If you have only a few hours to spend at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, you will want to start at the Phillip A. Hart Visitor Center in Empire, MI to get oriented, get your maps and see the slide show.  Ask a ranger for advice for things to do that match your interests.  You will find amazing views of the dunes and Lake Michigan, great hiking, interesting local history, and of course some incredible sand dunes to climb.

Everybody likes to climb the dunes – or watch the kids enjoy the sand.  The Dune Climb offers plenty of pure, wind-blown sand for your climbing pleasure.  There is a picnic area at the bottom and you can climb up the dunes for a view of Glen Lake.  While the climb can be strenuous, the run back down to the picnic area is a blast!  For those who have extra time and a lot of energy, take a hike through the dunes all the way to Lake Michigan.  This may take as long as 3-4 hours, so take lots of water and remember you’ll be walking up and down the dunes in loose sand all the way.  Hiking through the dunes can be disorienting, so be sure to keep children within sight and if hiking with a group, be sure to agree on a destination before leaving.

Take time to learn about the flora and fauna in the area by hiking the interpretive trail along the base of the dunes beginning on the right side of the picnic area.  This is a wheelchair accessible trail.

Visit the U.S. Coast Guard Museum to learn about the history of the U.S. Life-Saving Service, U.S. Coast Guard, and Great Lakes shipping. The museum is a U.S. Life-Saving Station that had been moved from Sleeping Bear Point to its present location near Glen Haven.  A room on the second floor is outfitted as a Steamer Wheelhouse with a panoramic view of the Manitou Passage Shipping Channel.  Walk through the boathouse next to the museum and see the life-saving equipment used during the early 1900’s.

Walk through Glen Haven, a lumbering village restored to the way it was around 1900.  You can visit a Blacksmith Shop which is in operation from June to early October to see how iron is heated and forged into useful tools and parts.  Then walk through the Cannery Boathouse to see the displays of some of the boats used on the Great Lakes.  The Glen Haven General Store appears as it did in the 1920’s and offers typical merchandise and items related to the history of the area.  The beautiful beaches of Lake Michigan are right there, so take time for a swim or walk along the beach.

If you will be spending a few days in the area consider a day trip to South Manitou Island where you can enjoy a picnic lunch by the ranger station, walk through the village and imagine what it would have been like to live here 100 years ago.  Take a tour of the lighthouse.  The view from the top provides an excellent panorama of the island and the mainland.  Hike the trails to see some of the historic farmsteads and the old schoolhouse, or the wreck of the Francisco Morazan which is visible from the south end of the island.