One of the state's most iconic overlook platforms is gone after almost 40 years and many millions of visitors, but it – or something like it – may return in the future.

The sizeable Lake Michigan Overlook deck at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore was installed in 1986, Sleeping Bear Superintendent Scott Tucker tells The Ticker. The wooden structure provided sweeping views of the coastline and was the centerpiece of the park’s very popular Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive.

But it came down a few weeks ago after shifting sands made it unsafe, Tucker says. Park workers discovered a precarious situation about a month back as they prepared to open the scenic drive for the year.

“Half a million visitors a year visit the Lake Michigan Overlook, and a good portion of them walk out on that deck,” he says. “Portions of the deck and the pilings were free hanging and not even touching solid ground, and that right there flags it as an immediate safety issue.”

This was not unexpected, Tucker says. The ecology of the dunes and their constantly moving sands meant that the deck’s days were numbered.

“The geologic forces that have been working for thousands of years are still working today. And on average, the dunes are moving one to three feet a year from west to east,” Tucker says. “We knew this day was coming; unfortunately it came very quickly this spring.”

After considering other options like barricading the deck, Tucker made the call to have it carefully disassembled. Safety was the number one concern, but he also didn’t want it to collapse and mangle a large stretch of dune as pieces of it tumbled down to the lake.

“We also didn't want to have resource damage of that decking falling over and then having to remove it from 400 feet of sand,” he says. “So we meticulously removed it over a period of about two weeks.”

Park officials already expected to remove the deck within the next several years as part of improvements to the entire Lake Michigan Overlook site. There is nothing that would prevent a new deck from being built as part of this overhaul, Tucker says, but it's hard to say what will happen until the planning process is complete.

“We already have in our planning portfolio a 2028 plan to explore the next step for that location,” he says. “It’s a holistic bubble that deals with parking, restrooms…as well as visitor access. In a perfect world that would include ADA access.”

Tucker would not comment on whether or not federal funding restrictions or uncertainty might impact these plans.

“That’s a direction that I don’t want to take this conversation,” he says.

In the meantime, the site where the deck stood is still available to the public. Tucker says he’s seen and heard plenty of heartache about it being removed – social media is loaded with comments about it being the site of engagements, special photos and other beloved memories – but he encourages people to still get out and soak up the beauty of Lake Michigan from hundreds of feet above.

He also hopes that the deck’s removal is a good opportunity to educate folks about sensitive dune ecology and the natural mechanisms that create such a unique place.

“From a visitor perspective, your view is the same, you’ll just have sand under your toes rather than the wood decking,” he says. “Those (beloved) memories are not going to change, and you’ll still have those memories. Now there’s going to be an opportunity to make some new memories with geology as the foundation of it.”

Photo courtesy of Lori Grebeck