The Traveling Michigander

My snowshoeing at Ludington State Park concluded, I departed south. After a brief stop in Ludington to take a few pictures of two more lighthouses, I departed for parts north – Traverse City. Like my trip from Lansing to Ludington, traffic was very light. US 10 and US 37 were nearly empty in parts, and I didn’t encounter any significant traffic until just south of TC.

Lighthouse, Ludington

My hotel for this trip was the Fairfield Inn on US 31, just south of South Airport Road. I was given a room with a king bed with a beautiful view of a Cracker Barrel. The room was simple, and also included a refrigerator and microwave for those who bring your own food or have leftovers from the many great restaurants in town.

Fairfield Inn, Traverse City

I made the short trip to the Traverse City Commons for a very short hike on the trails through the hills above Traverse City. There are several different well-marked trails that wind through the trees and hills behind the old Traverse City State Hospital. It was late in the afternoon, and I only saw one other person using the trails, so it was a thankfully quiet walk.

I had read good reviews on the House of Doggs, so that was my dinner spot. They serve many different kinds of two hot dogs, and the hard part was limiting it to two. I first tried the Jazz dog, which had banana peppers, jalapenos, hot sauce, chili, and other wonderful stuff. And, as you can guess, it had some bite. My second dog was the Honky Tonk, covered with cheese and bacon, beautiful in its simplicity. And it had bacon, so I couldn’t pass it up.

House of Doggs, Traverse City

What visit to Traverse City would be complete without seeing a giant viking head made out of snow?

Snow figure, Traverse City

After a short walk around town and by the bay, I stopped by Horizon’s on Front Street to buy a few children’s books – they have one of the best selections I’ve seen anywhere. And my daughter really enjoyed one of them I bought for her, If You Give a Cat a Cupcake.

Time for my final stop of the evening, Right Brain Brewery. Located in the Warehouse District, this was a new bar for me. I’m a fan of microbrews, and this one had some unique offerings. For this trip, I had a ginger-flavored IPA and a chocolate-orange stout. No Budweiser or Miller Lite there. Their menu changes constantly, so the next time I visit, most of the beers on the menu will probably be gone.

Right Brain Brewery, Traverse City

Back to the hotel room for a little relaxation after a hard day on the trails, and to dry out my boots and gloves. I had a thankfully peaceful night with no noisy neighbors, and no idiots that can’t figure out how to close a door quietly. I was ready for the next day of snowshoeing…

Fairfield Inn, Traverse City

What could be better than walking on a frozen Lake Michigan in February? Nothing, that’s what.

A visit to Saugatuck State Park near, of all places, Saugatuck is just where I needed to go to have such an experience such. Up and down hills, through the forests, and besides ski track… because you don’t want to walk in ski tracks. Skiers are really sensitive to that sort of things – anger, denial, depression – they go through all the stages.

When I exited the forest onto the beach, there was no one else around, oddly enough. Only me, snow, ice, and the potential of frostbite. To me, that is a good afternoon. Frozen swells and snow-covered beaches, with a stiff wind thrown in for good measure.

I was able to walk a few hundred feet onto the ice, and I was still very far away from the waterline. I didn’t go too far, though, since if I fell through, no one would find me until spring, and I had nachos to make that night. Priorities.

Saugatuck State Park is also good to visit in the warmer months, if you’re into that sort of thing. There are lovely (warm) beaches and the Felt Mansion, and you can even see cactus that grow in Michigan. Yes, we have one.

But don’t look for them in winter.

Out into the snow I went for a brief snowshoeing excursion at Sleepy Hollow State Park in beautiful, exotic Laingsburg, MI. It excites the soul just to think about it.

I hadn’t visited Sleepy Hollow since last fall, before hunting season. Too many stories of hunting accident make me leery of venturing into a state park where hunters lurk, and I just don’t look good in a bright orange hat, so I stuck to the Ingham county parks.

I had the park to myself and I followed the paths for half the time, and walked in the deeper snow beside the paths for the other half. Really, what’s the point of wearing snowshoes if you aren’t going to walk in deeper snow once in a while? But this was the first time I had worn them this winter – we haven’t had a lot of snow here in lower Michigan – and I didn’t want to wear myself out too much.

I have a pair of starter Tubbs snowshoes. They are among the cheaper ones I found. I didn’t want to invest much until I knew that I enjoyed snowshoeing. Which I do, I just don’t do it much yet. When I make more trips, then I’ll look at a better set. I hadn’t actually intended to ever buy snowshoes, but an incident the year before with an unpleasant wintertime walk in knee-deep snow changed my attitude.

I spent almost two hours walking around the quiet trails, enjoying the aversion most people have to hiking in the cold weather. Sometimes human nature works to my advantage. And as a bonus, if you’re looking for a peaceful campground, there are plenty of spaces available.

Ten new trails. That is one of my 2010 goals, and I wanted to start the year off right, so that first new (to me) trail was Lincoln Brick Park in Grand Ledge.

About twenty minutes from my mid-Michigan home, Lincoln Brick is the closest of the parks on my “not visited” list. There was an honest to goodness brick factory on the land that is now an Eaton County park, and a few of the crumbling buildings remain. If, for some reason, the manufacturing history of Eaton County isn’t your thing, there are also a playground, beach, and interpretive center, in addition to a few miles of trails.

