LOCAL BEAT: Mackinac Island

I pitched this "winter silent sports preview" article back in Nov. and submitted sometime in Dec. The published version is but a dim reflection of the following, spirited draft.

Silent sports enthusiasts eager for winter on Mackinac Island

The author in Michigan's upper peninsula, Feb. 2023. (Cat Marsh)

The hush that lives in snow-blanketed forest valleys is a precious thing. Breaking a backcountry trail through deep powder is akin to discovering a secret, parallel world. The landscape’s palette is reduced, all the wild colors of autumn spent. Deciduous trees stand stark in the cold, skeletal and naked, while their conifer cousins sag with heavy, white garlands. The birds are fled, the insects sleeping, or dead. All movements and the wind itself seem muffled and padded, though the cold be paradoxically sharp.

Communing with this sort of natural setting requires embracing contradiction. One applies layer upon layer of thermal barrier in order to venture out and embrace the cold. To enjoy the stillness of a frozen world, outer extremities must move incessantly to increase circulation and maintain sensation. Failing movement everything must draw inward, to a tight center where the fire of the soul can burn hot and dense against ever-creeping darkness and cold.

Pathways most suitable for winter silent sports are found on the eastern side of Mackinac Island’s forested interior. Mackinac Island Ski Club marks nearly half the island as their “primary skiing area,” a contiguous portion of the state park that starts at the island’s northern tip and extends south as far as the East Bluff, bounded on the west side by British Landing and Garrison roads. Volunteers groom sections of trails throughout the winter.

“We groom the trails for both skate skiing and classic skiing,” said MISC member Anneke Myers. Her husband, Matt Meyers, is the head groomer. “One of the problems we do have is a lot of people walk on the trails, and they snowshoe.”

Proper trail etiquette is to break a separate trail a bit off to the side if trekking with snowshoes, boots, paws, hooves, etc. On a map of the southern half of the ski area, a spiderweb of interconnected trails cover the swath of parkland. Farther north the designated trails thin out and opportunities for off-trail expeditions multiply. Explorers can bring their own equipment or seek rentals at the Grand Hotel. Family members of Mackinac Island Public School students can check out equipment, along with students, from the school. A nurse on the island named Chris Clark who was at one time a member of the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team started the school’s ski program.

“She wrote some grants and got some skis and equipment and offered it after school twice a week. And then there was something to do on the weekend,” said Mary Patay, who now oversees the program as Mackinac Island’s recreation director. She harnesses her husky to join her in skijoring the island each winter, although she said she decouples for downhills. “They can go fast.”

Everyone complained that the snowfalls last year were insufficient, the cold snaps not consistent or enduring enough. Outdoor winter sport enthusiasts are disciples in the cult of Ullr, heretics with incantations to summon blizzards. Patay is eager to break out curling equipment that has been sitting idle since being acquired two seasons ago. Mackinac Island State Park Manager Myron Johnson said conditions must be perfect to set up the island’s ice skating rink on the lawn behind Fort Mackinac.

“We need a really cold, dry day,” he said.

The rink has been established each year in its present location on the lawn for the past decade, a joint effort between Johnson and Justin Wright, a park ranger.

“It started out really rough. The first season, you could kind of call it an ice rink. It was kind of just a snow bank with the ice on the ground,” said Johnson. “Now we’ve got a frame and we put an actual ice-liner in. It’s smooth and now we’ve got lighting.”

Johnson oversees lighting on the ski trails as well, for lantern-lit night trips. Those were also established a decade ago, the brainchild of then-manager Sue Topham. When conditions are good, dozens meet at Greaney Grove, near Fort Mackinac at the corner of Arch Rock and Huron roads. A bonfire and hot chocolate heat up gatherers pre and après ski in the grove from 5:30 p.m. to about 8 p.m. Three dates are planned this year: Jan. 13, Feb. 3, and March 2. The first ski has been pushed later into January to allow more snow base to develop.

“It’s been a real hit over the years,” Johnson said. “Both residents and tourists come up just for that.”

Meyers, Patay, and Johnson all named Turtle Park the best sledding hill on Mackinac Island. Meyers noted also that the Pavilion at Turtle Park stays open all winter, with grills available for hot dog roasts and a pit for fires, by permit.