Bluff below Lake Michigan Overlook. Photo taken from the beach. Kerry Kelly 2005. Enjoying the view at the Lake MI Overlook Kerry Kelly 2006. In recent times, the bluff has been wearing back at the rate of about a foot per year. Waves wear away the base the bluff and sand and rocks from above slide down to the beach. This process has gone on for many years, so we can infer that this hill once extended much further out into the lake. The shallow waters offshore also seem to indicate that a peninsula once extended from here about 2 miles out into the lake. This means that the site of this overlook used to be inland, protected from the strong winds off the lake. Plants took hold and, through decay, produced the thin layer of soil that we see here. As the waves wore back the old peninsula, this site got closer and closer to the lake. The resulting wind exposure produced an active dune environment.