Tag Archives: dunes

Empire Bluff Trail (Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, MI)

Posted on September 18, 2022 by Andrew Wojtanik

What happens when a combination of glacial recession, wind, and erosion produces a perched dune atop a glacial moraine atop geological debris from the most recent Ice Age? The result, in Michigan’s Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, is the Empire … Continue reading →

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Dune Climb (Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, MI)

Posted on September 10, 2022 by Andrew Wojtanik

Spanning 65 miles of the eastern shoreline of Lake Michigan, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is easily the most interesting National Park Service unit on Michigan’s lower peninsula. Once buried under the Continental Ice Sheet during the most recent Ice … Continue reading →

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Dune Succession Trail (Indiana Dunes National Park, IN)

Posted on September 10, 2022 by Andrew Wojtanik

Arguably the most impressive sight in Indiana Dunes National Park, the moderately tall sand dunes at West Beach can be explored on this short, 0.9-mile loop. The Dune Succession Trail—one of three loops in the West Beach area—traverses coniferous and … Continue reading →

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Dune Ridge Trail (Indiana Dunes National Park, IN)

Posted on September 4, 2022 by Andrew Wojtanik

Wedged between a railroad, two steel mills, a power plant, and several junkyards, Indiana Dunes National Park looks and feels world’s apart from other iconic settings that also bear the national park name: the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, etc. The draw … Continue reading →

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Kelso Dunes Trail (Mojave National Preserve, CA)

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Andrew Wojtanik

Mojave National Preserve in southern California boasts a wide array of desert ecosystems, from pinyon-juniper woodlands, to Joshua tree forests, to cactus-yucca scrub, but there is perhaps none more iconic than the massive desert dunes scattered across the 1.6-million acre … Continue reading →

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Soundside Nature Trail (Jockey’s Ridge State Park, NC)

Posted on December 31, 2018 by Andrew Wojtanik

Although lacking the allure of the nearby Tracks in the Sand Trail, the Soundside Nature Trail in North Carolina’s Jockey’s Ridge State Park offers a pleasant and easy stroll through diverse terrain. The dunes of Jockey’s Ridge—the highest on the … Continue reading →

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Tracks in the Sand Trail (Jockey’s Ridge State Park, NC)

Posted on December 29, 2018 by Andrew Wojtanik

Jockey’s Ridge State Park in eastern North Carolina boasts a surprisingly impressive distinction: the highest sand dunes on the East Coast. With dunes reaching as high as 60 feet above sea level, this is no ordinary beach: Jockey’s Ridge is … Continue reading →

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