The Dune Climb at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is one of the iconic places in Michigan. Many residents and tourists to the park trundle up the side of this bare sand dune slipface in what some see at a Michigan bucket list experience. At the crest of the Dune Climb from the parking lot, the pathway splits. If one follows the southern fork through bare sand and up the side of a larger dune, one will find a bench with a commanding view of the area to the northeast. This area includes the Day Farm and the far bluffs of Pyramid Point. The lowlands surrounding the Day Farm are not dunes and have been farmlands and pasturelands for some time, including in 1918, when the original photograph in this pair was taken. What is notable in the 1918 photograph is the extent of bare sand atop the Dune Climb from the crest to the east toward Lake Michigan to the west. The area west of the crest also appears to be relatively flat. By 2019, the shape of the land has changed and vegetation is extensive in the direction of Lake Michigan behind a second dune crest where bare sand once predominated. There are additional trees as well.
The research team would like to thank the staff at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore for their assistance in recapturing this photograph.
LAT: 44.881866, LON: -86.048518
Photo Credit – 1917, Univ. of Chicago; 2019, Kevin McKeehan, Michigan State University.
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