Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, MI: Log Slide

Another place Tim recommended we see in the UP was the Log Slide at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. (Just keep going north from Au Sable Lightstation and follow the signs to the Log Slide.) There was a long chute built here and loggers would slide logs down the side and onto Lake Superior where the logs would be floated in summer or hauled over the frozen lake in winter. There are old photos, newspaper clippings of articles with people who died working, and more information on signs that I apparently failed to take photos of at the overlook. The chute is long gone and now it's a dune climb.


The views from here are great. There are two viewing areas, one at the top of the slide (this one) and one at the Overlook (the next photo down). It is very windy everywhere you go, so be warned that sand will blow in your face, camera, clothes, shoes, etc :)



These are the Grand Sable Dunes.


Since it's a dune climb, it made sense to climb it. I am a Huge Scaredy Cat and am scared of going down things that are steep. Yes, I know it's sand and I'll sink, and even if I fall it won't hurt much. I don't know what my problem is. Eric is a saint to put up with me (see: I want to go climb things but then I'm too scared to get down, so then he has to get me down somehow). Any chance there was of me going down this was nixed when we met a young family who had just done it and the dad was nursing a very sprained ankle he got by running down the dune and missing a cliff he needed to jump. (So be warned, there are various drop-offs that you can't see.) Luckily for you though, Eric is not scared of silly things like I am and off he went down the slide.


I took lots of photos and waited at the top with his shoes. And also inhaled a lot of sand.


It took him hardly any time at all to get down there (I was timing him, since the signs said it could take you 5 minutes to get down there but an hour to get back up, and we wanted to see if that was true). He didn't go all the way to the very bottom (there were some kids and a mom down there who did just that and it was taking them ages to get back up) since we wanted to do more with our day.


He is healthy, strong, and in shape, and I think it took him about 15-20 minutes total to get down there and back up. It was definitely not super easy (the sand is soft and moves a lot) but I think he was glad he did it. We were glad Tim mentioned it because something named "Log Slide" might not have caught our attention driving through.


Have you done this climb? Is there anything you are irrationally afraid of like me? Stupid hills. I'm getting better (when I have my hiking shoes on, I have a much easier time of things), but for someone who doesn't like to be afraid of trying things, I sure have a lot to work on.
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, MI: Log Slide Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, MI: Log Slide Reviewed by Maria on 3:00:00 PM Rating: 5

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