Long ago, along the Wisconsin shoreline, a mother bear and her two cubs were driven into Lake Michigan by a raging forest fire. The bears swam for many hours, but eventually the cubs tired and lagged behind. Mother bear reached the shore and climbed to the top of a high bluff to watch and wait for her cubs. Too tired to continue, the cubs drowned within sight of the shore. The Great Spirit Manitou created two islands to mark the spot where the cubs disappeared and then created a solitary dune to represent the faithful mother bear.
Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore is on the Michigan shore of Lake Michigan. In the first photo (click any of the photos for an album of larger versions) you see the mother bear dune and, in the distance, South Manitou Island, one of her cubs.
This photo shows the more than 400-foot drop from the bluff to the lake (and no I didn’t make the trek).
The third photo reveals more of the top of the dune and the vegetation that fights with the ever shifting sand.
Lastly, this area of Michigan is dotted with many large lakes just inland from the Great Lake. Both Lake Michigan and the inland lakes were gouged by glaciers during the last ice age, ending some 11,800 years ago. Similarly, the glaciers amassed the hilly terrain surrounding the lakes.