Silver Dune, Remains, photo by Charles Bonham
View Charles’ photo background big and see more in his Silver Lake Sand Dunes slideshow.
Soaring Saturday: Hang Gliding in Michigan
Coming In, photo by David Clark
USA Today has a feature on Hang Gliding Sites in Michigan that says (in part):
Most individuals will need lessons in hang gliding from a certified instructor prior to their first flight. Hang gliding schools provide instructions, gear, permits and safety equipment. The Draachen Fliegen Soaring Club is located in Cloud 9 Field between Detroit and Lansing, with instructors offering “tandem discovery” flights lasting from 15 minutes to one hour. Gliders drift in air space up to two miles high, in tandem with an instructor. Individuals with proven experience and certifications may rent gliders for solo flights. Traverse City Hang Gliders offers full programs of training and instruction in both traditional powerless hang gliding and “the Mosquito” powered hang gliding harness.
Hang gliding enthusiasts can enjoy practicing the sport at national parks within the state of Michigan, including Sleeping Bear Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Several spots within the park are approved for powerless flight. Hang gliders can take off and land at Empire Bluff, Pyramid Point and Lake Michigan Overlook on the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, as well as Dune Climb in the months of November through March. Powerless flight permits are required and can be obtained free of charge at the Visitor Center Information Desk. Launch sites within the park require proficiency ratings established by the U.S. Hang Gliding Association. Gliders must also follow safety and federal regulations. Warren Dunes State Park also issues permits for hang gliding along the coastal dunes, about 14 miles from the state border with Indiana. Favorite launch and return sites within the park include Tower Hill and New Buffalo.
In the 1970s, Elberta Beach and the adjacent city of Frankfort, in Northern Michigan, were popular spots for what was then the new sport of hang gliding. Once referred to as the “Sail Plane Capital,” the area is still a magnet for gliders today. Just south of Frankfort, gliders can experience the thrill of soaring over sand dunes at Green Point Dunes. The Green Point Flyers Association, established in 1978, is a club for both hang gliders and parasailers, with a main flying site that is a sand dune stretching for three miles at a height of 370 feet. Licenses are required to fly at Green Point, and certified instructors are available. Pilots at Green Point also have access to hang gliding sites inside the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, as well as the bluffs of Elberta. Visitors can also team up for a ride with members of the Northwest Soaring Club, which is located in Cadillac, Michigan. Flights depart from the Wexford County Airport, then cruise over Lake Mitchell and Lake Cadillac.
View David’s photo background bigilicious, see more in his Turning 42 slideshow, and view and purchase work at leelanauphotography.com!
If you’d like to get a look at the process, here’s a video of aerial photographer Jim Anderson taking a flight from the Bluffs!
Rockport State Recreation Area on Lake Huron
Rockport State Recreation Area – I, Alpena, MI, September, 2016, photo by Norm Powell
The Alpena CVB’s page on Rockport State Recreation Area says:
Rockport State Park, Michigan’s 100th State Park and an official Dark Sky Preserve, has over 4,237 acres of land located on the shores of Lake Huron north of Alpena. The property includes a deep-water protected harbor, an old limestone quarry of approximately 300 acres, a unique series of sinkholes, Devonian Era fossils, the Besser Natural Area, and a broad range of land types, vegetative cover, cultural resources and recreation opportunities. At the harbor the DNR has a boat launch facility, and there is a small park with picnic areas.
If you click through, they have a nifty guide that includes more information on the offerings including the fossils and sinkholes! You can get a map and more info from the State of Michigan’s page on Rockport Recreation Area.
View Norm’s photo bigger, see more in his slideshow, and view and purchase his photos on his website.
Many more Michigan parks on Michigan in Pictures!
Steps of the Sun at Sleeping Bear Dunes
Steps of the Sun, photo by Kenneth Snyder
Here’s a shot from high atop one of the many dunes in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore from August 1, 2012.
View Kenneth’s photo background bigilicious and see more in his Sleeping Bear Dunes slideshow that includes some awesome northern lights pics!
More dunes and more summer wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures.
North Bar Lake in Sleeping Bear Dunes
North Bar Lake, Sleeping Bear Dunes, photo by jdehmel
The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore pages on North Bar Lake and the North Bar Lake Overlook say (in part):
The small lake below is North Bar Lake. The name describes how the lake formed: it is ponded behind a sand bar. At times, the sand bar builds up and separates North Bar Lake from Lake Michigan. At other times, a small connecting channel exists between the two lakes. North Bar Lake occupies part of a former bay on Lake Michigan. This ancient bay was flanked by headlands on both sides: Empire Bluffs on the south and Sleeping Bear Bluffs on the north. Shorelines have a natural tendency to become straighter with time. Wave action focuses on the headlands and wears them back, while shoreline currents carry sediment to the quiet bays and fill them in. Deeper parts of the bay are often left as lakes when sand fills in the shallower parts. The same process that formed North Bar Lake also formed many of the other lakes in northern Michigan: Glen, Crystal, Elk and Torch Lakes, for example.
