North Manitou Island EarthCache

This cache takes you to a sign on North Manitou Island – which is part of the Sleeping Bear National Dunes National Lakeshore. Cache is placed with the permission of the National Park Service. The sign is very interesting but there is nothing here for this earth cache. Read below to find what you need to do to be able to log it.

North Manitou Island is located in Lake Michigan. It is approximately 12 miles west-northwest of Leland, MI. It is nearly 8 miles long and over 4 miles wide and has 20 miles of shoreline. The island consists of a ridge of tilted layers of limestone, buried under a blanket of glacial debris. When the Lake Michigan water basin filled with water, the peaks of the ridge remained exposed as islands forming the Manitou Islands. During post-glacial times, winds blowing on the high, sandy bluffs on the west side of the island moved sand inland, forming perched dunes.

North Manitou Island was created when the last glacier covered a good part of North America 10,000 – 100,000 years ago. This glacier is known as the Wisconsin Glacier. The Wisconsin Glacier reached north from the St. Lawrence watershed, west into the Mississippi watershed, east to New England, but stopped short of the Ohio River to the south. The advancing ice was channeled into the lowlands now occupied by The Great Lakes, Green Bay, and the Fox River. This advancing ice is referred to as a lobe. The way in which these lobes where shaped were due to highly resistant bedrock. As a result the ice would move in the path of least resistance. There were 6 major lobes of the Wisconsin Glacier. They include Langlade Lobe, Green Bay Lobe, Lake Michigan Lobe, Ontario Lobe, and the Saginaw, and Huron-Erie Lobes. North Manitou Island was formed as a result of the Lake Michigan lobe of the Wisconsin Glacier moving through the Lake Michigan basin.

According to Native American mythology, perhaps a legend created in more recent times, the traditional version of the Chippewa legend goes that long ago the mother bear, Mishe Mokwa, and her two cubs sought to cross Lake Michigan from the Wisconsin shore to escape a great forest fire. The mother bear made it across, but her twin cubs played and splashed instead of swimming hard to make it across. They drowned in the lake, forming the two Manitou islands. The mother bear lies and waits forever for her cubs to reach the shore - the Sleeping Bear Dunes.

Early island settlers would stop by North Manitou to supply cord woods for steam ships sailing the Great Lakes. Later on other’s used the timber resources of North Manitou Island in both raw and cut boards. Other settlers attempted farming on the island. They had apple and cherry orchards which didn’t work out all that well because of the soil on the island. Additionally it was also difficult to transport the produce off of the island back to the mainland. In the late 19th century – North Manitou became a summer get-a-way and many small homes and/or cottages were built. The United States Government took over the island in 1974. Most of those cottages, homes, and other buildings have naturally decayed or have been torn down as the island has no permanent residents. The only “permanent” residents are the rotating National Park Rangers who stay in the village on the eastern part of the island.

Deer and other game were artificially introduced to the island for gaming purposes. Today the deer have caused great harm to the natural environment on the island because of the lack of natural predators. Beaver are found on the island because they are good swimmers. White-footed mice and chipmunks have made it to the island by methods unknown.

Today, North Manitou is enjoyed as part of the National Sleeping Bear Dunes. Visitors typically are ferried to the island by the Manitou Island Transit Company which docks at the island once per day. Many hikers and back-packers alike hike this island for the peace and solidarity that this remote island offers.

To Log This Cache:

Each Cacher that logs a find is required to submit answers to the questions above (failure to comply will result in a deletion of your log). The only exception to this are young kids that are caching with their parents (who have their own account, but not computer privileges). Per Earthcache guidelines, each cacher is to learn from their visit/experience. That means each cacher must perform the necessary task(s) or requirements to log the cache and earn your smiley.

Any logs that do not meet the above posted requirements will be deleted at the discretion of the cache owner. All logging requirements must be completed within 48 hours of logging the cache online or your log will be deleted unless you have prior permission from the cache owner.