One of the best ways to tour the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is with hiking poles. The 4-wheel drive action works great in the sand. The poles eliminate back-pain that many encounter when walking on the sand dunes or along the beach.
This summer we Ski Walked past several marked nesting areas of the Piping Plover - an endangered shorebird slightly smaller and shorter legged then the killdeer.
The greatest concentration of Piping Plovers in the Great Lakes occurs at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. More info about the Piping Plover can be found here: http://www.nps.gov/slbe/naturescience/pipingplover.htm
My favorite Ski Walk this summer has been up at Glen Haven - the views are spectacular. The route passes through a ghost tree forest.
My favorite wooded trail in the Sleeping Bear Dunes Area is up on Alligator Hill with a trailhead located behind Glen Arbor.
I do all of my hiking with durable and user friendly one-piece Nordic Walking Poles from SWIX or EXEL. SWIX out of Norway and EXEL out of Finland. Quality one-piece walking poles with real Nordic Walking Straps (comfortable patented straps - patented by the Salomon Ski Company). One-piece walking poles that are sized correctly prove to be safer, lighter and much more durable than cheap/flimsy 2-piece and 3-piece collapsible poles that tend to rattle, vibrate, collapse gradually or fail unexpectedly.
Real Nordic Walking Poles and helpful instruction can be found at SKIWALKING.COM and the American Nordic Walking System.
For more information about the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore check out:
http://www.nps.gov/slbe
Monday, August 8, 2011
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