- It would be an understatement to say that Michigan's natural landscape is unique.

One could say that Michigan almost has a bit of an identity crisis.

It always amazes me how traveling from one part of the state to another can actually make you feel like you're in a different part of the world.

One minute, you're surrounded by dense hardwood forests.

The next year perched on a sand dune hundreds of feet above a seemingly endless coastline.

Not to mention the completely alien world that exists underneath the waves of the Great Lakes.

However, these playgrounds we enjoy are but a humble byproduct of an immense natural process that's been happening for billions of years and still continues today.

And what about us?

How has this unpredictable and harsh landscape impacted the people who have called this land home?

Humans time and time again try to convince themselves they have some hold over nature's rhythms, and time and time again, nature reminds us that we are, despite our best efforts outmatched.

In this episode of "Destination Michigan," we're going to explore our state's natural wonders in hopes of answering the question, how did this all get here?

We'll begin our adventure back to where it all started.

Billions of years ago, when glaciers carved out the Great Lakes Basin and created that trademark Michigan mitten.

We'll explore the rock walls and earth cracks inside the geological oddity that is Mystery Valley Karst Preserve.

Then, it's off the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shoe where the force of the Great Lakes keeps the dunes in a state of constant change.

We'll also explore the deep human connection to Michigan's natural landscape with visits to Thunder Bay and the Odawa Council Trees near Charlevoix.

(cheerful music) Understanding Michigan's unique natural landscape begins with understanding the geology of Michigan, and that's easier said than done.

But once you start being able to wrap your head around what lies beneath the soil, you gain a much better about everything that sits on top.

To learn more about the foundation of the Great Lake, we sat down with geologist Dr. Larry Lemke of the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Central Michigan University.

(soft music) - When you look at the earth from a geologist's perspective, from the geologist's eyes, what you see is a very dynamic planet.

The surface of our planet is continually being reformed and reshaped.

- [Matthew] Michigan's unique geological features really serve as a living record of what this area was like long before any humans set foot in it.

And as you dig deeper beneath the surface, you can actually look further and further into the past.

- The Michigan Basin was formed over a period of many hundreds of millions of years.

When strata of rock were deposited in ancient seas, they accumulated and eventually sagged into a basin.

And if you look at a bedrock geologic map of Michigan, you'll see that the layers of the formations are exposed in the form of a circle or a bullseye, kind of like a target from a dart board, let's say.

- [Matthew] This map is our timeline for Michigan's geology.

The different colors on the map represent different formations at different eras, but the bedrock is just a part of the puzzle.

- When it comes to erosion, we have wind, we have water, and we have ice, but of those three, ice is probably the most powerful.

When the glaciers were here, we had one or two miles of thick ice that was very heavy and depressed the surface of the continent.

And the glaciers, like most rivers or other agents of erosion, they'll follow the path of least resistance.

So as they migrated southward from Canada, they followed along two paths to form Lake Michigan and to form Lake Huron.

But at some point, an arm of the glacier broke through and followed the path that is now Saginaw Bay.

And I'm not exactly sure why that occurred, and I'm not sure anyone knows.

- [Matthew] The rock and sediments left behind by the glaciers is what geologists refer to as glacial drift.

And that glacial drift is really what all of us are living on.

Our cities, our roads, our infrastructure, all exists on these remnants of a massive natural transformation.

And that transformation is still taking place today.

Nothing is permanent, and generations in the future may be interacting with a very different landscape.

- With respect to the Great Lakes, we can expect them to continue to evolve.

As water continues to flow and erode, more and more sediment will be brought to help fill in the Great Lakes.

The bottoms of the Great Lakes are rebounding isostatically.

Now that that ice has been removed, it takes many thousands of years for the surface to rebound back up.

So (indistinct) of the lakes could be changing.

- [Matthew] The coastal areas of Michigan undoubtedly see change, as they're constantly being eroded and reshaped by the waters of the Great Lakes.

But as we move further inland, there are still transformations taking place, they're just a little bit harder to see.

- The tapestry of sands and gravels that the glaciers left behind that form these aquifer systems is very complex.

