Sky, Sand & Surf

FIELD GUIDE

Exploring Michigan: Tips, trends, and tidbits

NEW TRAIL TOWNS: Big Rapids, Cadillac, and Elk Rapids were recently named Pure Michigan Trail Towns by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Travel Michigan. Big Rapids has developed a wayfinding signage system for local trails. Cadillac is a year-round destination that continues to invest in its many trail activities. Elk Rapids has formed a trail alliance to assist in supporting trail networks in the area. That community soon will be connected with Traverse City and Charlevoix via the Nakwema Trail. Search for trails at michigan.gov/dnr.

WATERY MISFORTUNES: A new book published by History Press, “Death & Lighthouses on the Great Lakes,” written by Gaylord author and frequent Michigan Blue magazine contributor Dianna Higgs Stampfler, blends maritime tales with true crime stories. Stampfler details how losing one’s life while tending the navigational beacons wasn’t such an uncommon experience. arcadiapublishing.com

PATHWAY OPENS: Half of the six-mile Ralph Wilson Gateway and Trail around Belle Isle in Detroit opened this spring along the eastern end of the island. It’s the official southern trailhead for Michigan’s Iron Belle Trail, a 2,000-mile route (almost 70 percent complete) that connects the island to Ironwood in the Upper Peninsula via two separate trails for hikers and bikers. The Wilson Gateway has a park/trail kiosk, picnic area, a new glass-and-steel sculpture, and more. michigan.gov/ironbelle

– Compiled by Ron Garbinski

Have news that pertains to Michigan travel and exploration? Send a note to MSwoyer@Hour-Media.com.

A Personal Remembrance

The Mason Tract provides wilderness solitude and fantastic fly fishing along the fabled Au Sable’s riverbanks

Story and Photos By Bill Semion

I first came to the Mason Tract near Roscommon with a long-ago and now recently gone friend. Sleeping in a VW Beetle, my pal Dale in the front seats, me in the back, was something we did happily. We drove through the empty streets of Roscommon and arrived beside the river after midnight, and quickly walked through the Canoe Harbor State Forest campground.

We could only see a little way through a mist. Owls called in the woods. The South Branch of the Au Sable River flowed out of the inky darkness. We approached it, not yet friends. It would become a lifelong friendship from that moment on.

A few years later, I was in the midst of a frustrating search for a secluded fishing spot. I found it at High Banks, and it’s now as familiar as my hand. In a few more years, five friends — Dale included — bought land bordering the tract, a few false casts from the South Branch’s bank. It became our camping rendezvous.

All that and more is why the state preserved 4,400-plus acres encapsulating this stretch of one of America’s most famous trout streams.

Auto magnate George Mason, one-time chairman of the defunct Nash-Kelvinator and American Motors Corp., was among several people who owned land along this 11-mile stretch in the early 20th century. Others, such as the Durants, one of the founding families of General Motors, built a riverside palace so opulent — the foundation is all that’s left after a fire — that the remains are still called Durant’s Castle.

Eventually, Mason acquired 1,500 riverside acres. He died in 1954 and left it to the State of Michigan. The state added other nearby amenities, including Canoe Harbor at the tract’s north end.

With a house nearby on the same fabled South Branch of the Au Sable River, just outside the tiny community of Roscommon, I now can enjoy it every season. And throughout the year, it’s a different impressionist painting.

Spring

The South Branch usually runs high with snowmelt until mid-May, but on good days, it’s a beautiful canoe or kayak float. Check Roscommon liveries for information. The Mason Tract Pathway provides hiking, plus river glimpses. Fly fishing, catch-release, is the rule for half of it. The water is perfect, the bottom is gravel, and it’s reached by angler accesses and footpaths. Elsewhere, the valley blooms with spring wildflowers and wildlife.

