Log Slide is Au Sable Point.

Au Sable Point is also the location of Au Sable Lighthouse, which was our next stop.

Climbing up the dune to see Log Slide and back down again really filled our shoes with sand.

After climbing 169 steps at Sable Falls and two dunes, we were tired. We debated whether or not we wanted to do the 1.5-mile walk (each way) to Au Sable Lighthouse. When we stopped for information at the visitor center earlier, they told us the walk was level and easy, so we decided to go ahead.

The lighthouse was built in 1874 to warn ships away from the shallow bottom and a sandstone reef that is just a few feet below the surface extending almost a mile out into the lake. The lighthouse has been automated and still operates today. It is equipped with a solar-powered light.

The area from Au Sable Point eastward to Whitefish point is known as "shipwreck coast." There are several remnants of wrecks along the beach near Au Sable Lighthouse that we wanted to see, so we decided to walk part way back to the car by way of the beach. The sand was more packed near the water than it was at Miners Beach, so walking was a little easier, but not much. The next photos show two of several wrecks along the beach in this area.

After we passed several of the wrecks, we cut back to the main path so we wouldn't have to struggle as hard to walk. By the time we got back to the car, we were beat. Our feet and legs ached, and Margery ended up with blisters on both big toes. She'll be shopping for new walking shoes in the near future. The old ones seem to put too much pressure on her toes.

Since we were tired, since it was our wedding anniversary, and since this is the year of the Zeller Foodie Tour, we stopped for an early dinner at Sidney's Restaurant when we got back to Munising.

Sidney's has American food with Australinan-sounding names. Margery had a Jolly Swagman (Philly beef and cheese), and Paul was rather adventuresome and had a cherry burger (right). There are tart Michigan cherries ground up with the extra-lean ground beef. We both had sweet potato fries.

The food was delish! The Jolly Swagman was full flavor and was loaded with mushrooms, peppers and cheese; and it was served on a perfectly-toasted roll. The cherry burger had just a hint of cherry flavor. Even though the ground beef is extra-lean, the cherries keep it nice and moist. Sandwiches and burgers run $7 to $9 and include fries (sweet potato fries are $1 extra). Dinners seem a bit expensive at $12 to $18 for chicken and fish, and $14 to $24 for steaks and prime rib.

As tired as we were after hiking (especially hiking on sand), we had little time to recover. The next morning, we left Munising and drove to our next destination of Sault Sainte Marie, MI. Stay tuned.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Munising, MI - Events of Sunday, July 31, 2011

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore has an area of about 73,000 acres in a strip of land that runs along the southern shore of Lake Superior from Munising, MI east to Grand Marais (prounounced mar-AY) - a distance of a little over 40 miles. In this area, sandstone cliffs have been sculpted by wind, waves, and ice. The name comes from the colorful mineral stains that decorate the sculpted cliffs.

One of the best ways to see Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is by boat, and Pictured Rocks Cruises, Inc. has been taking visitors on tours of the cliffs for about 50 years. Tour boats depart from the Munising City Dock just a few miles from the campground.

We have been taking a lot of boat cruises this year (not surprising since we are spending the summer around the Great Lakes), and this time we thought we would change things up a little. The cliffs at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore face toward the west, and we read the rocks are spectacular in the evening light. Therefore, we decided to take a sunset cruise.

Since we wanted to leave early so we could be sure of getting a seat on the top deck of the boat, the timing was perfect for a 2011 Zeller Foodie Tour stop at Muldoon's Pasties on the way. Pasties (pronounced PASS-tees) are meat or veggie turnovers that were brought to the Upper Peninsula by Cornish miners.

Muldoon's Pasties, which is right on the way to the dock, got good reviews for their pasties. The bulk of Muldoon's business is take out, but they have a couple of tables inside, three or four on the porch, and several picnic tables out by the parking lot. 

Paul ordered a beef pasty (with beef gravy on the side), which had ground beef, potato, rutabaga and carrots. Margery had veggie pasty (left), which had potatoes, carrots, onion and broccoli.

The crust was excellent - thin and flaky. On the whole, both pasties had good flavor, but we thought they both were a little heavy on potatoes.

We got to the dock, bought our tickets and ended up first in line to board the boat. We were able to get seats on the right-hand side of the front row on the top deck. We heard most of the rock formations would be on the right side going out and on the left coming back. However, it was also possible the sun would be too low on the way back to get good photos. So many people showed up for the sunset cruise, they wounded up taking out two boats. The next photo shows the other boat that accompanied us.

Grand Island is just to the north of Munising. It's not part of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, but it is a national recreation area. The boat cruise started out sailing toward the left past Grand Island to give us a view of the East Channel Lighthouse. The lighthouse is no longer used because it has been replaced by a pair of red lights called range lights on the shore in Munising.

We sailed up the channel. As soon as we got past a large sand bar, we headed toward the right to get closer to the cliffs. The first rock formation we came to is Miners Castle. There are small caves under the main formation.

Bridalveil Falls flows down one of the cliffs a little way past Miners Castle. The falls are more impressive in the spring when the snow is melting. The only time they flow in summer and fall is after heavy rains, which we had the night before.

In this area, there are also a lot of the mineral stains we mentioned earlier. Orange and red are iron, black is primarily manganese, white is calcium and blue-green comes from copper.

The next photo shows an interesting pattern with vertical lines of mineral stains and horizontal lines of rock strata.

The next formation is Lovers' Leap. Leaping is not recommended, however, because the water under the arch is only about two feet deep.

The action of the wind, waves and ice are continuously working to change the shape of the sandstone. Although most of the rockfalls occur in spring because of the strong freeze-thaw cycle, the gray rock at the base of the cliff in the next photo fell only about a week before we were there.

The wind and waves also carve out caves and depressions in the cliff faces.

Indian Head is another formation. The large outcropping to the left is the nose, and the trees are hair. Unlike Blackhawk at the Wisconsin Dells, this one takes a little more imagination.

Boaters used to be able to take their boats under Grand Portal until the stone fell from under the arch about 10 years ago.

Just beyond Grand Portal is Battleship Row. From this angle, the rock in the foreground looks like the bow of a battleship, and there are 5 sterns in a line in the shadows.

From Battleship Row, the shoreline turns eastward, and a lot of the remaining cliffs we saw were in shadow. The captain took the tour boat all the way into the deep inlet shown in the next photo. There were only a few feet to spare on either side. The water isn't real deep close to the rocks, but the tour boat only draws about 6 feet of water, so we didn't run aground.

As we approached our turn-around point, we noticed erosion had left the delicate columns shown below.

The final rock formation on the cruise is Chapel Rock.

There really isn't enough soil on top of Chapel Rock to support the large tree that stands there. Chapel Rock used to be connected to the cliff behind it with a stone arch as shown in the photo below from the 1940s. Tree roots ran along the top of the arch to the adjacent cliff. The stone arch has since fallen away, but the tree still has roots connected to the soil over on the cliff. The light-colored roots can be seen trailing over to the cliff in the shadows behind Chapel Rock in the photo above.

From Chapel Rock, the boat tour turns around and heads back to Munising. We got to see the same formations from the other direction; but the light was starting to fade, and we were also on the wrong side of the boat.

We were treated to another beautiful sunset while still out on the lake.

The boat's wake made an interesting pattern in the fading red glow.

The day after our boat cruise, we decided to explore some of the area around Munising on foot. Look for our next post, and we'll tell you all about what we saw.