The pathways that the water flows through become very difficult to predict because they're so complex.

So there are a lot of very site-specific mysteries that geologists and environmental scientists and environmental engineers are studying to try and figure out how to predict the pathways by which contaminants move, and how we can then best intercept them and remove thm in order to remediate these aquifers and restore them to their beneficial use.

- Now, while it might seem to us that everything beneath our feet is staying put, that's hardly the case at al.

Things are constantly changing, which you could say is what makes Michigan so predictably unpredictable.

Our weather and climate can certainly throw us for a loo, but so can what's happening deep below the surface.

"Destination Michigan's" Stefanie Mills now it takes us to a mysterious spot at the tip of the mitt that you have to see or not see to believe.

(soft music) - [Bill] It's like being in a bathtub and all the water draining out.

- [Stefanie] Except this story isn't about a bathtub, and there's no plug anywhere in sight.

Welcome to Mystery Valley, and the mystery of the disappearing lake.

- And matter of fact, it was January 6th of this year, and I brought in my ice fishing sled in my auger 'cause I was gonna take some more depth readings.

And I got about 20 feet out, and I just dropped right through.

And it was a crusty ice.

I should've realized that right away, but it was absolutely dry.

So once I crawled out and got everything back on what I thought was a solid land, I laid down and looked out over the valley and the ice was concave where the water had left and just left the ice on top.

It was just absolutely cool.

- [Stefanie] While some might freak out after falling through an ice covered lake, not Bill Houston.

He was simply amazed that the lake he'd been kayaking for the last few years had simply vanished.

This phenomenon is actually quite natural, given the area and its surroundings.

- It's a Karst collapse feature.

Karst is a general term for solution features, like caves and sinkholes.

Lots of other features as well.

But it's a collapsed valley.

Down about 900 feet, there is a formation with lots of gypsum and may have had some salt as well.

It's more easily dissolved by water.

- [Stefanie] The nearly 80 acre Mystery Valley Karst Preserve and Nature Sanctuary is located in Presque Isle county.

Unlike valleys carved by rivers, this one was formed by the collapse of rock and fossils deep below the surface, creating underground caves and chambers.

Over the years, the valley would fill with water.

By summer, it would drain into the ground.

But starting in 2015, the water stuck around.

- When I started way back in 2013, there was water usually in may and June.

And then by August, we were actually mowing the valley floor so that our visitors could come out here.

And that sort of fluctuated for 2013 through 2015, and then the valley began to fill.

And it filled all the way from 2016 all the way to this last December and January of 2021.

And by filling, what I mean is that there were times when I came out in my kayak and it was five feet deep, and there were other times it was 28 feet deep.

- [Stefanie] You can see how high the water was by looking at the bare trees that surround it.

During our visit, we walked straight through the lake bed.

No water to be seen anywhere, just dusty and dried up vegetation in a field of grass.

- The cave system that lets the water out of this that it's draining into had n obstruction in it apparently the last few years.

And this past winter, that obstruction flushed out, more or less.

- [Stefanie] Without the water, visitors can get up close to this enormous rock wall crumbling from the movement of the land around it.

You can see the different layers of rock and limestone compacted on top of each other.

It is a fascinating glimpse into our geology, and it's not the only thing that will amaze you here.

- I would imagine seeing the earth cracks here at Mystery Valley in the winter where there is warm air rising, it hits the cold air, and it condenses.

It is absolutely beautiful.

- [Stefanie] Earth cracks is exactly what you might be picturing in your mind.

At Mystery Valley, the earth is literally cracking open, creating deep crevices in the ground.

You can't help it be in awe when you're out here exploring.

As for the lake, well, it's anyone's guess when it might be back.

That call will be up to mother nature.

- Just simply a Mystery because we can never figure it out.

- I don't know if it'll be this next year or 10 years.

(soft music) - Now, it's hard to say when the water will return to Mystery Valley, but one thing's for certain, that the forces of nature never keep anything in one spot for very long.

