From Great Lakes Wiki
Located on Michigan's eastern coastline shore, the Sleeping Bear Dunes spans along 50,000 acres along Lake Michigan. It has ancient glacial archeological sites, beaches, dunes, and forests. The nearest city is Traverse City, Michigan. The park was founded on October 21st, 1970. The name sleeping bear comes from a Native American legend. The legend tells of a great fire that was blazing on the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan. A mother bear and her two cubs attempted to swim accross the lake to Michigan in order to escape the fire. When the mother reached the shore, she looked back and her cubs were nowhere to be found because they had drown. Still, the mother bear waited the rest of her life on the shore for her cubs to return to her. The Great Spirit saw this and and created two islands to commenmorate her love. These two islands are known today as North Manitou island and South Manitou island.
