Empire: Gateway Village to Sleeping Bear Dunes

Empire sits at the door to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Congress created the park in 1970 to protect what makes this corner of northwestern Michigan so special — glacial landforms, sand dunes, beaches, and deep forest. The park covers about 71,000 acres, runs along 35 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, has more than 100 miles of trails, and stretches out to North and South Manitou Islands.

Empire’s own hills have some history worth knowing. Around 1910, after the logging played out, the Empire Lumber Company planted orchards on those same cut-over slopes. Today, the Empire Bluff Trail — a short 1.5-mile round trip through beech-maple forest — climbs to an overlook about 400 feet above the lake. On a clear day from up there, you can see Point Betsie to the southwest, South Manitou Island to the northwest, and the Sleeping Bear Dune plateau rolling out to the north.

Just north of the village, South Bar Lake is a small geological wonder. It was once open Lake Michigan — until longshore currents slowly built up the sandbar that cuts it off now.