by Chris Savage

Unknown to many Americans outside of Michigan, our state is hardly one of just auto manufacturing, Motown, snow, and sports. In addition to these things, we have some of the most beautiful natural places in all of America. This summer, one place in particular has been highlighted nationally for its beauty. The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in the “pinky” of Michigan’s lower peninsula earned two awards. In July, Dr. Beach (“America’s Foremost Beach Expert”) quit ignoring the Great Lakes and named the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore the most beautiful beach on the Great Lakes. Then, this past month, ABC’s “Good Morning, America” viewers voted the park “The Most Beautiful Place in America.”

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, tucked away in the northwest corner of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, won the title of “Good Morning America’s” Most Beautiful Place in America.

Tens of thousands of viewers voted online for this Michigan park, which is one of the nation’s best-kept secrets. The hidden gem boasts 64 miles of beaches along Lake Michigan, two islands, 26 inland lakes, more than 50,000 acres of land, and the monumental sand dunes from which it gets its name.

Ron Dzwonkowski of the Detroit Free Press immediately pounced on the news with a front page editorial titled “Sleeping Bear Dunes the most beautiful place in America?” In his piece, he makes an argument against the choice: “Sleeping Bear is truly awe-inspiring, so good for us, good for tourism, and good for Pure Michigan. But the most beautiful place in America? Why, it may not even be the most beautiful place in our state.” No news is too good for Michigan that Dzwonkowski can’t find a reason to shoot it down, I guess.

Celebrichef Mario Batali has been blabbing since 2007 about Michigan’s Leelanau Peninsula and the area’s burgeoning food and wine scenes, as well as his not-so-humble lakeside “1920s fish camp” that rests on the shore of Lake Michigan.  In the August 17, 2007 issue of the New York Times, there is a piece titled, “For Mario Batali, It’s Molto Michigan.” In the July 2011 issue of Bon Appetit, readers learn in a first person piece penned by Batali himself,  “How Mario Batali Escapes New York Summers.” “While New York City sweats, Mario Batali rides out the summer at his fish camp near Traverse City, Michigan. The chef gives us his lowdown on the coolest, snark-free lakeside food scene in America.”

While the Sleeping Bear Dunes area may be one of our best-kept secrets, it’s no secret to me. My mother honeymooned there when she was 18, and I’ve been camping and skiing in the area since my college days. Seven years ago, I married my wife in the park, on Sunset Beach under the watchful eyes of the Sleeping Bear (the largest dune in the park) and her two cubs (North and South Manitou Islands.) The area was named for an Ojibwa (Chippewa) Indian legend which tells of a great conflagration in Wisconsin that forced a mother bear and her two cubs to swim across Lake Michigan. The mother bear reached the shore first and waited atop a tall bluff for her cubs. They didn’t make it, forming the two sandy, forested islands which are part of the National Lakeshore. When you view the islands from the water, their profile looks like a bear lying on its tummy in the in the lake.

South Manitou Island, click for larger version

The process of creating this national park was a contentious one. It began in the early sixties and didn’t conclude until the park was authorized in the fall of 1970. The story of the park’s formation is told in great and well-researched detail in Brian C. Kalt’s excellent book Sixties Sandstorm: The Fight over Establishment of a Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, 1961-1970. It was championed in large part by two people. The first was a feisty woman named E. Genevieve Gillette who was the president of the Michigan Parks Association. Historian Claire Korn described her this way:

[She] donned her hat and, with a stack of copies of Our Fourth Shore in hand, drove to Lansing…Gillette dropped stacks of reading material on legislators’ desks and chastised them for not doing their homework; she tackled elected officials as they entered or left their chambers; then she went to Washington, D.C. to educate politicians there about parks in general and Sleeping Bear in particular.

In stake contrast to Gillette’s impolitic approach was Philip A. Hart, Michigan’s Democratic senator from 1958 to 1976 and former Lt. Governor under G. Mennen “Soapy” Williams. Hart was generally a quiet, reasonable man. From the online book about the formation of the Lakeshore, A Nationalized Lakeshore:
The Creation and Administration of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, comes this description:

Naturally quiet, reserved in manner, he was anything but a typical politician. His experience in World War II as an officer in the D-Day invasion left him severely wounded, and after a long recovery, anxious to do something positive with his life…He was unphotogenic, modest to the point of being apologetic about running, scrupulous about campaign contributions, and intellectual in appearance and actual behavior. He was neither eloquent on the campaign trail or decisive in office. “He debated every possible angle to the solution before he would tell you his decision,” recalled a former aide…Yet as deliberate as Hart was about taking a stand he was dogged in maintaining his position, regardless of the pressure. “Once he made up his mind,” a supporter recalled, “nothing could get him to change it.”

Philip Hart most definitely had “made up his mind” about the creation of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and spent nine years of his life making it happen. The Philip A. Hart Visitor Center in Empire is named after this staunch proponent.

The formation of the park was controversial because it involved transferring private property into federal government hands. The scars from the long battle to create the Lakeshore are still tender for many in the area, particularly those whose families were forced to give up their property. When I attended a public meeting in Empire ten years ago to give input into the management of the Lakeshore, much of the bitterness bubbled to the surface again and, as you read through the history of its creation, many familiar themes from today’s headlines of “big government” and “socialism” can be found.

Now, over forty years since the Lakeshore’s creation, things have calmed down considerably on the political front. The three main villages in the area, Leland on the north, Empire on the south and Glen Arbor in the center, are reasonably prosperous relative to other northern Lower Peninsula villages of similar sizes. With beautiful lakes like Glen and Crystal nearby, a burgeoning wine industry across the peninsula, and the nearby Traverse City, the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore seems to have settled into a comfortable, if not somewhat obscure existence on the Leelanau Peninsula.