I started out in the “plains” area behind the interpretive center, the trail forming a loop around the snowy grasslands before plunging into the tree line near the Grand River. That wasn’t an easy portion of the trail. A recent snow-melting warming followed by a ice-forming cooling meant a slippery trail. I’m going to show you what I mean mathematically:

Ice + trail near steep drop off + river = bad news.

But, I managed to stay dry and enjoy a bit of solitude, as no one else was there during my visit. Just me and the ducks, and they seems aggravated that I was bothering them by being in their park.

The area that is now the beach was once a quarry, and both are overlooked by the Tallman Trail. For whatever reason, no one enjoying the empty beach on the gray, twenty-something temperature day. Wimps.

Lincoln Brick was one of the shorter trail systems I’ve walked, to short for my tastes. But it kicked off my “10 trails in ’10 campaign” and I’m all about variety, so it was a Monday morning well spent.

The long Thanksgiving Day weekend took us to northern Michigan. While most of the trip was sedate and the our greatest challenge was trying to keep a 2-year old happy on a three hour car ride, I managed to get away for a few hours at the Lake Ann Pathway about fifteen minutes from Traverse City.

The old saying “Half the fun is getting there” is crap. But in this case, it applied, because just before reaching the park from US 31, the road twists and turns and it’s incredibly fun to risk death for the sake of a little driving heaven. It made me miss my sporty BMW 3 series that I had to give up when our daughter was born.

Note to lawyers: The comment about driving recklessly only applies to me, Scott, the author, and is no way intended to encourage others to drive in a haphazard fashion. Especially with coming snow and ice and hail and brimstone and whatever else happens to us in Michigan. So if you’re a poor driver, or even an average driver, obey posted speed limits, and don’t tell anyone I wrote this post.

Back on track again…

Once I got there in one piece, I realized a simple truth: Happiness is an empty parking lot. When I hike, I don’t want anyone else on the trails. I don’t want to acknowledge that other human beings exist on the planet, and it’s only grudgingly that I give a hello to passers-by. (I smile and all that, but I don’t mean it.) When I’m in the woods, I want to be alone, which is why I enjoy the Rose Lake trail so much – close to home and relatively very few people.

A river runs from Lake Ann along the southern edge of the trail system, close to trail level in the east, and significantly below it as the path continues uphill and overlooks the cedar-lined river. I love the sound of running water. To me, that is the sound of being outdoors and away from civilization. Okay, I should be more specific, as water running in a sink or a flushing toilet doesn’t do anything for me. There would probably be some psychological issues if they did. I like the sound of fast-moving water over rocks, how’s that?

Unfortunately, a section of the trails was under siege… er, “forest management”… and it looked like a battlefield – churned dirt, downed trees, and forest debris littered the area by the trail. I half expected to see wounded German soldiers is spiky helmets calling for medics, that’s how bad it looked. I understand the necessity of managing Michigan’s forest, but hopefully the forest will be looking healthier next year. If not, Michigan has been trying to be a destination for movie filming – maybe the remake of Red Dawn could make use of it.

The pathway meanders over rolling hills and by several small lakes. There are a few different loops to accommodate short and long hikes. I went for the medium-length walk, but next time, the long one. By long, I mean adding another mile or so to the length of the hike. But the next time I hike might be in winter, so I’ll need my snowshoes and a signal flair.

The Lake Ann Pathway isn’t an extensive system, but I like it for what it is, an easy walk through typically beautiful northern Michigan scenery. If only those Germans wouldn’t have bombed the forest.

Because firearm season started on Sunday here in Michigan, I avoided Rose Lake, my usual hiking haunt, not wanting to risk any damage on the first day of hunting season. Instead, I went to Van Atta Woods Park near Grand River and Van Atta in Okemos.

Van Atta Woods is much smaller than Rose Lake with a very limited trail system. In fact, there is only one trail, though the signs list two, the second is just the long trail with a cut-off trail.

If you hike on this trail, bring your boots – every time I’ve walked on the trail, which is admittedly only 6 – 10 times, it has been flooded to some degree. This time, the marshy areas were rather dry, and were easily crossed using the makeshift bridges of dead branches.

And being Michigan, I saw a few deer on my walk. It’s a pretty common occurrence – I see deer in my backyard, along with turkey and coyotes. But I stopped and watched them anyways. My high school biology teacher read to my class from Sand County Almanac and one of the passages questioned how much time did men spend watching geese as they flew, honking on the way to wherever they were headed. I wonder how many hikers do the same with passing deer.

I was in the mood for adventure last weekend. So I filled up the water bottle, put on the hiking shoes, and drove five minutes to arrive at Rose Lake to enjoy the peace and quiet. Just me, the birds, the relaxing sound of gently blowing leaves, and booming gunshots. Not at me (it wasn’t Detroit) – there is a shooting range across Peacock Road from the park.

Though I’ve lived in various towns on the east side of Lansing for over a decade, and Bath for a decade before that, Rose Lake is a recent addition to my regular list of hiking trails. I had mainly visited State parks as well as local trail systems like Lake Lansing, Riverbend, and Legg Park, but decided I need a little variety in my life.

And it is a good find. I’ve only visited twice, but I realized that the more trails I explored, the more trails I found. That is a great feeling for a hiker, especially since, with a 2-year old, long hiking trips are not on my typical itinerary anymore.

The best part, for me, is that there are enough trails and vegetation to hide the other hikers from view. Who doesn’t want to get away from everyone for just a while? That’s hard to do in the suburbs, even the relatively small one I live in, but Rose Lake provides a welcome respite.