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The Legend of Sleeping Bear

The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore covers a 35 mile stretch of Lake Michigan’s eastern coastline, North Manitou Island, and South Manitou Island. The park was established for its unique scenery including dune formations reaching up to four-hundred feet in the sky, pristine sand beaches, white pine forests, and ancient glacial phenomena.

The legend of the Sleeping Bear, for which the park was named, was a Chippewa legend about the formation of the area. According to the legend, a mother Black Bear and her two cubs were driven into Lake Michigan off the shore of Wisconsin by a huge forest fire. They were forced to swim across the lake, but when the mother bear reached the other side the cubs had disappeared. The mother bear paced back and forth along the lakeshore until eventually falling asleep from exhaustion. Sand blew over the bear during her slumber where she still sleeps waiting. To reward her for such determination and faith the Great Spirit created North and South Manitou Islands where the cubs sank from sight. Today mother and cubs rest peacefully just offshore from the LeBear Resort and Spa, Glen Arbor Michigan.
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