Summer

Kayaking/canoeing down the 11-plus miles of river, especially on weekends and holidays, peaks now. Weekdays you’re more likely to see wildlife. Here a great blue heron, there a bald eagle on a white pine, or a cedar “sweeper” — so named because they sweep upward over the water, and sometimes sweep less-skilled paddlers into the river. Trips usually end at the M-72 bridge, but you can connect with the river’s main stream for a longer journey.

Because of conservation efforts, Mason Tract trout can grow to outsized proportions, and they fatten up during the fabled giant Michigan mayfly hatch on June nights. The river can get crowded with anglers from across the world and roads in can be tricky at this time of year, so it’s best to first go with someone familiar, or stick to known accesses. Fly fishing here is great throughout the season. One reach is open all year.

The Mason Tract Pathway is also open for out-and-back hikes. No bikes are allowed, but the two-track road system nearby is open to riders and ORVs. A bonus for golfers are the two nationally rated courses at the Forest Dunes Golf Club, which borders the tract in spots.

Fall

The area is a favorite of grouse- and woodcock-hunters. Among those who walk the woods during hunting season is the Department of Natural Resources’ Thomas Barnes, Grayling Forest Management Unit manager, which includes the Mason Tract. It’s a special place to him, as well.

“Being a bird hunter, I was drawn to the area because of really good grouse and woodcock habitat. I have bird dogs and enjoy watching them work,” Barnes says. “(I’m also drawn to it) because of the lore of George Mason, and his generosity to provide this to the state and to all who enjoy it.”

Winter

The Mason Tract Pathway is voluntarily groomed for cross-country skiing by Friends of the Mason Tract. One classic track is set from M-72 to Chase Bridge Road, about 10 miles. After a storm, it can be breathtaking — like entering Narnia through the wardrobe. Snow hangs off the spruce and white pines that brush your face. Deer may scamper across your path. Trails lead to the river, or the path skirts its banks. If you want spectacular, this is the place.

The DNR’s Barnes sums it up well: “It’s a unique area and we take a lot of pride in managing it,” he says. “There’s so much history that not a lot of people know about. It’s a unique group of people who know about it, and it’s a unique area. That’s why they find such solitude and joy when they go there.”

My friend Dale would heartily agree.

Both pages, left to

right: The fabled Au Sable River’s Mason Tract section awaits with unparalleled kayaking, hiking, and fly-fishing opportunities.

PLAN IT! Friends of the Mason Tract volunteers work within the tract. Its Facebook page provides updates on snow grooming and meetings. Volunteers are welcome to join. Ski rentals are available at nearby Cross-Country Ski Headquarters. Hire a fishing guide in the Grayling area. Check fishing regulations before heading out, since they aren’t uniform in the tract.

Both pages, clockwise from left:

With several bodies of water, the Benzie County area is an angler’s paradise. Marvelous sunsets on Lake Michigan draw everyone from walkers to paddlers.

Outdoor Adventures

Visitors to Frankfort and its Benzie County neighbors quickly get hooked on the area’s amazing crystal water appeal

By Marla R. Miller

Locals know the area around Frankfort as “beautiful Benzie” — a county of clear lakes, scenic rivers recognized for their salmon and bald eagle sightings, and Lake Michigan beaches flanked by soaring sand dunes, without the commotion of a national park.

Around this northwest Lower Peninsula community, visitors can take their pick of action-packed outdoor adventures: a wildlife viewing experience on the Betsie River, a sunrise paddleboard excursion on Crystal Lake to explore the lake’s bottom, or a Lake Michigan charter fishing trip to hook a king salmon, to name just a few.

Frankfort — along with neighboring Elberta, Beulah, and Benzonia — bustles in the summer months with tourists passing through to visit Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore to the north and Traverse City to the east. The lakeside communities also are hot spots for openair enthusiasts who prefer watersports and fishing on the region’s many inland lakes and rivers.

At more than 9,800 acres, Crystal Lake holds the honor of being the state’s ninth largest inland lake. Other beauties such as Platte Lake, Little Platte Lake, and Upper and Lower Herring lakes add to the area’s recreational appeal.