Now, while we can't see the changes taking place underneath Mystery Valley, it's a different story along the lake shore where the force is coming off of the Great Lakes are keeping things constantly moving.

And nowhere else is that more evident than along the sand dunes of Northern Michigan.

- Our sand dunes are wonderful, and you find them all along the fringe, particularly of Lake Michigan.

The sand dunes originate because we have prevailing winds that flow from the west.

The beach sand, as it gets squashed along in the waves, it actually tends to, those little grains grinding against each other, they get smaller and smaller and smaller.

Once they get small enough to what a geologist would call fine or very fine grain size, they're small enough that the wind can actually pick them up.

So those winds blowing from west to east are pushing the sand up into the dunes, and they accumulate over hundreds or thousands of years.

- [Matthew] And one of the best examples of these sandy formations can be found at the famed Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore.

(cheerful music) - We're over 70,000 acres, and about 32,000 acres of that is designated wilderness.

It was created in 1970 specifically to protect the unique glacial phenomenon that we have here and the geologic features, as well as the biodiversity of the plants and animals that are unique to those ecosystems that the dunes created.

- [Matthew] To gain a better appreciation for just the sheer size of these dunes, visitors can head to the doom climb portion of the lake shore.

It's also a reminder for overconfident hikers that looks can be deceiving.

- The dune climb itself, when you're standing at the base, what we're seeing is just a small portion of this dune plateau.

Often people think that they're gonna get to the top of that dune and be able to see Lake Michigan and then climb down the dune and be at Lake Michigan, not the case.

There's actually, I believe nine dunes to get to a point where you can see Lake Michigan.

- [Matthew] Whether on the dune climb or stopping at one of the many overlooks, you really can't help but notice the large amount of plant life thriving within the dune system.

But even in an environment as harsh as this one, life finds a way.

- It definitely is a harsh environment.

You know, again, with working with kids, we refer to it a lot as a desert-like environment.

There's not a lot of shade out here.

Hiking out here can be pretty treacherous when it's over a hundred degree day.

So the plants that are out here, we're gonna find a lot of grasses that can move in the wind.

So beach grass and marram grass.

We have Cottonwood trees that are adapted to send down deep root and trunk structures.

So it's possible that what we're seeing of the Cottonwood trees, there's actually quite a significant more of that tree buried under the dune.

- [Matthew] Adapting is critical for the flora and fauna in an area that sees so much change.

The forces that work to create the dunes are still working to this day, and they are slowly but surey reshaping the landscape.

- The plants themselves that found their way into this ecosystem have done so because they're adapted to be able to survive here.

So they can either withhold the constant ebb and flow that's created by the wind and the sand movement, or they're sturdy enough that they can out-compete that sand movement.

- [Matthew] Speaking of sturdy, on the lake shore South Manitou Island lies the Valley of the Giants, a collection of towering white pines, some over 500 years old.

It's amazing that these trees survived Michigan's lumbering boom at all, but they actually might have the dunes to thank for keeping them out of the mill.

- [Dune Worker] When the islands were first settled, they were being logged for things like cordwood and then lumber for the construction of homes and barns.

But where the white cedars are located is in an area where the dunes are quite steep.

And so, to harvest that lumber and haul that lumber would be quite a task.

And then we do have some oral histories that share with us that the bark itself is so sandblaste.

When the lumberman would put their saws in the tree, it became just a pain to have to constantly be sharpening the saw, that the tree was just the sand was impacting the ability for the saws to get through the tree.

- [Matthew] Long gone are the lumbering days here at Sleeping Bear Dunes.

Now just another chapter in a history that stretches back farther than anyone can remember.

The sands of time may reshape the landscape, but it can't erode away Michiganders connection to this natural wonder.

- You find that spot, right?

You find that spot that just grabs you, that holds you.

And while the sand is constantly moving, I think for a lot of people, that sand is helping to hold a lot of people to this region or to the memories that they have coming here to the dunes.

The experiences that you can have in these niche habitats that exist, you can't have them anywhere else.

- The relationship between Michigan's natural world and the people who live in it has gone through many different stages.

