Aug 18 - Dune Riding near Saugatuck

The next morning we went to Saugatuck.

The first image shows the vehicle we used to ride the Dunes of Saugatuck.

The dunes are a relatively recent geologic feature. The dunes were tree stabilized for many years but after the Chicago fire of 1871, most of the trees were cut to rebuild Chicago. The dunes became unstable and moved inland covering up many homes and businesses. The dunes did not stabilize until the 1960s when sand grass was used to cover them. A history of the dunes is here.

The second image shows Ann and me on top of one of the highest dunes. It is about 300' above the elevation of Lake Michigan. The Lake is in the background.



The same love of statuary that you can see in Grand Rapids and Hollard and Detroit is in the third image. It is a whimsical piece called the Maintenance Man. The driver of the dune buggy had a series of jokes about this. The Maintenance man likes sandwiches, his wife was named Sandy and he came from SanDeigo. 

The fourth image shows one of the curves the dune buggy negotiated on the way down from the top of the high sand dune plateau.

The fifth image shows a tree snake. We went under this fellow and I asked the driver to stop and back up to get a picture. Someone asked me 'why' and I said, "because the snake is so cute". 

Click on images for enlarged version.