Evening at the Sand Meadows

Evening at the Sand Meadows

I got back to Michigan on Monday night, and I thankfully have a few days of rest to enjoy until my summer job starts. Since this is most likely going to be my final summer in Leelanau County, I'm going to try and make the most of it, photographically as well as in other ways. 

Yesterday I made my first outing to the Sleeping Bear Dunes, also known as the whole reason people know Leelanau exists. It recently got put on National Geographic's list of top places to visit this summer, and was declared the most beautiful place in the world by Good Morning America last year, so this year it's going to be absolutely crawling with tourists. Great for the local economy, not so much for nature photographers. I decided I should explore one of the less-touristed areas of the Dunes, to have more "nature-y" pictures. The Sand Meadows is literally just around the point from the vastly popular Pyramid Point, but it's rarely visited, mostly because one has to climb a very long, ridiculously sleep sand dune to get there. Walking through sand is hard enough as it is, and it's a whole lot less fun when you're doing it up a 70-degree slope (seriously). Still, I'd just sat through a 24-hour bus ride, so I was ready for the exercise. 

As always, these pictures were taken with an Olympus E-620 and either a Zuiko 70-300 f/4-5,6 or 9-18 f/4-5,6.

Aquilegia- 70-300mm

Head Bowed Low- 70-300mm

The first bit of the hike is through typical Northern Michigan woodland. Trillium season is over unfortunately, but instead there are some of my other favorite flowers, Columbines. Aren't they beautiful?

Patterns and Clouds- 9-18mm

Dog on the Dunes- 9-18mm

I have to admit, I had fairly low expectations for the day. I had been to the Sand Meadows once before, and left without any good pictures. It's shielded from the sun by a high hill to the west, so the light at sunset isn't very spectacular. The view from the top of the interminable sand-climb is more or less what you see above- nice, but not spectacular. What was more, the sky had become mostly overcast since I'd started hiking, so it looked like the sunset wouldn't be that great anyway. However, I had dragged myself up this far, so I decided to keep going on the dunes, to see if there were better views closer to the lake. I left my tripod there, which as it turns out was a really stupid decision.

High Wire- 70-300mm

Hanging Around Waiting- 70-300mm

As I neared the lake (or rather the bluffs above the lake, since there was a 400-foot drop before I would have reached the water), I saw that there was a part that jutted out, and that I actually would be able to see the sunset. Also, there was a small gap in the clouds above the horizon, meaning that there was a chance it would be a decent sunset after all. As I waited for the light to get better, I entertained myself with some pictures of the spiders, which are annoyingly common on the Dunes (sorry arachnophobes!). 

Brush Shadows- 9-18mm, 3-stop GND

As it turns out, it was a halfway decent sunset.

Diagonal Lines- 9-18mm, 3-stop GND

Untitled- 9-18mm, 3-stop GND

Trident- 9-18mm, 3-stop GND

God's Eye- 5-shot panorama, 9-18mm, 3-stop GND

Overall, the results from the day exceeded my expectations, which made me happy. I more or less stopped shooting after this picture, as it was getting dark, and since I had stupidly left my tripod behind, shooting handheld wasn't going to cut it. Still, I'm very happy with the results I got. 

-Forest

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