According to the people at Good Morning America, at least:

http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/20 ... eshore8619

SP has an excellent page for the park, maintained by the inimitable dwhike:

http://www.summitpost.org/sleeping-bear ... ore/298231

It's never been featured on the front page, elves. Hint, hint.

I guess most viewers of Good Morning America have never been to Glacier National Park, the Eastern Sierra, or Southern Utah.

....or the Winds, Cascades and Alaska Range....
MI is definitely beautiful but "the most?"

Bob Sihler wrote:I guess most viewers of Good Morning America have never been to Glacier National Park, the Eastern Sierra, or Southern Utah.

But ... have they been to Killer Queen's Garden ....?



[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB1DxgdSjIE[/youtube]

Michigan is the first place this Westerner learned to appreciate the Midwest. It has its virtues.

But there's a simple test: if you lived in the Rockies, would you vacation at Sleeping Bear Dunes? If you lied in Traverse City (near the Dunes), would you vacation in the Rockies?

Arthur Digbee wrote:... If you lied in Traverse City (near the Dunes), would you vacation in the Rockies?

Rockies ??? Good grief, Arthur ... I couldn't resist.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwARpaKHx_w[/youtube]

As a kid I camped in The Cascades, Olympic, Banff, Jasper, Zion, Bryce, Yellowstone, Tetons,Glacier and many areas in the Sierra. I've been to The Grand Canyon, Death Valley and Crater Lake. Granted, I haven't really hiked or climbed much of these areas yet, but I think the Yosemite floor is tops. Is there really more per square mile anywhere else? I could do without the 5,000 cars and the 200 tour busses and the wall to wall tents....but?

Sleeping Bear dunes isn't even the the most beautiful place in MI. I would have to give that title to Isle Royal, which is one of the most beautiful places I've been.

Tonka wrote:Sleeping Bear dunes isn't even the the most beautiful place in MI. I would have to give that title to Isle Royal, which is one of the most beautiful places I've been.

You'd like the Porkies too, then. And let's not forget Pictured Rocks.

Looks like the award won't last long...bad news from the Lakeshore...


http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2011/09/emerald-ash-borer-has-turned-sleeping-bear-dunes-national-lakeshore8769

dwhike wrote:Looks like the award won't last long...bad news from the Lakeshore...


http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2011/09/emerald-ash-borer-has-turned-sleeping-bear-dunes-national-lakeshore8769

That's going to turn EVERYTHING into dunes, which will be better by their standards.

I spent Labor Day up there, playing beach-bum and sailing every day. It was nice, but not neccesarily the most beutiful anything. Sleeping Bear itself is essentially a wasteland, and the deer flies are occasionally biblical: I once came ashore to take a hike around the Bear. In 30 seconds I had a cloud of hundreds of the f'kers. I had to put my wetsuit on to stop the biting.

That said, the sailing in the Manitou Strait is great!