Empire Bluff Trail hike (views!) + more of the prettiest hikes in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore! 🌳 Traverse City, Michigan travel blog

Hi there!

When you hike to the end of the Empire Bluff Trail, you will be standing on the Empire Bluff that is 400 feet tall.

 

According to the National Park Service:

You are perched about 400 ft. above Lake Michigan on a perched dune.

A perched dune is a dune made of several feet of sand on top of hundreds of feet of glacial moraine, geological debris, in this case from the last Ice Age.

 

The slogan for the state of Michigan is “Pure Michigan” and you can especially feel it when you make a trip up to northern Michigan!

People have compared the views seen along the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore to views seen in the Caribbean.

And if you’re visiting for the first time, that makes for some high expectations!

But, it’s true!

I saw this national lakeshore for the first time a few weeks after I spent around 6 months in the Caribbean.

And it did feel like these views in Michigan were comparable to views of the Caribbean Sea! But what you’re actually seeing is Lake Michigan.

 

 

If you are driving from the south and the lower peninsula on your way to the upper peninsula, consider making a slight detour to take a walk on this lake shoreline of Michigan.

The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore has even been named the most beautiful place in America.

The Empire Bluff Trail is a short hike that can give you some of the most beautiful views in the United States!

It will be best to visit this place on a sunny day so you can see the colors of the lake at its best!

 

About the Empire Bluff Trail

According to the National Park Service:

The Empire Bluff Trail is 1.5 miles round trip.

 

 

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PICTURES of the Empire Bluff Trail!

There’s a parking lot right at the trailhead.

You’ll take a short trail through a forest, and you’ll start to see your first views of the iconic national lakeshore.

Then you’ll continue on to see sweeping views of Lake Michigan!

Being a “dunes” national park, there’s also a sand hill here that you can run up and down for fun too!

 

 

 

And that’s a bit about hiking the Empire Bluff Trail!

 

More of the best places to see sand dunes in Sleeping Bear Dunes:

• Lake Michigan Overlook
• Dune Climb
• Sleeping Bear Point Dune Loop Trail
• Cottonwood Trail
• Pyramid Point
• Old Indian Trail

Also see some of the great hikes in Sleeping Bear Dunes, including hikes to a Lake Michigan beach!

See the best things to do in Sleeping Bear Dunes for VIEWS!

Plus the best of Michigan’s national lakeshores!

 

More of Sleeping Bear Dunes:

• Alligator Hill Trail
• Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive
• Good Harbor Bay
• Platte River Point
• Port Oneida Rural Historic District
• Sleeping Bear Dunes campgrounds

 

HAPPY HIKING ALONG THE EMPIRE BLUFFS!