I was wondering what the impact would be on the area in and around the Lakeshore after I heard about it being named “The Most Beautiful Place in America.” During our annual trip there last week, I asked folks if they had noticed an increase in the number of visitors and if they thought this was a good thing or a bad thing for the area. I expected to be told that it would be a great boon to local businesses and that most people would be excited about it. What I found was not so clear cut.

The one phrase I heard repeatedly was that the new designation was a “double-edged sword.” For example, a park ranger at the D.H. Day Campground just outside of Glen Arbor told me that they were at full-capacity throughout the week much later in the season than usual.

“We love that people are coming to see us, but it’s a double-edged sword. More people means more congestion and more wear and tear,” she said, referring to the sensitive dunes inside the park.

In nearby Glen Arbor, a waitress at the Good Harbor Grill nodded wearily when I asked if business was up.

“Oh, yeah,” she said, rolling her eyes, before hustling off to deliver more food to customers in the crowded restaurant.

Outside the window, M-109, the main thoroughfare through town, was uncharacteristically congested with RVs, SUVs and minivans.

Farther north in Leland, I talked to a woman at the Fish Hook, a retail store selling t-shirts, moccasins and other clothing items in the heart of historic Fishtown.

“We all sort of groaned when we heard about [being picked as The Most Beautiful Place in America],” she told me. “It’s great for business, of course, and some places like Manitou Island Transit [who run ferries to North and South Manitou Islands] are probably really happy about it. But, you have to wonder if it’s not a double-edged sword. Last weekend, there was a traffic jam waiting to turn left onto M-22. That almost never happens. Too much traffic could ruin what makes this ‘the most beautiful place.’ This area can only handle so many people.”

What she described was apparent as we drove into town and walked around. Both in Leland and in Glen Arbor, cars were backed up at intersections, the roads were lined with vehicles, finding a parking spot was a challenge and the sidewalks and stores were jammed with people. While the increased business was surely a boon to the local economy, the lazy, quiet nature of the area was gone, replaced by a far more tourist-y feel.

However, outside of the villages with their shops, restaurants and other amenities, things were a bit different. As I considered the park and what it has to offer, I realized that what makes the Dunes area so beautiful aren’t the tourist areas or the towns. While Glen Arbor, Empire and Leland are quaint and very enjoyable, the true beauty of the Leelanau Peninsula is the natural beauty, the wildlife, and, of course, the unique perched dune ecosystem.

The park itself was designated by Congress to be managed as a wilderness area though this has not entirely been the case with some homes and other structures maintained for historical purposes and some trails maintained and well-signed. However, there are still many areas of the Sleeping Bear Dunes that are almost unknown to all but locals and the most inquisitive visitors. For example, despite my many years of vacationing there, my wife and I discovered a “new” beach on our most recent visit. With no parking lot and a trail marked only with a park boundary sign, a short 10-minute walk found us on a secluded beach in view of the Empire Bluffs and the Sleeping Bear with nobody near us for a mile on either side. Where else can you swim and sunbathe on a perfect sandy beach with 3-foot waves without having to share it with anyone else?

Our “new” beach near Empire Bluffs, click for larger version

The designated hiking trails take you to some of the most beautiful parts in the park like Pyramid Point, the Sleeping Bear, Empire Bluffs, and Alligator Hill. However, these are generally strenuous hikes that require time and effort to enjoy. With a few exceptions such as the Pierce Stocking Drive and the Dune Climb, you cannot simply drive up to the these wonderful views.

There is abundant wildlife in the area as well. During our 5-day visit we saw bald eagles, mink, river otters, osprey, loons, pileated woodpecker and other unusual animals. However, most of these were seen by floating down the Platte River, the Crystal River or Cedar Creek in our kayaks.

Click images for larger version

In other words, the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is not Disney World. Experiencing the things that make it The Most Beautiful Place in America requires you seek it out, to work for it and to explore. If you are willing to do this, as many are, you will be handsomely rewarded. But, it’s not ever going to be place that’s overrun by tourists — it’s simply not that type of vacation spot. And that’s very good news.

The villages within the Lakeshore area appear to understand this and realize that, while development might enhance the local economy in the short term, it would destroy what makes the area unique. This is why you will likely never see a marina in Glen Arbor or a Red Roof Inn in Leland. Local residents, by and large, and despite initial resistance to the park, have come value what they have and to be protective of it.

My prediction is that the Sleeping Bear Dunes area will see a spike in visitors over the next year or so but will, eventually, slip back into relative obscurity. Even during our short stay, we saw people leaving the campground earlier than they had planned despite nearly perfect weather. All of those who left early were camping in RVs. My suspicion is that these visitors didn’t see it as The Most Beautiful Place in America. They may, in fact, have found it boring. No shopping malls. No casinos. No water parks. None of the typical amenities of the common tourist trap. About the only “sanitized” way to experience the park is to stay at the very expensive and mostly self-contained Homestead resort.

Cedar Creek, click for larger version

To experience the true beauty and richness of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, you have to be willing to hike or float down a river or drive down unmarked two-track roads into forest. Those that do will be abundantly rewarded with the beauty that earned the area its award.

The cashier at the Fish Hook told us, “Someone came in last weekend and asked, ‘what do you do around here?’ All I could think was, if you have to ask that question, this area is probably not for you.”

She was entirely correct.

Most photos by Anne C. Savage. Please do not use without permission. See more of her photography including photos from the Dunes area at Anne Savage Photography.

For more of Chris Savage’s writing, visit Eclectablog.