CAMPING GONE WILD

by LUCINDA HAHN

Gary becker, longtime owner of Indigo Bluffs RV Park & Resort in Empire, is in the business of family memories. His tagline, “For all the ways you camp,” represents his vision to create a more affordable, inclusive place for people to gather. “The families I know don’t fit into the same economic box,” Becker says. “But they still want to be together.”

His goal is to offer options for every budget. Indigo Bluffs has RV sites, cottages, cabins and tent sites along with WiFi access throughout the resort, a dog park, heated pool, laundry, camp store and more. Becker likes to say if Indigo Bluffs were a hotel, it’d be a Ritz Carlton, Marriott, Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Red Roof all sharing the same lobby and amenities, but with the personality and warmth of a boutique hotel.

Americans’ desire—or at least willingness—to pitch a tent or park an RV instead of booking a hotel reached a precipitous peak during the pandemic. Some 9 million first-time campers hit the outdoors in 2021, compared to 1 million in 2019, according to the 2022 North American Camping Report.

“Yes, camping exploded during Covid,” Becker says, “But what really gave it a lot of momentum in my opinion was that RV ownership replaced the dream of cottage ownership, and with the affordability of RVs, this allowed a much broader group of ages and incomes to participate. Covid pushed this trend five years into the future in a matter of months.”

Becker tells us more about the revival of RV culture.

Lucinda Hahn: What was the boom like for you?

Gary Becker: Even before the pandemic, we were already seeing lots of newer, younger RV owners. Most were gig workers—internet marketers, designers—who could work remotely and take time off between jobs. Then Covid, with all its anxiety and concern, drove even more people into the lifestyle. Now, about 22 percent of RV owners are between ages 18 and 34, which is incredible. People are increasingly searching for ways to connect with nature, spend time with their families and find stress relief.

LH: What other trends are you seeing?

GB: As surprising as it may sound, we are very focused on our local customers who live five miles away in Cedar or Maple City, or maybe 20 or 50 miles away. They’ve told me, “When I’m at home, sitting on my deck, I’m thinking, ‘Argh, I gotta cut the grass, and then I have to do laundry.’ But when I’m camping, I’m not staring at all the stuff I have to do. It just goes away.”

And those folks, they’re the ones who want to take advantage of a sudden warm spell in early May or late October. So we’re trying to do some unique things like identify a local group within 90 miles, and keep some sites blocked off for them, then sending an email alert when they can be booked.

LH: Owning a campground must make for some interesting stories.

GB: With 1,200 to 1,500 people on the property every day during the high season, we have all kinds of memorable things happen. But my favorite is one of gratitude. We were told a story by a family who had camped here annually for years. Their daughter, who had been deployed overseas in the military, was coming home for good, and they were bringing her camping. We decorated the campsite and wrapped bundles of firewood in ribbons and bows, to honor her.

Lucinda Hahn traveled the globe as an award-winning journalist, living in four countries before settling in her favorite place, the Leelanau Peninsula, in 2020.

NIGHT

Moves

by ALLISON JARRELL

Don’t sleep through this wild sky dance.

Each spring in Northern Michigan, unbeknownst to most, a spectacular aerial ballet occurs at dusk and dawn. Admission is free. The stage: The North’s open fields. The dancer: The unassuming, kinda cute and slightly awkward male woodcock.

The intensely acrobatic sky dance is this plump little shorebird’s version of a serenade—he dances for love.

“In a good habitat, you may have several males dancing within earshot,” says Kieran Fleming, executive director of Little Traverse Conservancy and avid woodcock enthusiast. “It’s fun to figure out where each of them is working. Sometimes you can tell when a female is on the scene as the males will concentrate toward where she is.”

There they are— dancing in the dark, busting out all of their best moves. Romantic? Perhaps, if you’re a lady woodcock. For the rest of us, it’s a mesmerizing spectacle that will leave you in awe, mouth agape and eyes to the sky.

Tiny Dancers

hear what’s referred to as “peenting”—a nasal, buzzer-type sound. (And, in that moment, you’ll understand why they rely on their dance moves to attract a mate.)

“After that, you just wait for them to fly, then move quickly to any cover close to where you heard them on the ground,” Fleming says.

At this point, the woodcocks start gaining altitude. As they fly in a spiral pattern, anywhere from 100 to 300 feet into the sky, their wings make a “twittering” sound from the wind rushing through their feathers (which you’ll hear again during the dramatic final act). “They’re less likely to notice you moving while doing this,” Fleming says.

MAY I HAVE THIS DANCE?

“At the apex of their flight, they start to chirp … this is your clue to freeze,” he says. “They will plummet back to the earth, very close to where you first heard them peenting, and start all over again.”

Kieran Fleming says these preserves near Petoskey and Charlevoix are always good bets for catching a sky dance:

Elizabeth B. Hoffmann Nature Preserve

Waldron Fen Nature Preserve Black Hole Nature Preserve Hailand/Helstrom Family Nature Preserve

The woodcock goes by many names—night partridge, big-eye, bogsucker, mudbat and, my personal favorite, the timberdoodle. Unlike their coastal relatives, these humble shorebirds scuttle around inland, their brown and beige plumage perfect for blending in with leaf litter and other forest debris. Fleming says their preferred habitat consists of an open area (think meadow or farm field) that’s adjacent to dense fledgling forests and shrubby lowland cover like tag alder, willows and young aspen. Come spring, the males begin establishing their “singing grounds” in these areas.

Nathan Beem Memorial Nature Preserve

Go out with the pros: Little Traverse Conservancy will be hosting a sky dance field trip with the Al Litzenburger Chapter of the Ruffed Grouse Society on April 18. Check LTC’s website for location and details on signing up. landtrust.org

“As soon as the snow starts to give way to open ground in April, they will be at it,” Fleming says. The mating ritual continues into May or beyond, but Fleming’s tip for those hoping to catch the spectacle is to head out mid to late April, and avoid windy nights.

The birds begin their show right before dark, staying active for much of the night before ramping up again at dawn. Once you’ve found your chosen field, start by listening for them; you’ll

Enjoy The Show

If you’re respectful while spectating, Fleming says birdwatchers can get very close after a flight or two.

“ I wouldn’t worry about disturbing one of them once,” he says. “They are resilient to the fact that other predators will home in as well. They just move or lie low until the threat is gone. [But] if you end up scaring one, you’ll likely have no choice but to move on.”

While woodcocks are relatively common in the right habitats, Fleming notes that the species has been steadily declining for decades now. According to DNR data, the last peak in the woodcock population occurred in the 1950s, and the population has been dwindling by an average of 2.8 percent per year since 1985. This is largely due to habitat loss.

Even so, Fleming says woodcocks are common enough that many folks across the North have likely heard them before, but just didn’t register that very … unique … peenting sound.

“The sky dance, once you know the ritual, is amazing but rather inconspicuous if you aren’t fully engaged,” he adds. “Most people in our region don’t live far from this event happening every night in the spring.”