Editor’s note: This article was published in Grand Traverse Scene magazine’s Fall 2026 issue. Pick up a free copy at area hotels, visitors centers, chambers of commerce or at the Record-Eagle building at 1764 Forest Ridge Drive in Traverse City. Click here to read GT Scene in its entirety online.
Getting to the top of the breathtaking Inspiration Point is as easy as 1-2-3.
Breathtaking? Exactly.
Carved into a bluff some 370 feet above the Lake Michigan shoreline, this lofty roadside lookout has a towering staircase that is 123 steps from base to summit. And for those who make that climb, the view of the big blue lake and surrounding emerald forest is “spectacular.”
“Even with the walk (up the stairs), the view is worth it – simply spectacular,” said Mike Archer, 61 of Jackson. “The climb up takes your breath away, but so does the view, that takes your breath away, for sure.”
Archer visited the lookout in early summer with his son-in-law, Jesse Brigham, 31, also of Jackson.
“It’s a little work (to make the climb),” said Archer, “but it’s worth it. The view is unbelievable, really unbelievable.”
Inspiration Point, more officially known as the Arcadia Overlook, is located on M-22 in northern Manistee County. It is one of many lookouts, bluffs and the such that are located in western and northern Michigan, including the U.S. National Park Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore located just over 30 miles to the north in Benzie and Leelanau Counties.
As it is at Inspiration Point, the climb from the bottom to the top of the Sleeping Bear Dunes can be both exhausting and exhilarating. But while the former site’s climb is done on a wooden staircase, the climb at the Sleeping Bear Dunes is done on sand – mountains and mountains of sand.
If you don’t want to climb dunes, but you’d still like to see its coast-hugging shoreline, all you need to do is to drive to the top of the park’s Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, which is located within the park’s properties. Of special interest in the 7.4 mile winding paved pathway is a portrait-perfect covered bridge.
Taos Lee of Cleveland visited the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive with his extended family in mid-June.
“My first time (here),” he said. “It’s pretty, peaceful. The sand (dunes) is quiet – big, big and quiet.”
The tallest dune stretches 450 feet into the air and receives about 1.6 million visitors a year. In the park’s 71,000-plus acreage, there are over 12 miles of rivers and 26 lakes. The park is patchworked with over 900 species of plants and nearly 250 species of birds.
And of course, there is mountain after mountain of sand.
Though Inspiration Point and the Sleeping Bear Dunes might be two of the most recognized lookouts and roadside bluffs in the area, there are others, both along the lakeshore and inland.
The Manistee River High Rollway for example, offers a spectacular view of the winding Manistee River and thick forest lands. Nestled along the much hiked North Country Trails, which stretches 4,800 miles across America’s Midwestern and Northeastern states, High Rollway – a.k.a. Horseshoe Bend Overlook, Lookout Point and Highbanks Overlook – is located a few miles east and south of Buckley.
Another roadside lookout that draws road-weary rest-seekers is the Michigan Department of Transportation’s Hodenpyl and Roadside Park, located on M-37 a few miles south of Mesick.
Measuring about nine miles long and about 1.5 miles wide, the Hodenpyl “Pond” was created just over a century ago in an area that was known as “Fletcher Valley,” to serve the water needs of a new dam.
One of the more tranquil and perhaps lesser known lookouts is the Elberta Beach Scenic Lookout, located off M-22 and Frankfort Highway in southern Benzie County. Looking out over the hamlets of Elberta and Frankfort, over the Frankfort Lighthouse and Frankfort Harbor, Elberta Bluffs scenic lookout also offers mesmerizing views of the Lake Michigan shoreline and dunes.
There are a welcomed number of similar roadside lookouts for travelers to take a break at, while they take in the wonders of nature that surrounds them, including at the summits of any one of a number of northern Michigan ski resorts – especially in the summertime.
Taylor White of Star City, Indiana, visited Crystal Mountain Ski, Golf and Spa Resort located on M-115 in Benzie County, the last weekend in July.
Sitting at a picnic table, she watched her husband and three children ride ski lifts to the top of a hill, and then ride specially-designed Alpine sleds back down to the bottom.
“It was beautiful,” she said. “We were looking for something to do and we found this place – it’s our first time here.
“I’m sure it’s even prettier in the winter. Who knows, maybe we can come back – the view is worth it.”