[Rhodes22-list] Snowshoeing At Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

[Roger Pihlaja]

Hi Everybody,

My Boy Scout troop went on a day trip to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on Saturday.  We went snowshoeing at a XC ski area within the park called the "Alligator Hill Trail".  Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is located in Empire, MI about 25 miles west of Traverse City, MI.  The national park is about 75,000 acres in size, including about 35 miles of pristine Lake Michigan shoreline, & several inland lakes.  The park also includes N. & S. Manitou Islands lying about 5 miles offshore.  When the troop originally planned this snowshoe hike, we choose the Alligator Hill Trail because it included it included sand dune climbs plus scenic views of the Lake Michigan & the Manitou Islands plus Glen Lake from the tops of different dunes.  These sand dune observation points were connected with hiking trails thru very fragile forest ecosystems trying to survive on top of a dynamic moving perched sand dune.  In clear weather, this must be an absolutely spectacular place!

Unfortunately, the weather was anything but clear on Saturday.  The area was getting one of its famous "Lake Effect" snowstorms.  The temperature was in the high 20's deg F and there was a stiff 20 - 30 mph wind blowing off Lake Michigan.  These conditions produce big wet snow flakes.  You had to wear eye protection.  It was bad enough on the trail thru the woods & in-between the sand dunes.  But, on top of the dunes, the blowing snow & resulting wind chill was brutal!  The snow was falling horizontally & visibility was less than 50 yards.  I took some pictures of the entire group on top of the Island View Sand Dune Lookout.  The group is standing around a bench.  The snow was so deep that only the top of the backrest was visible & this was on top of the dune where most of the snow tends to get blown away.  Instead of Lake Michigan & the Manitou Islands in the background, all you can see are a couple of nearby trees with everything else fading into gray.

We did a 2.6 mile loop.  When we closed the loop, I looked at my watch.  We had been on the trail about an hour & 45 minutes.  You can imagine how many tracks 10 people on snowshoes make.  It had been snowing so hard that there was absolutely no trace of our tracks from when we'd begun the hike.  I took a picture of the pristine fresh powder trail.  We had the whole XC ski trail system to ourselves the whole time we were there. 

We had originally planned to eat lunch on the trail.  But, the severe conditions forced us back to the parking lot quite a bit sooner than the original plan.  We ate lunch inside the vehicles.

It was obvious the road conditions were deteriorating rapidly.  So, we decided to bug out while we still could!  It took about 3-1/2 hours to drive what is normally an easy 2 hour trip back to Sanford, MI.  We saw lots of accidents and stuck vehicles.  But, we made it home OK.  I'm really proud of my Scouts.  They all came prepared.  They were all pretty tired, but nobody got cold or wet & we all had a good time.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium