11 minute read
The Great Lakes, of Glacier Born: Bonna L. Nelson
The Great Lakes, Of Glaciers Born
by Bonna L. Nelson
A normal lake is knowable. A Great Lake can hold all the mysteries of an ocean, and then some. ~ Dan Egan, author of The Death and Life of the Great Lakes
The majestic 450-foot-high sand dune crest that overlooks Lake Michigan at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (SBDNL) was our introduction to the beauty, magnificence and power of the Great Lakes. After a quick one-hour flight from Baltimore to Detroit, we picked up our rental car and drove 4-½ hours diagonally across Michigan to the lake’s northeast coast.
Our destination was the town of Empire for a stop at the Philip A. Hart Visitor Center for SBDNL, a United States National Park Service (NPS) facility and site. Unfamiliar with the term “National Lakeshore,” I learned from the NPS rangers that it is “any of a number of coastal areas reserved by the federal government for recreational use by the public.” Some of those areas, such as the SBDNL, also have protected wilderness areas and historical sites.
While crossing the state in sunny 70-degree weather, we passed pancake-flat landscapes as well as rolling hills. We passed fields of soybeans, corn, grapeseed and grazing cattle. We passed “farms” of wind turbines standing like statues on either side of the highway for miles in every direction. We had never seen so many of the towering structures during our frequent travels. We also passed pine and deciduous forests with some streaks of fall leaf color changes peeking through. There were also lakes and ponds here and there dotted with seagulls, ducks and herons.
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We reviewed the SBDNL maps and, after getting our bearings, embarked on an adventure along the scenic 7.4-mile Pierce Stocking
Great Lakes also remembered seeing a sign about $3,000 fines for rescues from below the dune. He described the spectacle and climbing cautions this way:
Drive. We stopped at several of its 12 recommended sites, including the most impressive and highly recommended Stop #9. From the parking lot, we climbed the slight hill on the back side of the sand-covered bluff at that stop to the viewing platform at Lake Michigan Overlook. Refreshed from the short hike, we stood silently, amazed by the panoramic view from the 450-foot-high bluff. We saw a shimmering, beautiful and calm Lake Michigan, a narrow sand-and-gravel-covered lakeshore at the bottom of the cliff and all along the lake, as well as other stunning shoreline dunes for as far as the eye could see. The SBDNL encompasses the largest freshwater dune system in the world.
After returning home, I emailed Ranger Marc at the SBDNL to ask some more questions about the Lake Michigan Overlook. I remembered seeing a few young people gingerly climbing down the bluffs and walking on the beach below. I
“The view from the top of the bluff overlooking Lake Michigan at the #9 Overlook on the Pierce Stocking Drive is one the most awe-inspiring views in the park, and it creates a desire to run down the bluff to the beach about 450 feet below. The bluff is very steep and is composed of stones, gravel and sand deposited there by the glaciers.
“Going down the bluff is relatively easy but can be dangerous to people below you, as you can dislodge rocks that roll down the bluff. Also, when you get down to the bottom and look back up (or maybe when you are partway back up the bluff), you may wish you had just looked from the top! The climb back up is very strenuous. Climbing the bluff also causes significant erosion to the bluff. Although going down the bluff is not prohibited, you are encouraged not to do so for your safety and the safety of others below you. Refrain-
ing from climbing the bluff will also ease the erosion that is occurring on the face of the bluff.”
I learned that stranded climbers at the Lake Michigan Overlook shoreline beach are rescued with a variety of methods, including helicopters, boats, ropes and pulleys, thus the rescue fee that the stranded must pay. We observed a few younger visitors giving it a try. Also, a few travelers attempted to take photographs from precarious perches on bluff edges. We all know how that has turned out for others at parks such as the Grand Canyon. One misstep and…. We were content to enjoy the beauty from the overlook platform and took some marvelous photographs from there.
There is a more moderate dune climb a few miles north of the Visitor Center. Appropriately named “Dune Climb,” it rises 284 feet above sparkling Glen Lake near Lake Michigan and comprises loose sand, in contrast to the rock and gravel at the Lake Michigan Overlook. Also formed by glaciers, its vast hills and plateaus rise above a beach, picnic area and NPS facilities. Rangers recommend this climb only with caution and lots of water. Visitors enjoy climbing up the dune from the beach and then sliding back down.
As I mentioned, the SBDNL on Lake Michigan is a perfect introduction to the Great Lakes and to learn how they were formed by glaciers over two million years ago. We learned this from the park rangers, the SBDNL Visitor Center video and NPS brochures, as well as from the Lonely Planet’s book Great Lakes, the Smithsonian series Great Lakes Untamed and an insightful book, The Living Great Lakes: Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas by Jerry Dennis, a nature and outdoors writer who lives in Michigan.
When heavy, powerful, mile-thick glaciers advanced from the north, they crept along like bulldozers. They moved rock and soil. The glaciers gouged, carved, deepened and widened existing drainage basins and rivers. Then, around 14,000 years ago, the earth’s temperatures
warmed, causing the glaciers to melt. When they retreated, they left behind basins, ridges, glacial kettles (depressions or holes), glacial moraines (material, usually rocks and soil) and other landforms and deposited large areas of clay, sand and gravel, called glacial “till” or “drift.” Thus, the Great Lakes, smaller lakes and wetlands were created from the glacial meltwater fi lling the depressions the glaciers left behind.
We all remember from elementary school science class that there are fi ve Great Lakes: Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario and Superior. The lakes are located in the mid-east region of North America, generally on or near the United States–Canada border, and are interconnected, with access
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Great Lakes Huron. The lakes are called inland seas because they exhibit features to the Atlantic Ocean via the St. such as high, rolling, ocean-size Lawrence River. Modern travel and waves, sustained winds, strong curshipping between the lakes are pos- rents, great depths and distant horisible on the Great Lakes Waterway. zons—all of which have contributed
Numerous sources, including to many a shipwreck. Fortunately Wikipedia and the resources cited for us, the lakes were on their best above, state that the Great Lakes are behavior ~ calm and pleasant, like the largest group of freshwater lakes you would hope of a lake ~ for both on Earth and by total area contain of our ferry rides. 21% of the world’s surface freshwater In his book The Living Great and 84% of the surface freshwater in Lakes, Jerry Dennis writes that each North America. With their surface lake “is different with its own charcovering almost 95,000 miles, the acter and characteristics.” Lake Erie, five lakes hold approximately 6 qua- the next-to-smallest lake, is 9,910 drillion gallons of freshwater. square miles in surface area, with
On our exploration of Michigan an average depth of 62 feet. Lake and Wisconsin, we stayed on and Huron is 23,000 square miles, with walked along the shorelines of Lakes an average depth of 195 feet. Close Huron, Michigan and Superior and in size is Lake Michigan, at 22,300 traveled by ferry on Michigan and square miles, but with a greater aver-
age depth of 279 feet. The smallest is Lake Ontario, with a surface area of 7,340 square miles but a depth of 283 feet. The prize for largest lake goes to Lake Superior. Covering a whopping 31,700 square miles, it also wins the prize for the deepest Great Lake at 483 feet. Lake Superior is also the largest freshwater lake in the world.
For the sake of comparison, the largest estuary in the U.S. is our Chesapeake Bay, with a surface area of 4,479 square miles, smaller than the smallest Great Lake, Ontario.
Back to Lake Michigan and the formation and shape of the sand dunes at Sleeping Bear, I found this tender and touching Native American Anishinaabe legend about how the dunes and two nearby islands were created.
“Once long ago, across the great lake in Wisconsin, there was terrible hunger and many people and animals died. A bear and her two little cubs, desperate for food, left that place to swim the long distance to the other side of the lake.
“After a while the cubs became very tired, and so the bear said: ‘Try hard, the land is not very far.’ But gradually the cubs weakened. Exhausted, one cub sank into the water when they were within sight of land and soon after the other also drowned.”
“The bear’s heart was broken, but she could do nothing. She waded ashore and climbed the bluff to lie down looking out on the water where her cubs had died. However, both of them surfaced as two little islands (seen today across the lake from the Lake Michigan Outlook and called the North and South Manitou islands). And so, the [sleeping] bear still lies there now ~ looking after her children.”
We continued our exploration, including driving through lush forests of beech and maple with a few glimpses of fall color visible. We visited more dune overlooks with rewarding views of Lake Michigan vistas and drove through a covered bridge and past a lovely rustic red barn.
Every fall, we try to travel to states we have not seen, with the hope of visiting all 50 and maybe seeing some fall leaf color. Michigan and Wisconsin were just beginning to dress in gold, orange, scarlet and
cocoa in late September and early October. Observing the unique and undulating glacier-formed sand dunes and the glorious crystal-clear Great Lakes was particularly memorable for us.
It is not surprising that ABC’s Good Morning America viewers chose SBDNL as the “Most Beautiful Place in America” and National Geographic named SBDNL beaches among the “21 Best Beaches in the World.”
More adventure stories about Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as Lakes Superior and Huron, coming soon.
Bonna L. Nelson is a Bay-area writer, columnist, photographer and world traveler. She resides in Easton with her husband, John.
Pamela P. Gardner, AIA, LLC
