After two years of record-breaking attendance at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, things are slowing down. Sleepy Bear? No, not with over 200,000 visitors last month alone. But compared with last year’s totals, each month this year has been down around 22 to 30 percent, with two exceptions: Last month’s decline was only 11.23 percent. In March, however, the drop was precipitous, from 44,589 to 14,199, a decline of more than 68 percent.

Drill down a little deeper and it appears such a slowdown isn’t so unusual. For example, last month the park recorded 246,995 visitors, compared to 278,256 in June 2021. June 2020 came in with 192,016, while the number in June 2019 was 200,494.

Tom Ulrich, deputy superintendent at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, suspects it simply a return to a typical season. Typical prior to the onset of COVID-19. “People only focus on the comparison to last year. Compared to the anomaly of a pandemic it’s really slow,” he says.

True. The lockdown of 2020 saw April, May and June of that year track far below those same months the year prior. Then things exploded as people embraced the outdoors for an antidote to the restrictions, with nearly 600,000 in July 2020 alone; the total for July and August was 1,082,502.

That uptick continued through the following year, with new highs left and right, though nothing bested those two months in 2020. “July and August (last year) were huge, but not records,” says Ulrich. July 2021 saw 481,137 visitors, but that was actually down from the 499,376 in July 2019 and far below the record total of 592,404 in July 2020.

Ulrich says the fact visitor numbers are down thus far this year doesn’t preclude them from jumping back up again. “It’s always weather-driven,” says Ulrich. “We’ve had great weather recently.”

If the weather continues to cooperate, Ulrich wouldn’t be surprised if this year’s overall numbers top those of 2021. “We had a record 1.72 million (visitors) last year. If we get records in July and August then we’ll beat any prior year. We can get 1.2 million in those two months alone.” 

Bill Witler is president of the Sleeping Bear Gateways Council, a citizen group whose mission is to emphasize long-range planning and collaboration among the park and the nearby communities, businesses and citizens. One of the areas it has emphasized is the challenge of providing enough housing for seasonal workers. 

In that regard, the lower number of visitors this year is actually a help. “Anecdotally, occupancy is down a bit at some campgrounds,” he says, opening up potential spaces for employees.

He is already looking forward to starting earlier next year to address the challenge via a housing exchange with homeowners. “I’m pleased with the launch we had this year. We’ll be at it sooner next year.”

Activity on the Manitou Islands is tracking ahead of last year. Camping permits were at 367 in May and 1,567 for June, up from 265 and 1,081 those same months in 2021. Go back to 2020 and there weren’t any in May (hello, COVID) and only 27 in June, while in 2019 the totals were 405 and 996 for those months.

Along with the easing of the pandemic has come a return to most NPS activities. “We’re back to normal,” says Ulrich. That means ranger talks, campground programs and things such as the July 30 Junior Angler Day (a fishtival!) at Glen Haven and the Port Oneida Fair Aug. 12-13.

An upcoming highlight is the first in-person Star Party since 2019. You can join park rangers and astronomers from the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society July 23 from 9-11pm at the Dune Climb parking lot. Highlights will include viewing the International Space Station and the planet Saturn, with star clusters, nebulae, and other deep-sky objects visible later in the evening.

Another takes place July 29 when Anishinaabe Historian Eric Hemenway will lead two guided hikes. The first will take place at 11am starting at the Sleeping Bear Point Trailhead (the end of Sleeping Bear Dunes Road in Glen Haven), going through the forest and up a few sand dunes along the Sleeping Bear Point Trail. During the 1.5-mile hike, he will showcase how federal policy, treaties, and population shifts severely altered the lives and futures of native peoples in Michigan. At 4pm, he will lead a hike discussing how the plants and trees of northern Michigan have provided for the Anishinaabek in every facet of their lives. This hike will depart from the Shauger Hill Trailhead, the parking lot immediately to the right on Stocking Scenic Drive.

Platte River tubers, courtesy National Park Service