Tuesday, July 21, 2009

SLEEPING BEAR DUNES NATL. LAKESHORE

This is an airplane view of the dunes looking South.



To the left at the top of the dunes there are many hiking and mountain biking trails. At the center there is a near 45 degree sand slope to the beach below.

This picture from the land side shows a spot where we climbed the dunes part way. This was a couple of years ago when out friends from Michigan brought us to this area for the first time. That was a tough climb for us. We had to stop once or twice to let our heart rate settle-down a bit.


Here we were in the truck climbing through the deep forest on the land side of the dunes.



Beautiful flowers!



We are finally parked and at the northernmost overlook. Lake Michigan is on the left. We can see lots of trails and areas where the prevailing westerly wind is actually moving sand and shaping the dunes. At the horizon you can see the two Manitou Islands, about 5 miles offshore.

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