“The color of Crystal Lake is basically crystal blue,” says Elaine Newbold, owner of Crystal Lake Adventure Sports. “Our rivers are great to paddle, and paddleboarding is huge. Getting out and being active is just a beautiful way to experience northern Michigan.”

Elaine and Randy Newbold, who’ve owned the business for 28 years, operate stores in Beulah and Frankfort. They offer kayak, stand-up paddleboard (SUP), bicycle, and other beach and water equipment rentals. The Newbolds typically launch their customers from the Crystal Lake beach in Beulah, or on Lake Michigan when it’s calm.

The outfitting duo also rents pontoon boats, and delivers kayaks and SUPs for day and weekly rentals to cottages and lake houses in the area. They occasionally offer guided kayak and SUP tours, but it’s a more do-it-yourself type of experience, with visitors setting off on their own biking or paddling adventures.

“We’re surrounded by beautiful lakes, of course, and the water is just gorgeous,” Elaine Newbold says. “The other thing we have is the Betsie Valley Trail. People will rent a bike in Frankfort and ride to Beulah (about 12 miles), and have lunch and come back.”

The Betsie River, a state-designated scenic and wildlife nature river, features a steady, swift current with natural obstacles and overhanging trees. The 54-mile river empties into Betsie Lake in Frankfort and is popular for its trout, steelhead, and chinook salmon fishing, or adventurous paddles between several dams and bridges on the river.

The 30-mile, spring-fed Platte River averages 2 to 3 feet deep, and winds through wetlands and several lakes from its origin in Long Lake to the mouth of Lake Michigan inside the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

The river offers two distinct paddling experiences. The Upper Platte is fast and exciting, with a quick current that often flips canoes. The Lower Platte features a slower current and warm, shallow water that’s great for newbies and families seeking a relaxing, all-day float.

Situated on the shores of the Platte River, both the Veterans Memorial State Forest and the Platte River State Forest Campground offer public launch sites and primitive camping. They are great options if you prefer a more rustic, wilderness experience or have your own kayaks.

The area is also home to the Platte River State Fish Hatchery & Weir, which spawned the state’s sports fishing industry back in 1966. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources planted the first of 850,000 coho salmon in the Platte River, in an effort to control an explosive population of invasive alewives in Lake Michigan.

“The Platte River is known for the coho salmon,” says charter captain Kent Lockwood, who operates A Day Away Sportfishing Charters. “That’s where it all started.”

The idea was controversial at the time, but it led to a unique fisheries management program and an important recreational and commercial fishing industry. Today, sport fishing is a $2.3 billion industry in Michigan. The Platte hatchery is the state’s main salmon hatchery, where Atlantic, chinook, and coho salmon are raised.

Kayakers can portage around the weir in autumn and watch the salmon swarm around them. It’s one of the best times to paddle the Platte River, but stay alert as fishermen flock to the Platte and Betsie rivers in the fall for the annual salmon runs.

“The area’s well-known. It’s a real good sportsman’s area,” Lockwood says. He’s operated out of Frankfort for more than 20 years because of its excellent fishing, along with the small-town friendliness. Vacationers like it, he adds, because they get to experience a Great Lake with both Sleeping Bear Dunes and South Manitou Island in view.

“There are fishermen who want to catch big fish, and there are the tourist types who want to experience what they call deepsea fishing,” Lockwood says. “We’re fishing a couple of miles off shore. It’s the scenery (that gets their attention) when they do get out there.”

Captain Andy Odette and his wife, Krista, run Intimidator Sportfishing Charters out of Elberta. They’ve been doing it for 30 years, and their children now have their own charter boats. “The fishing is really, really good,” Krista Odette says. “People come here to Frankfort for all of it — the water, the tranquility, all of the outdoor activities. It’s just beautiful.”

FOR THE ATHLETIC: Frankfort will host the IRONMAN 70.3 triathlon, where competitors bike, swim, and run, on Sept. 11.

PLAN IT! Frankfort & Benzie County visitbenzie.com