The Sleeping Bear, a large perched dune about a mile away along the edge of the bluff, once kept a shaggy bear-like shape that French historian Pierre Charlevoix observed in August 1721 when he canoed past and described it as a kind of bush shaped like an animal lying down. For ages, waves wore away the base of the bluff, causing sand and rocks to slide down, but natural events and human intrusions in the early 20th century inflicted irreversible damage and accelerated the erosion. In 1935, work began on placing a Coast and Geodetic Survey of the Great Lakes marker, and horses hauling materials cut a trail up the Bear's southwest face in line with strong winds off the lake. It was the beginning of the end. It was not long before wind felled a 200-year-old pine, and by 1941 all trees on the southwest slope had either rolled down to Lake Michigan or been used for campfires. Soon dune rides were parking at the base of the Bear. By 2017, decades of wind from the southwest had blown sand up and over the Mother Bear's back, burying the northeastern trees, and the whole perched dune was creeping in that direction as erosion continued.