There's not been one place that we visited so far today that hasn't been touched to one degree or another by mankind's need to gather valuable resources.

And it wasn't just the thousands of acres of trees and massive mine systems that attracted companies to Michigan throughout the 19th century.

There was also the added benefit of a waterway that made transporting materials much, much easier.

It's impossible to talk about Michigan's natural history without talking about the water.

(soft music) - Michigan is a state of crossroads.

So at Sioux St. Marie, it's the crossroads between the lower Great Lakes, at least Lake Huron up to Lake Superior.

The Straits of Mackinac are the connection between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

Those crossroads were super, super important.

And whenever you have a crossroads, especially in the era of eary settlement and exploration, you end up with a fort to protect that vulnerable crossroads, and you end up with people who are there to support that community and to support trade.

And so those are the things that, for at least for Europeans, led to the early settlements here.

Most of those settlements actually mimicked early Native American settlements because those crossroads were just as important to them as they are to us.

So way before virtually anything existed here, whether it was Native Americans or the early Europeans who came here, they all came by water.

- [Matthew] Ask any sailor who spent any time on the Great Lakes, and they'll tell you that unpredictable weather is definitely a cause for concern.

And before the days of GPS and weather radars, it was exponentially more dangerous.

- I think the biggest disadvantage of early settlers would have been the unpredictability.

The unpredictability of the weather, the unpredictability of are the crops gonna make it through?

And certainly, we're seeing that play out again in recent times as well with climate change.

And the fact that we have such variation in our weather patterns at times, that it creates instability.

I think that is probably one of the biggest issues that would've confronted early settlers.

- [Matthew] The evidence of that unpredictability can be found under the waves in and around the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

- The shipwrecks represent what we call the Shipwreck Century, and we start that in 1825 with the building of the Erie Canal.

That's what brought a lot of traffic.

So any vessel traveling on the Great Lakes, any commercial vessel going up bound or down bound really has to pass by Thunder Bay.

That creates a high traffic area.

Still a very high traffic area, it's just that you might see at one or two freighters a dy and that can carry what it took 200 schooners to carry back during the Shipwreck Century.

And then of course the weather, that's another reason, you know, we like to say they don't cal it Thunder Bay for nothing.

And so, you know, 90 mile an hour winds sometimes.

35 foot high waves.

So these conditions definitely create dangers for shipping traffic.

- [Matthew] The confluence of heavy traffic and unpredictable weather resulted in a surprisingly high number of shipwrecks, with still many more to be found.

- [Thunder Bay Worker] We've identified almost a hundred shipwrecks.

We expect there's at least that many more yet to find.

In fact, less than 20% of the 4,300 square miles of Sanctuary waters have been mapped to high resolution.

And so, we partner with a lot of folks, including Dr. Robert Ballard who discovered the Titanic, and he has brought his tools and resources, autonomous vessels, and ROVs here to help map the lake bottom and to document shipwrecks that we do find.

- [Matthew] Anyone who's taken a dip in Lake Huron knows that the waters can be quite chilly, but these low temps really helped preserve the shipwrecks, which come in all shapes and sizes.

- That's one of the reasons this collection is so special is because of the cold, fresh water.

And that's just a perfect preservative for the hundreds of shipwrecks out there.

And then also the accessibility, right?

So there's some that are super, super shallow, and some that are very, very deep.

So technical divers will travel from all over to see these wrecks that, you know, 200 feet deep, and then families can come and snorkel and even hop on the glass bottom boat.

So it's significant for the history and the stories that they contained, but also the accessibility.

We really encourage people to get out and experience the amazing Great Lakes.

And one way to do that, a very fun way, is to see a shipwreck up close and personal.

- [Matthew] And on this day, that's exactly what we did.

After a quick stop at a local dive shop to snag a snorkel and a pair of flippers, Stefanie led us to this spot that's a stone's throw away from the Presque Isle Lighthouse.

A quick paddle out in the water brought us above the wreck of the L.M.

Mason.

- The L.M.

Mason is a wooden sailing vessel.

That's one of the best snorkl sites in Sanctuary waters.

And this vessel sank in a storm.

