We didn’t get anywhere near this lighthouse either. Here’s what it would look like if we did.
We arrived at Sleeping Bear Dunes after a very long day of sight-seeing and driving. We drove the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, but we only got out of the car at a few of the stops.
The Sleeping Bear herself sleeps at stop #10, and when we got there, we discovered we would have to walk. It wasn’t a long walk, and I knew that if I went to Sleeping Bear Dunes without seeing the sleeping bear, I wouldn’t be able to sleep (bare or otherwise). Here’s what’s left of her.
The Chippewa Indians explained its origins this way: “Long ago, along the Wisconsin shoreline, a mother bear and her two cubs were driven into Lake Michigan by a raging forest fire. The bears swam for many hours, but eventually the cubs tired and lagged behind. Mother Bear reached the shore and climbed to the top of a high bluff to watch and wait for her cubs. Too tired to continue, the cubs drowned within sight of shore. Sleeping Bear Dune marks the spot where Mother Bear waited. Her hapless cubs are the Manitou Islands.”
What I don’t understand is this: If the mother bear was sleeping, how could she be watching? And if she was watching, why couldn’t she see her cubs? After all, they were a whole lot larger than she is. Anyway … the dune doesn’t look much like a bear anymore. At one time it was a large mound covered with dark vegetation, but it is wearing away quickly due to natural erosion. I wonder how the Chippewa explain that? If you look just above the highest point of the bear, you can see the South Manitou Lighthouse (built in 1871 — right on one of the bear cubs).
We also got out at stop #9 to see the bluffs. A sign at the top of the bluff warned that the lake was 450 steep feet below and that the climb back up was strenuous. As you can see, there were several people dopey enough to climb down. We enjoyed watching them climb back up — two feet up, one-and-a-half feet back, repeat, then sit and pant. We were willing to let sleeping bears lie.
