Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan - July 26th to 28th, 2021

Even though both of us grew up in Toledo, Ohio, not that far from Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan, we never heard about it while growing up, let alone go there. The place is a fantastic destination. We camped four nights just outside the park at Indigo Bluff RV Park, so we had three full days to enjoy Sleeping Bear Dunes. However, we could have easily stayed longer.

Monday was our first full day at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. From the Indigo Bluffs RV Park where we were camping, we headed up to the north end of the park and worked our way back down to the south. First we drove up to Pyramid Point. There is a short trail out to an overlook, 1.2 miles round trip. We arrived at the trailhead at about 10 am and the parking lot was already pretty full. The overlook is at the top of a steep dune with views of North and South Manitou Islands. The two islands are part of Sleeping Bear Dunes, but they require a camping permit and a ferry service. There are no services on the islands. They are mainly visited by backpackers.

Next we drove over to the Glen Haven Historic Village. The General Store was closed due to COVID, but there were blacksmith demonstrations and a boat museum inside the old cannery. The other structures you can see from the outside are the hotel and one of the houses that D. H. Day built in the 1800’s. Just down the road from the historic village is the Sleeping Bear Point US Life-Saving Service Station Maritime Museum. We did not go inside the museum. 

There is also a picnic area and beach right at the historic village. We grabbed a picnic table in the shade for lunch. We watched the people enjoying the beach while we ate. While we were there, we spotted a swimmer in what looked like a dry suit, swim goggles and cap with a large bright colored buoy attached to them. They were swimming quite a distance away from the shoreline, but following along parallel to the shore. Were they training for some type of long distance swimming event? There did not seem to be anyone following them in a boat. It seemed a little dangerous to us for someone to be out there alone without support. At least the buoy should keep boats from running into them. Hopefully someone was keeping tabs on the swimmer.

From there we headed over to the Dune Climb. Although a park pass is required for all parts of the park, there are only entrance stations at the Dune Climb parking lot and at the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, the two most popular spots in the park. Park passes can also be purchased at the Philip H. Hart Visitor Center in Empire. 

In addition to the Dune Climb, the tall, steep dune by the parking lot, there is a trail across the dunes to Lake Michigan called the Dune Trail. The trail is 3.6 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 636 feet. The signs at the trailhead say it takes about an hour to reach Lake Michigan. The trail is deep sand the whole way. We did not find it too challenging. The hard part is that you can’t tell how far away the lake is. There are about five hills you go over. Heading up each one, you think it is the last rise, but it is not. There are numbered trail markers along the way. They go up to 27 before you reach the lake. Luckily someone passing us going the other way told us the last number was 27, so we were able to judge about how far along we were. That makes it a little less frustrating.

Once we reached Lake Michigan, we headed about a quarter of a mile north along the beach. RB read there was a small shipwreck along the beach. Sure enough, there was. Then we headed about a quarter of a mile south of the trail along the beach to find another small shipwreck. They were not much, but they were interesting to see. 

RB dumped the sand out of her shoes and waded into the water for a few minutes. The water felt good on her feet. After she put her shoes back on, we headed back towards the trailhead.

On the way back, we passed a teenager sitting in the shade. Wait a minute, we passed her on the way out. There were two adults with her. LB gave them the granola bar he had in his pack. The girl was not feeling well. They were not planning on walking as far out as they did. They had water with them, but no food. We hope she made it back OK and recovered quickly. It is no fun hiking when you hit a wall and don’t feel well.

After finishing our hike, we felt we earned our ice cream. Tiffany’s Cafe in Empire fit the bill. They have hand-dipped ice cream, but did not have many flavors left to choose from. RB decided to have their soft serve ice cream instead, but in a waffle cone. It’s been a little while since she’s eaten soft serve. The vanilla and chocolate twist tasted pretty good. LB had his usual vanilla shake.

The Dune Trail zapped most of our energy, so we just drove around the rest of the day. First we drove by Empire Beach with its little light house. The beach was packed with people and it cost a $1 per hour to park, so we didn’t stop. Next we drove out to Esch Beach at the end of Esch Road. The road gets pretty rough near the end. It is definitely not a road for large rigs to go down and there is no good place to turn around at the end. However, parking was free. We got out and took a peak at the beach. It seemed like a nice place to spend the day on the beach and in the water.

From there we drove over to Platte River Point at the end of Lake Michigan Road. This area was crowded with people. The Platte River flows alongside Lake Michigan Road before emptying into Lake Michigan. It looks like a slowly flowing river. Many people were floating or paddling down the river in tubes, kayaks, and canoes. The boat rental business was brisk. We passed several trailers loaded with tubes, heading back up to the rental store. The parking at Platte River Point was $5, so again we did not stop. We were ready to call it a day and headed back to the campground to make dinner. 

The weather forecast for Tuesday called for rain, so we thought that would be a good day to head back into Traverse City to get our bikes repaired (See our blog post about Traverse City, Michigan - July 25th and 27th, 2021). After our bikes were fixed in the morning, we headed back to Sleeping Bear Dunes in the afternoon.

Back at Sleeping Bear Dunes, we stopped at the visitor center to watch the park movie. In the parking lot, we saw another VanDOit van. The couple in the van must have thought we were rather strange. We honked at them and went up to talk with them. They didn’t own the van, but were borrowing it from their friends in Grand Rapids. 

Then we went on the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. The scenic drive is definitely one of the two highlights in the park, with the other one being the Dune Climb. The drive winds through dense woods with half a dozen viewpoints along the way. The first overlook is a great view of Glen Lake to the northeast. The second overlook is north out over the dunes where you can see the Dune Climb off in the distance. 