You can even see the hoss hole where the anchor chain would have gone through.

So it's very shipwreck looking, which is cool, especially for one of the shallow sites.

- [Matthew] Snorkeling a Great Lake shipwreck is truly a one of a kind experience.

There's a big difference in seeing photos of the wrecks and being able to get so close you can touch it.

And as these vessels lie on the lake bed year after year, they slowly become a part of this rich, underwater landscape.

- The shipwrecks themselves really are part of the ecosystem that we are charged with protecting here, you know, not just the shipwrecks.

And so fish in particular love to have a structure to raise their families on and to thrive.

And so we'll definitely see fish on the lakes.

And then, unfortunately, there are mussels evident on every shipwreck site.

So the invasive zebra and quagga mussels do cover much of the shipwrecks.

- [Matthew] The legacy of these shipwrecks go beyond just dates and cargo manifests.

There are countless human stories that are waiting to be told, both in the wrecks that have been discovered as well as the undiscovered vessels waiting to be found beneath the waves.

- Our work to continue to preserve these stories and this rich history really begins with engaging people.

So we engage people here at the Visitor Center, we engage them on the glass bottom boat, we engage them with our Morning Blue program, which spotlights where the shipwrecks are so people can easily find them.

And so when people are engagd and actually experience these resources, they're the ones who want to protect it.

So our philosophy is really, people will protect what they love.

- That love and connection to the natural world has been felt on both for centuries.

While some found ways to utilize Michigan's natural world to fuel growth and industry, the connection that the Natie American tribes in Michigan had with the land goes a bit deeper.

While we marvel at rock formations and raging waterfalls and stroll along miles of beaches, for the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa in Northwest Michigan, it's a simple circle of towering trees that draws a deep connection between the land and their people.

- Enclosure of trees here is one of the council areas that the Odawa had in Waganakising.

For myself to be in this circle, to be standing in this area is hollow ground.

It's an area that the Odawa leaders came to in the 1800s to hold council.

And each tree was purposely misshapen so one, loggers wouldn't cut it, two, it also represented different communities from the Waganakising area.

And each chief and head man and leader from leaders from those communities would sit by their appropriae tree and hold council with all of their brethren ad kin right here in this area.

So this is, to me, the equivalent of Congressional Hall.

You know, these are where the government took place.

This is where government was executed on behalf of the Odawa people was right in this area, and it was a circle.

And I like the fact that it wasn't a circle.

Everybody faced each other.

Everybody had turns talking.

And when it came time to voice your opinion, you had your peace, you had your place right by your tre.

And the tree gave us maple sugar.

We made tools out of it, and it was also part of our council area.

So like a lot of other natural resources, they had a lot of different purposes for the Odawa.

So the leaders would gather and discuss all the pressing issues that were being felt throughout the community, whether it be treaties, whether it be food, whether it be assimilation, all of this was being discussed here in this circl.

And again, this is not a one-off.

This is something that's been in our community since time and memorial.

And luckily, the people on this private property know what they have and they Odawas come out here and pay their respects.

And I can point to other areas within the reservation and say the Odawa met here, met there, but this is still intact.

This is still here.

The trees are still growing.

They're still alive.

They, you know, have those stories within them there.

They've seen the changes that the Odawa had to navigate to be here today.

And just like the Odawa, they're still standing.

You know, we're still here.

We're still in our homelands.

We're going forward into the future.

But, you know, it's good to know that these spots still exist so we don't get too far off track.

We always know that we are Waganakising Odawa, and these trees are reminders of who we are.

- Well, we've covered a lot of ground in this episode of "Destination Michigan," but it really is just a drop in the bucket when it comes to how this natural landscape has shaped our history.

There are countless stories to be told and experiences to be had in every nook and cranny of the Great Lake state.

So do yourself a favor, set some time aside, put away your problems, and get outside to see these natural wonders for yourself.

I guarantee you'll be glad you did.

And just like that, this episode of "Destination Michigan" comes to a close.

and from all of us here, thank you so much for watching, and we'll catch you next time.

(cheerful music)