Log Slide Overlook Closed in 2017 (now open)

Log Slide overlook closed due to damage during the winter

NPS photo

News Release Date: April 4, 2017 (Note: As of July 2020, the Log Slide viewing platform has not been rebuilt, but the site and the trail to the former platform location is open.)


Munising and Grand Marais, Michigan – The Log Slide Overlook located about seven miles west of Grand Marais in the eastern side of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is closed.

 
Winter has taken a toll on the viewing platform overlooking the Log Slide and Lake Superior. Heavy snow, ice, and sand deposits followed by erosion has caused the platform to break off and slide about 100 feet down the face of the dune. The walkway leading up to the platform is still intact. 


After the ice and snow melts, park staff will go in and assess the situation. As long as no major erosion takes place in the near future, the walkway should be salvageable.

“We hope to be able to move the walkway back from the edge and find a stable area on which to rebuild the viewing platform,” says acting Superintendent John Madden. “We will know more after the ice and snow melts and we can get a good look at the area.”

The Log Slide Overlook sits 175 feet above Lake Superior atop the Grand Sable Dunes. It is so named for a wooden chute that early logging companies used to slide logs 300 feet down the sand dune to Lake Superior.

Once H-58 re-opens, visitors will still be able to see the dunes from an area near the overlook. Another great view of the dunes is from the beach at the end of the Sable Falls trail or from Grand Marais.

For more information on Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, visit the park's website at: https://www.nps.gov/piro or the park's Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/PicturedRocksNL.