Explore the Manitou Islands
If you are into backcountry camping, then North Manitou is your island oasis. The 15,000-acre island wilderness permits"open" camping: just pick a spot in the woods and camp. It too, like the mainland, features spectacular dunes with strange sand formations like the Pot Holes and eerie ghost forests stripped by shifting sands. Or visit the island's smaller sibling, South Manitou Island. In the southwest corner of this island, you can hike a 6.9-mile trail to the Valley of the Giants — a grove of virgin white cedar trees where one fallen old-growth cedar predates Columbus with 528 growth rings. The wreck of the Francisco Morazon is also a popular destination when hiking to or from the Valley of the Giants. The top half of the wreck is visible, protruding trough the surface of Lake Michigan like a ghost ship.
Hike the Dune Climb
Sleeping Bear's famous Dune Climb is a good workout if you are training for New York City's annual Empire State Building Run-Up. The initial dune is a fifty to sixty-degree incline of sand that rises 160 feet. From there, most hikers trudge up the slope to the southwest that reaches an elevation of 890 feet (comparable to the 1,050-foot ascent you will encounter on the stairs of the Empire State Building.)
More on hiking in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Hang Glide Michigan Bluffs
Lake Michigan updrafts launch hang gliders upwards of 8,000 feet above the water. Hang gliders push off at the 260-foot Pyramid Peak and the 450-foot dunes of Elberta. With one short leap, you can soar over the waters of the Manitou Passage like the bald eagles that ride the thermals here.
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