Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore lies along the north-western coast of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, in Leelanau and Benzie counties, west of Traverse City. It covers about 56 kilometres of Lake Michigan shoreline plus North and South Manitou Islands. The park was established in 1970 and is managed by the National Park Service.

The name comes from an Ojibwe legend about a mother bear and two cubs who swam across Lake Michigan to escape a forest fire. The mother reached the shore and waited on the bluff, while the cubs drowned and became the Manitou Islands. A dune shaped like a resting bear once topped the bluff, but wind has largely eroded it. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the area had logging towns, farms and life-saving stations, some of which are preserved.

Glaciers and wind built perched dunes that sit on top of bluffs rising as high as about 450 feet (140 metres) above the lake. The Dune Climb lets visitors scramble up a steep sand slope, and the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, about 12 kilometres long, has overlooks above the lake. The Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail links villages such as Glen Arbor and Empire. Other sites include the historic farm district of Port Oneida, the Maritime Museum at Glen Haven and ferries to the Manitou Islands for hiking and camping. Beaches and inland lakes offer swimming and paddling in summer.

A park entrance pass is required. A 7-day vehicle pass costs $25, entry on foot or by bicycle $15 per person aged 16 and over, and the Sleeping Bear Dunes Annual Pass $45. Passes are sold by card or digital payment at the Philip A. Hart Visitor Center in Empire and on Recreation.gov; the park does not take cash. Climbing down the steep bluffs to the lake is allowed in places, but the return climb is very strenuous and rescues are common.

The lakeshore covers 71,199 acres, about 288 square kilometres, including the two islands. In 2011 viewers of the American television show Good Morning America voted it the Most Beautiful Place in America, and summer weekends at the Dune Climb and the scenic drive are crowded by mid-morning.

Maritime history is a big part of the park. The South Manitou Island Lighthouse, built in 1871, guided ships through the Manitou Passage, one of the busiest and most dangerous shipping lanes on Lake Michigan. Three former Life-Saving Service and Coast Guard stations survive along the shore, and the one at Glen Haven, Sleeping Bear Point, now houses the Maritime Museum.

On the mainland, the Port Oneida rural historic district covers about 3,000 acres and includes 16 historic farms; the settlement had 87 residents in 1860. Ferries from Leland reach both Manitou Islands.