11th Annual Birthday Trip: Scenic Trail

 

As we prepped for our trip to Traverse City, I read many posts from people who had vacationed there, and one place that kept popping up was a scenic drive through Sleeping Bear Dunes. We decided to try it, so on our last full day there, we stopped at the Visitor’s Center to pick up maps before embarking on our day of fun.

            Because this was our first time to stop at a Visitor’s Center for a National Park, I don’t know if our experience was normal or a fluke, but it wasn’t my favorite part of the day. The place was packed. (We weren’t even there when it first opened! I think were there maybe two hours into the day, but it was totally packed.) It was absolutely cutthroat, too. Travelers and workers alike were on edge, and it wasn’t fun. We found our souvenir as quickly as we were permitted near the kiosk, and then we tried to find our map. We learned at this level, you have to pay for maps, so that was a surprise. (We’re state park people, and those maps are free!) We grabbed our map, paid for it, checked out with our souvenir, and got out as quickly as possible. It really was the only unpleasant experience we had with people during our trip – and I’m really hoping it was just a fluke.

            The map wasn’t entirely to scale or accurate, so we had to guess at the starting point, but we found it! (I later found that I could have downloaded the national park app for a guided tour of this drive, which might have saved some frustration all the way around. Lesson learned.)

         The official name of the drive is the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, and it’s a 7.4 mile drive that loops through forests and dunes and shows off a little bit of everything the park has to offer. In one of the posts I read, someone asked if people could just walk it, and of course, that is possible, but having done it now, I’d advise driving. Every now and then you’re going to want to sit and have a break from the weather. Your car will be a welcomed sight. But if you want to walk – go for it. It took us the better part of a day to explore it while driving between points.

            I will also add that some points are not really actual destinations. We found some marker signs beside clusters of trees that we could read about in our map book – but there wasn’t anything really to stop and see at those locations. But other points were really interesting! There were some great overlook points – and one of my favorite things: a covered bridge!

            We also had the chance to hike a few dune trails. These were on the back side of the four dunes we had climbed the night before. This terrain was much more even. There was some climbing and descending involved, but nothing nearly as strenuous as what we had done the night before. (Take water if you go – there isn’t a lot of shade out there, and if you’re out in the heat of the day, it can get warm. We actually got to this one before it became terribly warm, so it wasn’t too bad.)

            We found a few more tree spots after this and then we made it to the big dune. 

This one is an overlook that you arrive at from the top. I cannot possibly put into words (nor could I accurately capture in pictures) how steep this dune is. It’s close to 600 feet tall, and if you choose to climb down it and then cannot get back to the top, you have to pay a $3000 fee to be rescued. The gentleman working at the dune told some people near us that the three grand gets you rescued to the top of the dune. From there, you’ll take a mandatory ambulance ride to a hospital in Traverse City (about 30-45 minutes away) to be evaluated, and who knows how much more that costs!

            I got dizzy and lost my balance just trying to peek over to see how steep it was going down to Lake Michigan. Ryan had to help me back to the top, and from there, I made my way over to the observation deck, which stands 450 feet up, and watched Ryan as he climbed it. He heard someone say it takes people an average of an hour and a half to get from the top to the bottom and then climb back up. He did it in about 30 minutes, and I was so relieved to see him back to the top. I did my best to document, but I was so lightheaded from the height and looking over the edge, that I was clinging to the railing with one hand and trying to take pictures with my other hand. There were some sweet people beside me who invited me into their group and talked me through my anxiety!

            Ryan also took some pictures from his vantage point – but still, none of these truly do justice to the extreme vertical nature of this dune.

            When we were done here, we also climbed another (small) dune to see some gorgeous scenery – all the way around – and then we made our way back to the car.

            We found a couple more cute scenic points before completing the drive, and with that, we were out of time to explore more in this park. They have miles and miles of wooded trails that we didn’t even get to, but if you’re going for a longer time than we had, you can certainly check that out!

            We had one more fun adventure that I’ll share with you tomorrow, and that’ll be a wrap on our trip!