Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore lies along 35 miles of the Lower Peninsula's northwestern shore and includes the Manitou Islands. The name is derived from an Ojibway Indian legend that tells of a bear and her two cubs forced to swim across Lake Michigan to escape a forest fire. The mother reached the shore safely and climbed to the top of a dune to await the cubs that lagged behind and never arrived. She still maintains her vigil in the form of a dark hill of sand atop a plateau, while the errant cubs have become the North and South Manitou islands. Learn More...