The “Dune Climb” is the most famous feature of Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore (one of 4 Lakeshores in the NPS system), and is done tens of thousands of times every summer. It’s a stunning dune of pure white sand going right out of the parking lot. Most just do that, but if you keep going the angle eases up, you’re running through soft sand, until you top out, and suddenly, boom - the clear blue waters of Lake Michigan extend out past the horizon. It's beautiful and can be done barefoot. The route consists of rolling sand dunes to Lake Michigan, with a touch of hardpack, then returns the same way.
Start/Finish: Edge of paved parking lot, directly in front of the sign indicating this 'trail', a water fountain, and a trash receptacle.
Turnaround: Touch the water (style points earned for a quick swim).
Route: There are 28 green marked posts, which you should basically follow because there are no viable shortcuts regardless.
FKTs:
As of 9/5/2021, there have been 62 attempts on this Strava Segment. To add an FKT to this website, you should be faster than these (or the fastest of these):
https://www.strava.com/segments/18121481 There are Strava Segments for both directions, but one direction alone does not meet the FKT Route minimum requirement of at least 5 miles or 500' of vert. There will be no Styles for this Route: Supported and Unsupported will be the same.
OTHER:
There is a much steeper "Big Dune Climb" to the south, which is essential fun to do, but at 461' vertical gain it does not qualify as an FKT Route. It's only .15mi long, which translates to a 57% grade! https://www.strava.com/segments/10346825
The 3 big dunes in Sleeping Bear are the Big Dune Climb, Empire Bluffs (which doesn't have a popular dune climb), and Pyramid Point (which does).
It is also possible run the entire shore of Sleeping Bear (about 30mi), and connect some of these features in the sand over the top. All superb and uncommon!
