A Short Hike to a Beautiful Spot

On late Friday afternoon, my daughter-in-law Sarah and I hiked to Pyramid Point in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore on the Eastern shore of mighty Lake Michigan. I had last been here three July’s ago, the day before my 58th birthday, and nearly died (figuratively) when I went down to the lake shore and then had to clamber the 260 vertical feet back out over the soft sand cliffs. This time, there was no such foolishness on my part. I had learned my lesson, and just peacefully and non-aerobically admired the incredible views. This map shows the location of this spot, in reference to my Wednesday hike on the Leelanau Peninsula.

This spot is one of the more remote ones in this beautiful lake shore (to read about the legend of Sleeping Bear Dunes, go to my post of three years ago.) But it is also popular, so there is not tremendous solitude here, plus it is only about a kilometer walk each way from the parking lot to this spot. This map shows the track I took as an out and back, including a short side trip by myself ( Sarah had a headache and went back to the car) through the forest. On this side hike, I saw a shrew but that was it for wildlife on the entire two mile hike.  The starting and ending point is at the arrow.

The views from the cliffs extend over Lake Michigan and past the North and South Manitou Islands. These would both be great places to do overnight hikes to some day. Being islands far out in a huge lake, they are not easy to get to. Even on cloudy days, the views are great at from Pyramid Point’s cliffs. Being high up, there is a moderate climb to reach this spot, as shown on the elevation profile:

Here are some more photos of the hike. At the end, as a bonus, I threw in a couple of pictures I took Wednesday evening from Good Harbor Beach of the sun setting next to Pyramid Point.

South Manitou Island is in the upper right of the photo, far out in Lake Michigan.

 A Great Lakes freighter heads north, perhaps towards the Mackinaw Straits.

 260 feet below us, and feeling nearly vertical when you are down there and climbing back, a narrow beach abuts the lake.

The hike to Pyramid Point passes through beautiful northern woodlands,

 as well as past a pleasant open meadow.

Two nights before, we watched the sun set behind Pyramid Point from Good Harbor Beach.