It was to be a classic Leelanau adventure. I had been salivating as Facebook friends posted photos of the golden chanterelles they’d found in the woods — and in some cases sold to local restaurants: Wren, Fig’s, Alliance. Though morel mushrooms possess an undeniable mystique, the chanterelle has…
Read More
Something’s happening in Suttons Bay — the gateway from Traverse City to Leelanau. A new generation of entrepreneurs is on the move. As the Traverse City Record Eagle put it in April, “Eight businesses operated by relatively young adults have invested in various operations throughout Suttons Bay…
Read More
The beauty of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore can be so calming and soothing, so maternal and gentle, that you might easily forget that nature isn’t always harmless. “Incidents” on park trails are very rare. I have never once, in my countless times hiking through this region, had a…
Read More
It’s the Trail Genius’s favorite time of year — the psychedelic time when the prettiest of wildflowers, the spring ones, are carpeting the forest floor. \ Mini-hikes that used to take thirty minutes now take an hour plus, because you’re having to stop every five seconds to admire some jewel popping…
Read More
Looking for a laundry list of worthless tips about where and how to find morels in Leelanau County? Read no further. What a newbie really needs is some on-the-ground training—someone to actually show you what you’re looking for and how to recognize the perfect conditions for finding it. By Bob Butz…
Read More
Some call it “sprinter” — the tumultuous transition from winter to spring, when Mother Nature can’t seem to make up her mind. Gorgeous weather one day, a dusting of snow the next. I’m loving the touch-and-go “sprinting,” though, because after a long winter up north, I feel obliged to savor every…
Read More
I’ll be candid. This was to be my first time ever cross-country skiing. But I knew exactly where I wanted to go, because it’s where all the cool kids (i.e. my friends, of course) go for X-C skiing (which is what the cool kids call it). Palmer Woods. By Paul Baumbusch | Trail Genius I awakened with a…
Read More
By Paul Baumbusch | Trail Genius The clouds were rolling in, but that was ok – ideal, even – because I was headed to Alligator Hill. This majestic 9-mile national park trail was hit hard by straight-line winds from the great storm of ’15. Today it boasts a haunting mystique, as well as breathtaking…
Read More