Detroit native Pam Baad—pictured here jogging up the Lake Michigan Overlook at Pierce Stocking Drive—was named women’s “champignon” of the 2021 Bordulac Attack. The informal race is organized by the Bordulac family, includes six segments in and around Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and must be completed between June 15 and Halloween. Anyone can form a team or compete solo on any given day by using the Strava mobile app.
“My first foray onto the shoreline of South Manitou Island as a volunteer lighthouse keeper for Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore became one of my gladdest moments in life,” writes volunteer lighthouse keeper Jonathan Schechter in this essay featured in our July 13 edition of the Sun. “It remains so today, and now, after six tours of duty at that historic 1871 lighthouse overlooking the often-stormy Manitou Passage of Lake Michigan, I reflect on how it all came to be and already look forward to next year. And I will share three confessions.” Read the story for Schechter’s confessions.
From nearly abandoned and forgotten, the historic Katie Shepard Hotel, formerly known as “The Beeches,” on North Manitou Island is being preserved by Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear (PHSB). The hotel was constructed in 1895 and has been given a chance at a productive new life. The non-profit group, partner of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore since 1998, has been busy at the hotel preservation from 2009–2019, and returning this year to resume its work on this historic hotel. “It is our vision to reopen the hotel that drives our passion,” said PHSB executive director Susan Pocklington.
The fourth annual Glen Arbor Cemetery Memorial Ceremony, commemorating the nearly lost site, will be held at 10 am on Friday, May 26. John Sawyer of Traverse City will deliver a eulogy detailing the life of one of the four Civil War veterans buried at the cemetery, James Lawrence Green. And on Wednesday, May 24, the Glen Lake Community Library in Empire will host a presentation about the history of the Glen Arbor Township Cemetery, which served the Glen Lake area from 1880-1927, and the renewed effort to reclaim this long-neglected resting place. Last week, ground penetrating radar revealed an additional mass grave of more than 50 bodies buried at the cemetery sometime between the late 1800s and early 1900s. This cemetery in the woods off Forest Haven Road, west of downtown Glen Arbor, was nearly lost to history before Glen Arbor Township regained control over it from the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore after the big storm of August 2015. Click on the story to watch a narrated video tour of the cemetery.
Tick bites and cases of tick-borne illnesses such as Lyme Disease and Anaplasmosis are increasing in northern Michigan, according to statistics from the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department and confirmed by local doctors and staff within the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Leelanau County registered 14 cases of tick-born illness last year, more than doubling the previous year’s tally. Beyond statistics, the upward trend has proven tragic for this community. Glen Arbor lost popular realtor and ski coach John Peppler to a tick-born disease last August. National Lakeshore superintendent Scott Tucker said that one Park employee nearly died last year of Anaplasmosis caused by a tick bite that happened at a Sleeping Bear campground.
The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will again host its popular apple and pear tree pruning workshop on Friday, May 5, in the Port Oneida Rural Historic District.
Mark your calendars! Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is thrilled to announce the return of the popular Star Party events in 2023. Join park rangers and astronomers from the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society at the Dune Climb parking lot Saturday, April 29, from 6 to 11 p.m., for the first Star Party of the 2023 season.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is seeking additional short-term housing for its seasonal workforce. According to Superintendent Scott Tucker, “Our employees make great renters as they all have steady paychecks and successfully completed background checks. These folks are trustworthy, loyal, clean, friendly, courteous… oh wait, wrong list, but you get the point.”
Springtime means more people head outdoors, which also means the chances of incidental human-tick interactions increase. Several kinds of ticks can carry dangerous bacteria, viruses, or parasites. Not all tick bites will make you sick, but tick-borne diseases do occur in Michigan, such as Lyme Disease, Anaplasmosis, Ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and Babesiosis. Last year, the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department reported 34 suspected or confirmed cases of Lyme Disease and six suspected or confirmed cases of Ehrlichiosis.
Ethan and Hannah Goss and Sam Holmes took one last cross-country ski of the winter on March 26 at Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive overlook 9.