A field guide for visitors exploring Michigan's Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, located in Michigan's Northern Lower Peninsula on the shores of Lake Michigan. The Sleeping Bear Dune, estimated to be 2,000 years old, has long been a regional landmark, first to the Native Americans as they traveled from camp to hunting grounds and then by early French explorers traveling the coast of Lake Michigan. The landmark is described as a large sand mound covered with a cluster of trees resembling a Sleeping Bear. Visiting this National Lakeshore is more than seeing the Dune. There are miles of dunes, many are perched along the coastline offering great 400 foot vistas of Lake Michigan and the Manitou Islands. There are Dunes to climb, sunbathe on, burrow in, walk over, or just photograph. Sleeping Bear Dunes is a life-long inspiration and spirit rekindler for me. The Legend of Sleeping Bear, so beautifully told by Grand Traverse Ottawa and Chippewa Tribe member, Kenny Pheasant, immediately reveals the Native American respect for the power of the basic elements -fire, water and land. Lakeshore ear Dune As the legend plays out, it is the land that claims the mother bear, symbolically sleeping on a perched dune overlooking her cubs, who are transformed into the Manitou Islands. So, it is the land that inspires me to research the who, what, where and how of Sleeping Bear to share with others visiting the Dune Country of Michigan.

The Road Guide: Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
written by Susan Stites
ISBN 0-9665316-0-4