July 30, 2012

We slept a little later this morning because we got up so early yesterday.  Jim made pancakes with the last of the blueberries I picked at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  We went on a scenic drive in the park that takes you through a covered bridge, the Glen Lake overlook, the dune overlook and a stop where you can see Lake Michigan and Sleeping Bear Dune.  There was a very steep dune here that went down to the lake.  People had fun going down but paid for it on the climb back up.  Most were bent over using their hands to help climb and were stopping a lot to rest.

The Indians had a legend about a mama bear and two cubs that were driven from Wisconsin into Lake Michigan by a wildfire.  Mama bear made it to the Michigan shore but the cubs were overcome and drowned.  She sat on the shore and waited for them, turning into a large sand dune.  The two islands offshore in Lake Michigan are the bear cubs.
 
Sleeping Bear Dune used to be 234 feet high, but by 1961 it had eroded to 132 feet and in 1980 it was down to 103 feet.  The information we read didn’t tell us what the height is now but they predict it will eventually disappear.  We hiked the 1.5 mile round trip Empire Bluff Trail.  After reaching the end, there was a beautiful view.  Jim wanted to go swimming in Lake Michigan so we drove to Peterson Road Beach.  He went swimming, but I just waded.  I really hate all the sand.  We went back to camp and read awhile and then at 5 pm we took a nap.  I fixed dinner and we watched some TV.  Jim updated the blog and it started to rain, thunder and lightning.  No sunset pictures tonight.