Summer at Midwest Ski Resorts

Jun 8, 2006

In summertime, ski resorts turn to a full range of warm weather adventure alternatives. Here’s a sampling of what's happening in the Midwest U.S and Canada.

Ski resorts used to morph into ghost towns in summer. Now, continent-wide, with skiing and snowboarding done for the season, ski resorts offer a full range of warm weather mountain, adventure sports and other activities. Nearly all offer golf. Here, we continue our look at the variety of mountain biking, hiking, bungee, alpine slides, arts, and other happenings in the Midwest U.S. and Canada.

Michigan leads the Midwest in ski resort conversions to summertime action. Among the options, Crystal Mountain offers family kayak trips, family environmental educational programs and Adventure Cubs activity programs. Also, golf and free family golf clinics, kayak trips, chairlift rides, tubing on the Platte River, tours of the Sleeping Bear Dunes (wonderful!), bike clinics and trail tours, indoor or outdoor pools, mountain biking, hiking, tennis, in-line skating, volleyball, horseshoes, a kids' playground, concerts, charter fishing on Lake Michigan, and fly fishing on area rivers and streams and beaches.

Boyne Highlands claims to be as the heart of America's summer golf capital™, with four world-class designer courses fro mthe likes of Robert Trent Jones, Donald Ross, Arthur Hills and William Newcomb, and numerous clinics and instructional programs. In addition, Highlands' 3500-plus acres offers scenic chairlift rides, hiking and biking trails, croquet, badminton, beach volleyball, outdoor pools, an indoor/outdoor pool, numerous hot tubs, tennis courts, The Wellness Institute at Boyne Highlands and a Kids' Camp. Nearby Bay Harbor is rich in galleries, restaurants, specialty shops, Victorian architecture and Lake Michigan dunes and beaches.

Sister resort Boyne Mountain offers scenic chairlift rides on Fridays and Saturdays, an 18-hole mountain top disc golf course, three championship golf courses and 16 miles of mountain bike trails, including a 9.5-mile cross-country trail with single and wide tracks. The Beach Club allows kayak, paddleboat and sailboat rentals, and the country around Boyne Mountain is classic fly-fishing habitat. Or, hop a charter boat and fish Lake Michigan for trout and salmon.

Minnesota's Lutsen Mountains features the Sawtooth Mountain Park. There, guests can hike from the Vasque Hiking Center or mountain bike 35 miles of marked trails, serviced by chairlifts and the Mountain Tram. In addition, the Superior Mountain Bike Trail System holds a network of 200-plus miles of marked trails, and nearby state parks, local parks and national forest present myriad hiking possibilities. Also available, horseback riding and an alpine slide. Lake Superior Cruises visits remote locations along the Lake Superior shores or, for another kind of water adventure, guided canoe and kayak trips of varying lengths can be undertaken. And, the town of Grand Marais houses some fine museums and galleries.

In Ohio, Artfest at Boston Mills is a nationally recognized fine art and fine craft show that features 320 different exhibiting artists' work. A juried show, 160 artists are selected to display at each weekend in traditional acrylic/oil, conceptual acrylic/oil, watercolor, jewelry, wood, graphics/drawing, multiple images (digital and photography), glass, whimsical, sculpture, ceramics, wearable fibers, furniture, metal, decorative fibers, and mixed media.

At Wisconsin's Whitecap Mountains you can swim in Weber Lake's spring fed waters, an indoor pool or a hydra spa. Or, try fishing for trout, bass and pan-fish. Visitors can also take out paddle boats, kayaks, rowboats or canoes on Weber Lake. Other activities include golf, exploring the galleries and shops the village of Bayfield, or booking a cruise around the Apostle Islands. And, only twelve miles away is Lake Superior, and the Chequamegon National Forest, where the hiking, mountain biking and backpacking are superb.

In Ontario, folks at Blue Mountain Resort call summer the Green Season. There's swimming, sailing, hiking, mountain biking, kids' camps and their nearby secluded sandy beach on Georgian Bay. There you'll find water toys, rafts and paddle-boats.

The copyright of the article Summer at Midwest Ski Resorts in Winter Sports is owned by Mitch Kaplan. Permission to republish Summer at Midwest Ski Resorts in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Jun 10, 2006 12:27 PM

Kelby Carr :

I just moved from the Midwest, and was about 40 minutes from the Michigan line. I really liked Michigan in the summer. New Buffalo, along the Lake Michigan shore, is very nice. It's a beach resort town with a cute walkable downtown. I never made it up to Holland, but I always meant to while we were there. In the winter, this is the only city in the U.S. that has underground heating elements so you never have to walk in the snow!

Jun 11, 2006 11:00 AM

Mitch Kaplan :

oh, but why wouldn't you want to walk in the snow? or, better still, slide through it? that's what winter is all about!