Every skier can remember magic moments that capture the beauty of our sport. For me, so many of those moments have occurred in northern Michigan in the area around Traverse City. Through most of the winter, the snow usually is deep, the trails plentiful.
One such moment came on a chilly February evening several years ago. After a day's skiing and a stop for burgers, my wife Rose and I began the drive back to Schuss Mountain, the resort where we were staying. Driving north along Grand Traverse Bay, we became aware of a ghostly luminescence in the sky.
It seemed as though the aurora borealis had moved many thousand miles south from the North Pole to northern Michigan. Shafts of light linked ground to sky. Frankly, my wife and I were puzzled. Only as we passed Grand Traverse Resort did the source of the shafts become apparent.
The Resort has eight kilometers of cross-country trails on its grounds and had lit some of the trails that winter. The light from the poles shone down onto the bright snow to be reflected upward to the clouds above.
It was more than merely light reflected off snow. Something in the atmosphere that evening, perhaps a touch of fog, caused the spectacular show. I have passed the same spot many times since without seeing quite the same sight.
That wasn't the only magic moment I experienced during winter visits north. On other occasions I have skied the trails at Grand Traverse Resort, this time looking out over the bay back toward the city. Because the trails are on an open hill, it makes you think you can see forever.
I remember equally delightful times skiing through pine and hardwood forests where you can see only as far as the next bend in the trail. Beneath snow-tipped trees, you could be in Scandinavia, rather than Michigan. I recall views of Lake Michigan from the high dunes of Sleeping Bear Natural Lakeshore in which blue of sky and open water contrasted with the white of ice and snow. The sight left me more breathless than the climb.
On one occasion, when an unseasonable thaw had caused piles of shoveled snow to go gushing into gutters, a tip from a nordic instructor led Rose and I to the Sand Lakes Quiet Area in the Pere Marquette State Forest. There, at high elevation and protected from the sun, we found ample snow for a perfect day's skiing. Ten years later, we still talk about that day.
On another occasion, I skied with a friend, Tom Bulger, at Muncie Lakes Pathway with a series of checkerboard loops that allow you to go a mile this way, a mile that way, a mile forward, a mile back. Maps at each intersection insure that you will never get lost. Tom and I found one steep downhill pitch where the trail cut between two tall trees that resembled goalposts. It was not for the faint-hearted, but we skied the descent time and time again scoring three points for each of our field goals.
Nowhere do I enjoy that pursuit more than Traverse City. Winter where I live in northeastern Indiana can be unpredictable; a day of too warm weather can destroy the snow base. More a problem in Michiana is the lack of nordic centers offering groomed tracks and/or a warming hut beside those track. Traverse City is like a mecca to us down here at the bottom of Lake Michigan. We head north to capture our magic nordic moments.
The reason is obvious. Within recent years, Traverse City has quietly taken the lead in providing cross-country skiers with the Midwest's best skiing. It's not merely good snow--although the area receives 150 inches annually. It's not merely affordable resorts--although those are plentiful too. It's more that plus mile after mile of wooded trails, tracked and untracked.
As the cold winds start to blow (hopefully with skiable snow in them), we'll be looking forward to capturing more magic nordic moments again this winter.
SKI GUIDE: If you plan to travel north for cross-country skiing this winter, don't do so without a copy of the trail guide by Traverse City Record Eagle ski columnist Mike Terrell in hand. Titled "Northern Michigan's Best Cross Country Ski Trails," it provides detailed information on 46 nordic ski areas and is a delight to read. Terrell's guide is available for $16.45 from Publishers Distribution Service (800) 507-2665.
Copyright © 1995 by Hal Higdon. All rights reserved. Requests to reprint will be considered.