Northern Michigan Outdoors: Off-Trail Skiing on Sleeping Bear Dunes

Northern Michigan Outdoors: Jeff Smith and friends cross country ski through the off-trail terrain of the Sleeping Bear Dunes

Northern Michigan Outdoors: Raw, unmarked and wild—this is Jeff Smith off-trail. Alright, so it's not the last frontier. It's just the most beautiful place in America (Good Morning America says so, check it). From Old Indian to Good Harbor Bay, the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore offers dozens of trails for all types of recreation. But on this mid-March morning, Jeff and his skiing chums aren't using one of 'em.

"I have a friend who loves to cross-country ski, but avoids trails. For him XC means sticking to the roots of the sport—leaving the trail as soon as possible and busting off through the untracked snow in forest and meadow and in the occasional swamp. This Sunday, to enjoy the off-road XC gestalt, we headed to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore about 9:30 in the morning."

Do they make it back to civilization... alive?! Find out in Jeff's Blog.

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