…North Bar Lake is one of the most popular beaches in the Lakeshore because it has shallow, clear water over a sandy bottom makes for warmer swim than in Lake Michigan. But for those who like the refreshing cool water and wave action of the big lake, you can walk across the low dunes that separate the two lakes in just a couple of minutes. The beaches of pure sand and the small outlet to Lake Michigan is ideal for the kids to play.
View jdehmel’s photo background bigilicious and see more in his Sleeping Bear Dunes slideshow.
More dunes and more summer wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures.
Flip out because Summer 2016 is here!!
Grand Haven MI, photo by Cyndie M
Summer 2016 is here, and as it’s the only Summer 2016 you’re ever gonna have – I recommend you get the most out of it!!
Cyndie took this last week at the sand dunes by Grand Haven. View it background bigtacular, see more in her slideshow, and check out more of her work on her website.
PS: More summer wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures!
Major Explorer on Empire Bluffs
Major Explores Empire Bluff, photo by Mark Miller
Over on Leelanau.com I shared upcoming meetings for folks interested in becoming “Bark Rangers” in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Major looked so awesome that I had to share him with all of you too!
Bark Ranger volunteers and their canine companions will serve as ambassadors on National Lakeshore beaches to provide visitors information about the park, highlight pet policies, and pet safety. They will also help to protect the National Lakeshore’s nesting shorebirds.
Dogs can’t come to the meeting, but Bark Rangers will receive training and Bark Ranger gear for their dog if they are volunteering with a dog. You don’t have to own a dog to become a Bark Ranger, and there’s two orientation sessions. The first meeting on Saturday, May 21 at 1 PM and the second on Tuesday, May 24th at 7 PM, and there’s also an option if you’re interested and can’t make it.
Mark is a longtime contributor to Michigan in Pictures. You can view this photo bigger and if you have any doubt that Major has more fun than you, one look at Mark’s slideshow of Major should be enough for your surrender.
More dogs on Michigan in Pictures.
PS: I promise to share some dog-friendly Michigan stuff folks – I know some of you have been asking for it!!
PPS: More about the Empire Bluff Trail from the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
Making the Leap
Untitled, photo by Todd Richter
Happy Leap Day everyone and here’s hoping that this quadrennial occurrence adds a little fun to your life! Borgna Brunner lays down Leap Year 101:
Leap years are added to the calendar to keep it working properly. The 365 days of the annual calendar are meant to match up with the solar year. A solar year is the time it takes the Earth to complete its orbit around the Sun — about one year. But the actual time it takes for the Earth to travel around the Sun is in fact a little longer than that—about 365 ¼ days (365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds, to be precise). So the calendar and the solar year don’t completely match—the calendar year is a touch shorter than the solar year.
It may not seem like much of a difference, but after a few years those extra quarter days in the solar year begin to add up. After four years, for example, the four extra quarter days would make the calendar fall behind the solar year by about a day. Over the course of a century, the difference between the solar year and the calendar year would become 25 days! Instead of summer beginning in June, for example, it wouldn’t start until nearly a month later, in July. As every kid looking forward to summer vacation knows—calendar or no calendar—that’s way too late! So every four years a leap day is added to the calendar to allow it to catch up to the solar year.
Read on for more and enjoy your day.
Todd took this shot back in August of 2009 at one of my favorite spots for hiking (and jumping) – the Pyramid Point overlook in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Lake Michigan is hundreds of feet down a steep bluff from the point where she’s jumping, and many is the person who wished they didn’t run down that bluff after toiling up it!
View Todd’s photo background bigtacular and see more in his digital slideshow.
More dunes on Michigan in Pictures!
The Ghost Forest in Silver Lake Dunes
Ghost Forest, photo by Charles Bohnam
The Silver Lake State Park page at Michigan Trail Maps says in part:
Not all of Michigan’s great hikes are trails. This trek is a journey through Silver Lake State Park’s trailless backcountry, a mile-wide strip of dunes between Silver Lake and Lake Michigan. There’s not another hike like this in Michigan or even the Midwest because no other stretch of dunes are so barren.
Perched on a plateau and rising more than 100 feet high above Silver Lake, the heart of these dunes are totally devoid of any vegetation, even dune grass. The only thing besides sand are the stumps and trunks of ghost forests, ancient trees that the migrating dunes had buried and killed. Almost half of the hike is in this Sahara Desert-like terrain, the other half is spent strolling a stretch of Lake Michigan that is free of cottages and frozen custard stands.
A rare hike indeed.
View Charles’ photo background bigilicious and see more in his slideshow.
More dunes and more summer wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures.
Jtomic
This is where I’d normally post something about what most readers are thinking about today – Christmas Eve. Instead I’m going to wish a very happy 18th birthday to my high-flying son Jamie!
Here’s hoping you’re never too old for fun like this … and multiple takes to get the shot right!
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Might as well JUMP! with Michigan in Pictures.
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