Log Slide Overlook closed due to damage during the winter/NPS

Winter's weather has caused some damage at the Log Slide Overlook at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan, forcing park staff to close the lookout for the immediate future until repairs can be done.

Log Slide Overlook is about seven miles west of Grand Marais on the eastern side of Pictured Rocks. 

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,” said Pictured Rocks 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.