Pierce Stocking Virtual Tour

No visit to Sleeping Bear Dunes is complete without spending time on the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. Enjoy spectacular views of Glen Lake, undulating sand dunes, and breathtaking views of the grandest of all dunes, with shimmering Lake Michigan as the backdrop. Stopping at all twelve points on the 7.4-mile Scenic Drive will take about two hours.

Have you ever seen a covered bridge with the National Park Service arrowhead on it? The original one, built by Mr. Pierce Stocking for his scenic drive, did not boast the symbol, of course. He just wanted to provide a picturesque detail for sightseers to stop and photograph.

Two for the price of one! Divided by the M-22 causeway (visible in the distance), Glen Lake, with its remarkably turquoise waters, is famous for its beauty. Big Glen Lake reaches 130-feet deep in places, while Little Glen (closest to you) is only 12-feet deep. Different shades of blue indicate lake levels.

Wow! Standing in the middle of an approximately four square-mile area called the Sleeping Bear Dunes complex, the panoramic vista from the Dune Overlook includes Glen Lake and its surrounding rolling hills, the historic, privately owned D. H. Day farm with the huge white barn, the spectacular landscape of the Sleeping Bear Dunes, and a dramatic glimpse of Lake Michigan, Sleeping Bear Bay, Pyramid Point, the Manitou Passage, and both North and South Manitou Islands.

Want to really experience the dune plateau? The 1.5-mile Cottonwood Trail is a great place to get out of your car, loop through the perched dunes, and see the sublime scenery up close. The Cottonwood trail loops over unique dune landscapes and offers spectacular views over golden sand dunes of the azure sky, aquamarine Glen Lake, white D. H. Day barn, ultramarine blue Lake Michigan, and distant verdant green of the Manitou Islands.

You are about to leave the dunes and enter the neighboring beech-maple forest.

To survive in the dunes is no easy task. Flora and fauna deal with strong sunlight, poor soils, and constant winds. The wind action alone can dry out plants, expose root systems, or even completely bury vegetation, including trees.The cottonwood is the only common tree of the dunes and is well adapted to the dune environment.

What a startling contrast we find between the open, sunny environment of the dunes and the lush, shady world of the beech-maple forest. Here plants must compete for the limited amount of sunlight. Shade-tolerance is the key to survival.

Imagine how this land must have looked just after the glacier melted about 11,800 years ago. It was a landscape of sand and gravel stretching in every direction. No trees would have blocked your view.

Stunning, magnificent, breathtaking, amazing, surreal . . . just WOW! The Lake Michigan Overlook is the crown jewel of the Scenic Drive; no words can really describe its beauty. This is why you came to the dunes, isn't it? The overlook opens to a myriad of blues from shore to horizon, to glorious sunsets, and brilliant night skies.