It was quite a weekend up here in Traverse City. We got about 17 inches of snow where I live on the Leelanau Peninsula over the weekend, causing me to have one of those rare days where I don’t leave the house.
That was Saturday. On Sunday, it was back out on the trails. After a sermon at Bayview Church, I headed over to Hickory Meadows for a hike in the snow. There were a surprising number of people out. The trails were by no means full, but the skiers were happy to be on the groomed trails. Me – I stuck to the woods.
I hope you all had a happy New Year’s Eve and Day. At the Stoecker house, we started our year with bubbly wine from Bel Lago and many, many snacks along with sushi from Fuji.
Before the bowl games of January 1st, I needed to get out and hike, and Alligator Hill in Glen Arbor won out as my first hike of the year. When I arrived, I was happy to see no footprints in the snow, so I was the first to climb these hills for 2024. I didn’t win a prize or anything, but I could count on having the place to myself.
When I entered the parking lot, I was greeted by these brick and concrete structures. These are kilns built in the 1950s by Pierce Stocking, the man the Sleeping Bear dunes drive is named after. Pierce was a lumberman and there was quite a bit of waste wood left over, and these kilns were used to produce charcoal.
The trail soon gave me a choice, left or right. I chose right because in that direction led the advanced trail, a section of the trail I hadn’t yet hiked. I can’t claim it is any more hillier than the other trails – Alligator Hill has a lot of vertical changes – but it was stepper than most of the trail system. And it escaped most the damage of storm of eight years ago, so you will see many more tall trees.
Along the way, I saw numerous animal tracks. Animal footprints are not a specialty of mine, but my best guess was a coyote. I suppose it could have been a lone dog, but I went with the coyote theory because there were no people tracks beside it.
Much of the trail still suffers from the damage of the August 2nd, 2015 windstorm that torn through the Glen Arbor area, downing many trees and damaging buildings. It will be decades before the damage is finally erased, hidden by new growth.
My first hike done, I spent the day rooting for teams that lost in the bowl games. Nothing new there. That didn’t mar the great hiking I had done earlier. And as I only hiked four miles of the 9-mile trail system, I have many more miles to look forward to.
If you are a fan of fall colors, this is the time. Right now! October 22nd, 2023. Things are at their peak, and if you read this next week, you’ve missed the best of the colors and will have to wait until next year.
But in case you do, here are some photos of yesterday’s hike at Lost Lake Pathways.
Lost Lake Pathways is north of Interlochen. I’d give directions, but you have Google Maps. Or Apple Maps. Or MapQuest, if you’re still in 2005. There is a generously large dirt parking lot to begin your hiking pleasure. Or if you’re the camping sort, there is a campground. I don’t camp much – found memories of when I did – but for whatever reason, I do like wandering around empty campgrounds. And in the fall and winter, Michigan is full of them.
And what looks nicer than clouds and colorful trees and their reflections on water.
I realized as I passed the duck hunters that I needed to start wearing neon for the next several months. But I safely navigated the trails and waterways to make it back to that fabulous dirt parking lot.
