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Sleeping Bear Dunes reopens part of Alligator Hill Trail

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore reported in a press release today that it will officially reopen portions of the Alligator Hill Trail on Thursday, Nov. 19. The trail has been impassable since a severe storm blew down thousands of trees on Aug. 2. National Park Service crews and National Lakeshore volunteers have completed work on the Easy Loop, Advanced Loop, Islands Lookout, and Big Glen Lookout. More than 2,800 trees have been cleared on six miles of trail. Clearing of approximately 1,000 more trees from the two-mile Intermediate Loop and trail access from Forest Haven Drive will take place in the spring of 2016.

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Interpreting the storm through art

A week after the storm Shira Klein, a seasonal resident, approached Peg McCarty, director of the Glen Arbor Art Association (GAAA), and planted the seed for an exhibition, a show of art predicated on the hopeful belief that there was beauty to be found in the storm’s destruction. That seed-of-an-idea grew into New Views: A Storm of Art, which will be held next June 10-23 at the GAAA, on 6031 S. Lake St. in Glen Arbor. For artists wishing to exhibit their work, a prospectus describing this juried exhibition is now online at GlenArborArt.org.

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Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore to increase fees in 2016

After careful consideration, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore increase entrance and camping fees beginning January 1, 2016 in order to fund important maintenance and visitor service projects within the park and comply with a nationwide review of national park entrance fees.

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Fire department offers free home safety inspections

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Have you had the Glen Lake Fire Department come to your home for your free safety inspection? The program is new. Its purpose is to advise residents and point out potential fire and safety hazards. Plus, the department will not cite you for infractions.

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Township, Park officials disagree on Alligator Hill wildfire potential

“The Park has got to figure out how to address the dead fall hazard,” declared Glen Lake Fire Department chief John Dodson after the October Glen Arbor Emergency Services meeting. The “Park” he refers to is the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (SBDNL). All that dead wood, he says, “is fuel building up. Our fire department does not have the staff to maintain a wildfire the size of Alligator Hill.”

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A history of fairways and pines on Alligator Hill

Although my friend, Bonnie Gonzales, didn’t quite make it up Alligator Hill when she tried the first time, she felt it was doable. She wanted to try it one last time before she left for the winter. The trick would be to take the fairways rather than the impassable trail. I was game, so we met at the trailhead entrance by the charcoal ovens one sunny Sunday in mid-October.

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Clearing Alligator Hill Trail

This week, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore workers began clearing the Alligator Hill Trail of downed trees, following the Aug. 2 storm that decimated local forests. Alligator Hill is located just west of downtown Glen Arbor, north of Little Glen Lake, and offers stunning views of Sleeping Bear Bay.

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Storm Struck book sale benefits Re-Arbor Glen Arbor, Friends of Sleeping Bear

The public is invited to buy their copy of Storm Struck: When Supercharged Winds Slammed Northwest Michigan and help cash-strapped private Glen Arbor property owners tidy up their property and replant trees in the wake of a fierce Aug. 2 storm.

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Time heals

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Amidst the pain, it’s important to remember this lesson: the Aug. 2 megastorm — though it may have been the storm of the century — is one of several cataclysmic events that have changed this land we call Sleeping Bear since the glaciers receded and left behind the great lake and the rolling dunes and forests. And after each event, the land and its animals adapted and tended ahead. Alligator Hill will do the same.

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Emilie Lee’s painting vacation

New York City resident Emilie Lee rolled into Glen Arbor for a two-week visit on Sept. 27. Did she come to color tour? Wine tour? Any one of a million natural and artificial attractions that draw work-weary travelers to this little R+R oasis called Leelanau County?

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