May 2023
Seasons change.
Spring arrives
You’d have a hard time living in the UP if you didn’t like winter. I know that seems odd to some people, but if you can’t enjoy cold and snow, you’re going to spend a chunk of the year cooped up and stewing in your own juices.
We’re lucky to live about a block away from Lake Michigan’s Little Bay de Noc, so I take an almost daily walk along the water regardless of weather. At times, it involves trudging through some snow, and at other times, I have to wear ice cleats to avoid slipping and falling. But no matter what, winter has a beauty all its own.
Watching the ice form, thicken, break up, and leave is something of a seasonal passtime. The ice gets thick in a normal winter and seals off the bay. Sometimes when the wind picks up, you get nice ice shoves. Plenty of ice fishing happens on the bay, too, with anglers targeting perch, pike, and walleye.
Mostly, though, I enjoy the peace. You get the sense that things are sleeping in the winter, but you also know they’re going to wake up soon, turn green, and continue the cycle.
I do a lot in the winter, but one of my favorite activities is snowshoeing. It’s fun to break track through several inches of fresh snow. There are a number of trails within short distances, but I like making the hour or so drive to Munising to snowshoe Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. They get significantly more snow up by Lake Superior than we do down by Lake Michigan, and for whatever reason, it’s cool to think I’m tromping around on top of several feet of the white stuff.
Snowshoeing also gets you into places you’d have a hard time hiking into otherwise. The picture to the right is from one of the outer loops on a new trail the Lakeshore recently put in. But any trail is nice at Pictured Rocks. I take my backpack, a few snacks, a big sandwich for lunch, and a thermos full of a 50/50 blend of mint herbal tea and honey. Well, maybe not 50/50, although it’s probably close. That’s a lot of calories, but you want to stay warm, and you’ll burn through them on any decently long trek.
I also bring along a compass and GPS locator. I enjoy going off path, which is easy to do when everything is snow covered. You get to see terrain few other people do, and it really hits home how big the wilderness is out here.
Even though winter hangs around, things do eventually start to turn. The ice breaks up, the wind blows it here and there, and nature starts to get creative. It’s nice to live in a place where you can look just about anywhere and see something to appreciate. Between the sky, clouds, water, and ice, you can find dozens of shades of blue and green. Then, one day, the ice is all gone, the snow gradually melts, the grass is suddenly green, and the daffodils start to push up. You wake up, stretch, and hear the geese honking, the sandhill cranes trilling, and the loons calling.
Seasons change.