Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in located in Michigan, on Lake Michigan, West of Traverse City and around the town of Empire.

This is a Hike/Drive along the 7.4 mile Pierce Stocking Scenic drive. The scenery on and around the dunes is nothing short of spectacular. I lived in Michigan for 20 years and never made it up here. There are 12 stops along the trail from a Covered Bridge to to overlooks of Lake Michigan, the Sleeping Bear Dunes, Glen Lake, North Manitou Island, South Manitou Island, Pyramid Point, Sleeping Bear Bay, the Little Glen Lake Mill Pond. This was the first leg of our journey on this side of the state. We had the morning for Sleeping Bear Dunes and the afternoon to sample 7 wineries on the Leland peninsula before driving back to my brothers "Cabin" on the other side of the state. None of the hiking was very long because we had my 84 year old mother with us.