Sand and Ice
Without departed glaciers the dunes would not be here. Melting continental ice left this ridge of sand and gravel. Steady winds off Lake Michigan have plucked at the sand grains, propelling them inland, depositing a veneer of dunes on top of the glacial ridge. Even now the dune is adrift, as part of the slope advances toward Glen Lake. Pick out a nearby tree or shrub; return in a few years and it may be buried.
Beyond this wall of sand is a windswept plateau covered with small stones, an occasional ice-abandoned boulder, a few tufts of vegetation, and sculpted dunes. On this side are good views of Glen Lake. But it is an hour's hike to the steep bluffs 400 feet above Lake Michigan.
Walk all the way across, and consider that the entire expanse was just a bone in the teeth of a mile-high glacier.
Erected by National Park Service.
Location. 44° 52.914′ N, 86° 2.556′ W. Marker is in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan, in Leelanau County. Marker is in the Dune Climb Area of Sleeping Bear Dunes
Other nearby markers. At least 5 other markers are within 9 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. The Moving Dune (about 500 feet away, measured in a direct line); Pierce Stocking (approx. 0.6 miles away); Sleeping Bear Point Life Saving Station. (approx. 1.8 miles away); Empire Methodist Church (approx. 5 miles away); North Unity (approx. 8.8 miles away).
Also see . . . Sand Dunes. (Submitted on September 30, 2016, by William Fischer, Jr. of Scranton, Pennsylvania.)
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Credits. This page was last revised on September 30, 2016. This page originally submitted on September 30, 2016, by William Fischer, Jr. of Scranton, Pennsylvania. This page has been viewed 182 times since then. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on September 30, 2016, by William Fischer, Jr. of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
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