07/09: Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Category: General
Posted by: The Agnew Family
One of the big draws to the Leelanau Peninsula is the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The park is named for the immense sand dunes "perched" atop the already towering headlands that are glacial moraines.
It was one of those weird weather days today. Rain, thunder, sun, humidity and a lot of haze. It's suppose to be clear and sunny tomorrow so we'll explore the park again hoping to get some great scenery shots.
A rafter of wild turkeys. (OK, I cheated --- I googled what a group of turkeys was called).
The beach at the end of Esch Road.
In the 1960's Pierce Stocking built a scenic drive on his land. He was a lumberman with road building experience and wanted to share the beauty of the area with others. He built this covered bridge as one of the attractions for tourists. The national park service purchased the drive after Pierce died in 1976.
One of the stops on the drive is a mile and a half walk through the dunes. The walk took you to top of the dune climb, through strands of cottonwood trees and to the top of dunes where you could see for miles.
Zaph and Ed enjoying one of the views from the dunes walk.
Another view from the dune walk.
Another stop on the scenic drive is the Lake Michigan Overlook and the Sleeping Bear Overlook. Unfortunately, you couldn't see much of Lake Michigan as the visibility was very poor --- you could only see the lake if you looked down.
The visibility was better if you looked in land at the Sleeping Bear Dune.
D H Day owned much of the land that is now Sleeping Bear Dune National Lakeshore. The massive white barn of Day's farm still stands.
I popped into the grocery store in Glen Arbor to pick up some hamburger buns for dinner and came out with the buns and a mini cherry pie made just down the road with local cherries. It looked so good we found a picnic table and started eating. The pie was really, really good. Might have to buy another one before we leave the area.
It was one of those weird weather days today. Rain, thunder, sun, humidity and a lot of haze. It's suppose to be clear and sunny tomorrow so we'll explore the park again hoping to get some great scenery shots.
A rafter of wild turkeys. (OK, I cheated --- I googled what a group of turkeys was called).
The beach at the end of Esch Road.
In the 1960's Pierce Stocking built a scenic drive on his land. He was a lumberman with road building experience and wanted to share the beauty of the area with others. He built this covered bridge as one of the attractions for tourists. The national park service purchased the drive after Pierce died in 1976.
One of the stops on the drive is a mile and a half walk through the dunes. The walk took you to top of the dune climb, through strands of cottonwood trees and to the top of dunes where you could see for miles.
Zaph and Ed enjoying one of the views from the dunes walk.
Another view from the dune walk.
Another stop on the scenic drive is the Lake Michigan Overlook and the Sleeping Bear Overlook. Unfortunately, you couldn't see much of Lake Michigan as the visibility was very poor --- you could only see the lake if you looked down.
The visibility was better if you looked in land at the Sleeping Bear Dune.
D H Day owned much of the land that is now Sleeping Bear Dune National Lakeshore. The massive white barn of Day's farm still stands.
I popped into the grocery store in Glen Arbor to pick up some hamburger buns for dinner and came out with the buns and a mini cherry pie made just down the road with local cherries. It looked so good we found a picnic table and started eating. The pie was really, really good. Might have to buy another one before we leave the area.