Downhill skiing has been great at Crystal Mountain Resort.  I was out last Sunday, which was the first cold day after the thaw, and the conditions were remarkably good- major kudos to the snowmaking and grooming crew.  The downhill course on the North face was a favorite addition for my oldest son and I.

While Crystal has Nordic ski trails as well, the cross country trails in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore are my favorites.  I’ll admit it has been a few years since I’ve been out on them, but there is something about skiing in the lakeshore that is special.  Once you get away from the trailhead, almost all the sounds are natural- wind through the trees, waves crashing on the shoreline a mile away, birds and squirrels are the back singers to the sounds of your breathing and the “swick swick” of your skis.  While the area immediately along the shoreline gets a bit less snow that we do inland, the trails there should be back in shape soon if they aren’t already.

The National Lakeshore is a great asset.  I can’t help but think of all the outdoor opportunities it presents when I’m showing properties nearby.  The beauty of having this linear type National Park – it features 35 miles of Lake Michigan coastline – is that it is quickly accessible from so many locations.  In fact, as I write this, there are 145 properties available within a couple miles of the South Unit of the Lakeshore- some literally at the very edge of the park.

Fog rolls off of Crystal Lake on a frosty fall morning

We’ve seen this in our family since the days when we were developing condominiums overlooking Crystal Lake.  We found that we had plenty of traffic looking at the condos during the summer, but lots of those people had their summer lodging already accounted for.  Come fall, the kids would be back in school, the colors would be turning, and the desire to own a place “up north” would have grown, resulting in sales.

This year seems to be holding fast to that pattern, with really solid levels of new inquiries and activity on a whole range of properties, but most significantly those that appeal to a vacation buyer.

Once we move beyond the fall season and into winter, the number of new buyer inquiries will diminish, although activity from existing prospects continues.  Those new prospects that do come to us during this period tend to be very serious.  Think about it- if you’re looking at a lakefront property in February, you’re pretty darn serious about buying one.  And yes, I have shoveled snow off of the ice in front of a house to see if the ice was clear enough so the buyer could get a look through it at the lake bottom in front of the cottage they were considering buying.

On a side note, fall is my favorite time to be out and about showing property- the air is crisp, the colors are amazing, and opportunities to hike larger parcels of land are more common and more pleasant than in the heat of the summer.

The headline first brought to mind the Mark Twain quote “Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated”, and then, perhaps even a better metaphor for those of us whom have struggled through adjustments in the Northwest Michigan Real Estate market.  From Monty Python and the Holy Grail:

Well… except for the the part where he gets offed.

Today was a cold, icy, nasty day.  Like 15 degrees and 15 mph winds, yielding sub-zero wind chills.  And I had several hilltop properties to look out.  Since tomorrow is supposed to be worse than today, I added some layers and headed out into the elements.  The first parcel sits on a north facing ridge, overlooking Long Lake, and when the snow isn’t flying, Sleeping Bear Dunes in the distance.  A trot up the ridge and some photos showed me what I needed to know- a hike down to the waters (ices) edge will have to wait.

Next a stop at a wooded lot with shared access to Crystal Lake.  Again here, snow obscured any possible distant lake views.  On to the  last pair of lots, which sit on the bluff overlooking Crystal Lake.  As I stepped out of my car, the wind slapped my face, and my eyes began watering almost instantly.  By the time I walked down the lots, tears were streaming and being caught in the wind.  Those that ended up on my glasses quickly turned to little salty icicles.

I snapped a couple of quick photos, and was about to turn my back on the wind, when a quick tear in the clouds let a stream of sunlight through to the lakes surface.  Thank God for small reminders of life’s beauty.

Breaking through heavy clouds, sunshine makes its way to the icy waters