Trail dangers: What to watch out for in the Sleeping Bear Dunes

By Jane Greiner
Sun nature correspondent
With recent press coverage of the cougars in our area, many people worry about the dangers of hiking the trails in the National Park, particularly if they have small children.
When people asked me about it, I responded that I am much more afraid of getting lost or injured on a trail than of being attacked by any wild animal. But when I said that, I had no solid information about the real dangers of the Park.

Here is some helpful information from Dusty Shultz, Superintendent of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. She wrote in an email: “In 2004 the Park responded to 16 search and rescue incidents, involving 34 victims, of whom 12 were ill or injured.”
From January 1, 2000 to June 1, 2005 the park responded to 60 land searches, two water searches, 36 rescues on land and four rescues on water.
Shultz pointed out that most searches are resolved within 24 hours. A common occurrence is for groups to get separated on the Dune Climb. On many occasions the lost people, often children, do not even perceive themselves as lost.
Rescues, on the other hand, are always serious. “A significant portion of our rescues result from unprepared visitors. Most of our rescues occur at the Dune Climb or the Lake Michigan Overlook on the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. Our experience shows that people are often unprepared for the difficult walk in the sand, do not take water, are not in good physical condition for the activity, hike during the hottest part of the day, and/or overestimate their abilities.”
As for cougars and bears, Shultz wrote, “Our wildlife encounters are much more infrequent. We are only aware of one situation with a park volunteer, who encountered a cougar on the Old Indian Trail. While bears are occasionally seen in the Lakeshore, again, we are unaware of any bear/human conflict.”
So the Park statistics confirm that people are far more likely to get lost or sick or injured, than they are to be attacked by cougars or bears.
My own experience is the same. I have never seen a cougar or a bear here, but I have been lost twice while walking in the woods by myself.
In both cases I had a compass with me and was able to find my way out fairly quickly. But the speed at which I became lost was what was astounding.
The first time, I was walking off the west end of Boekeloo road (off M-22, south of Empire), following an unmarked trail a short distance into the woods. I saw a little stream to my left and walked over to it. When I looked up to get back to the trail on which I had come in, I could not see it. Nothing looked familiar. In a matter of minutes I had gone from feeling secure and knowing where I was to being disoriented and unable to find my way out. Luckily, using my compass, I was able to find my way out, although I did not find my way back onto the original trail.
The other time, I got turned around twice while mushroom hunting one afternoon off of County Road 677, not more than a mile from home. I had gone in perhaps 50 yards from the road, crossed a rather deep ravine, and climbed the other side, hunting mushrooms as I went along. After looking around more, I decided to give up and go back to my car. I turned to face the direction from which I had come, but something was wrong. I could hear road noise off to my left. But I knew the road, and my car, had to be straight ahead.
At first I figured that my ears were deceiving me and the road really had to be across the gully, right in front of me. I was so sure that I almost started walking that way without even checking my compass.
Luckily I decided to check my compass even though I felt confident of my direction. I was puzzled to see that, contrary to what I believed, the road was off to my left, exactly where the road sounds were coming from.
Still, I was so sure that the road lay straight ahead, directly across the ravine, I considered the possibility that my compass could be wrong, perhaps thrown off by the metal in my belt buckle.
Finally I remembered Richard Bach’s book Stranger to the Ground. In it he wrote about flying jet planes at night, and how you can get so disoriented that you begin to doubt your instruments. If you follow your instinct instead of your instruments, you can fly right into the ground. You have to trust your instruments!
So I trusted my compass and went against my whole body, which wanted so much to go the other way. By the time I got to the other side of the ravine I was again turned around, again trying to head off at right angles from where I should be going. After that I kept my compass in my hand the rest of the way.
I followed my compass and came out of the woods within sight of my car. Had I not brought a compass, I believe I would have walked in circles for hours. This experience underlined for me once again that anyone can get lost at any moment.
My unofficial inquiry into the dangers of the Park has brought me to several conclusions. First, don’t worry about the cougars — you will probably never see one. Second, do get an inexpensive compass for each person in your family who goes hiking with you and make sure they carry it. Finally, read the signs and the warnings and use common sense about the physical challenges of trails and, in particular, dune climbs.
Having taken these simple precautions you should feel free to enjoy the National Lakeshore in safety.