The third overlook is called the Lake Michigan Overlook. This is the highlight of the scenic drive. A short walk from the parking area brings you to the top of a steep dune overlooking Lake Michigan. Signs warn people not to climb down to the beach, claiming it could cost $3000 to rescue you if you can’t make it back up. Of course, this probably encourages even more people to try. The scenic drive guide book we picked up at the visitor center also discouraged people from climbing down the dune to the beach as it causes the bluff to erode even more. From the viewing platform, you can see the dune all the way down to the beach. It is 450 feet down. We’re not sure if that is 450 feet elevation change or the slope is 450 feet long. For comparison, the Log Slide in Pictured Rocks is 500 feet along the slope with a 300 foot elevation change, so it is comparable. RB thought the climb up at Sleeping Bear looked easier than the Log Slide, as it looked like a steady slope all the way down. What concerned RB at the Log Slide was the hard packed sand ridges she had to get over near the bottom. However, RB did not climb down the dune at the Lake Michigan Overlook. She decided not to add to the bluff’s erosion. 

The last overlook along the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive is towards the south, with a good view of Empire bluff and North Bar Lake. There is also a nice shaded picnic area at the overlook. We decided to hang out there for a while and have dinner. 

The scenic drive gives you a great vantage point to see most of the park, at least from a distance. We’re not sure whether it is better to do the scenic drive first, to give you an overview, or do it last, so you can recognize everything that you are seeing. Since we did it towards the end, we’re not sure how much we would have appreciated what we were looking at if we had done it at the beginning of our visit. If you have time, it might be nice to do it both at the beginning and again at the end of your stay at Sleeping Bear Dunes. 

Our last activity for the day was to hike the short Empire Bluff Trail. Our friend Kurt recommended to hike the trail at sunset, because he had heard it was spectacular. However, this time of year, the sun doesn’t set until 9:15 pm. We didn’t want to be hiking that late in the day. As a compromise, we hiked after dinner, at about 5:30 pm. By the time we reached the viewpoint, the sunshine was making a shimmering path across Lake Michigan. It would probably be better at sunset, but we thoroughly enjoyed the view a little earlier in the evening.

Now that our bikes were fixed, it was time to go for a bike ride on Wednesday. There is a lovely trail through the park called the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail. It is 22 miles long from Empire all the way up to Bohemian Road. Most of the trail is paved. The map nicely marks where the steep sections are. We did the flat section from the Dune Climb to the steep section just before the Bay View Trailhead. It was a little over nine miles each way for a total of 18.7 miles and only an elevation gain of 354 feet. 

From the Dune Climb, we rode through the woods over to Glen Haven. The trail passes through the D. H. Day Campground on its way to Glen Arbor. In Glen Arbor, the trail is on streets. We lost the trail for a quick moment, but pulled out the map and got our bearings again. The trail follows a few streets from Glen Arbor to the Crystal River Trailhead, but the streets have very little car traffic on them. At Crystal River, the trail leaves the streets and becomes a paved trail again. After crossing a marshy area over a wooden boardwalk, the steep section starts. We went up a short 8% grade then came to a 9% downhill. LB did not want to bike up the 9% grade on the way back, so we turned around. 

On the way back, we stopped in Glen Arbor for ice cream. A staff member at our campground recommended the Cherry Republic for ice cream. The Cherry Republic was a fantastic place. They sold just about everything to do with cherries in a fun and humorous environment. There were several buildings in the complex, surrounded with lots of outdoor seating. They served food, ice cream, baked goods, wines, sodas, along with a gift shop. There was a Certified Championship Cherry Spitting Arena. Humorous signs were everywhere to read and chuckle at. 

RB had a waffle cone with Midnight in the Orchard ice cream. The description read chocolate ice cream with flecks of tart cherries. Flecks? It was loaded with lots of whole cherries! It wasn’t dark chocolate, but the cherries made up for it. RB thought it was delicious. LB had the Super Cherry Soft Serve in a dish. It tasted more like cherry sorbet than soft serve. The ratio of cherries to soft serve was pretty high. We had a great time enjoying the Cherry Republic. Thank you for the recommendation Indigo Bluffs RV Park staff member! Unfortunately, we did not get his name.

The rest of the afternoon, we relaxed back at the campground. Indigo Bluffs is a nice campground with a range of different types of campsites. We were lucky enough to get one of the few partial hookups to save a little money. All of the other sites, other than tent sites, are full hookups. There is another portion of the campground that is gated off from the rest, what they call the resort area. It has all paved roads, full hook ups, along with stamped concrete pads and patios. 

There is a burger food truck in the evenings Tuesday through Saturday. While we were there, there was also a pizza food truck on Sunday and Monday evenings. We’re not sure if that one is there every Sunday and Monday, or just that week. So when we went to take showers, we were a little surprised to see that they were coin-operated. They were 25 cents for three to five minutes. From our experience, the showers lasted for at least five minutes. It is a small amount of money for a shower, but it seemed rather odd to charge for a shower when most of the campers are already paying for full hook ups. We’re not quite sure what the motivation is.

We are not beach goers, but we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Sleeping Bear Dunes. If you love the beach, sand, and water, you would really love Sleeping Bear Dunes. If you’re not a big beach fan, you will probably still enjoy the park. There is such a variety of things to see and do. We invite you to come check it out. We believe you will not be disappointed.

Check out our related video: Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan

(RB)