The Dune Climb

Loreen Niewenhuis is an author, adventurer, and dynamic speaker. 

She has completed a trilogy of 1,000-mile adventures exploring the Great Lakes and has authored three books about these adventures. 

To learn more about her work, or to engage her as a speaker, go to 

http://www.laketrek.com/great-lakes-speaker/

I recently took a training hike at The Dune Climb in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

This expanse of dunes is between Glen Lake and Lake Michigan. 

And it's beautiful.

This transition time when winter is finally relenting is a special time to hike here.
The summer crowds are still a couple of months off, and the snow is not completely gone.
Check out these photos:

Glen Lake is still covered over with ice

Wind-sculpted sand

Wind shaving away unfrozen sand

Hiking the dunes

The snow fields are full of sand that was blown during the winter. As the snow melts, the sand collects into little blobs on the surface.

Deer tracks through dune field

Manitou Islands in distance out in Lake Michigan

Evidence of a Long-Ago Pond

Loreen Niewenhuis is an author, adventurer, and dynamic speaker. 

She has completed a trilogy of 1,000-mile adventures exploring the Great Lakes and has authored three books about these adventures. 

To learn more about her work, or to engage her as a speaker, go to 

http://www.laketrek.com/great-lakes-speaker/

While hiking along Lake Michigan north of Empire, I saw an unusual sight: 

evidence of an ancient pond now entombed by sand.

Four feet up, a peat layer poked out of the dune.

Black peat layer 

Peat layer peaking out

This peat layer is evidence of a pond that was once here. Since it's near the lake, it's likely that it was slowly filled in with blowing sand.

Icicles formed off the peat layer

Currently, the western lobe of Glen Lake ("Little Glen Lake") is heading toward the same fate. How do we know? 

The deepest point in Little Glen Lake is 13-feet deep while the eastern lobe (farther away from Lake Michigan's blowing sand), Big Glen Lake, is much deeper. The deepest point in this lake is 
130 feet.