Blogs - MyNorth

Where Art Thou, Young Cyclists?

A Sunday ago I volunteered to help with the TART Trails Leelanau Harvest Tour, which is a recreational bicycle ride that attracts about 1,000 people every year. They get to pedal some of America’s most sublime bike terrain during the crisp, perfect-temperatured days of September. I had the important job of standing at an intersection where the long-distance riders went one way and the shorter-distance riders went another w… Continue

Posted by Jeff Smith on September 29, 2009 at 8:30am — 2 Comments

Les Cheneaux's Antique Wooden Boat Show

Saturday I made my way across the Mackinac Bridge to Hessel for the 32nd annual Les Cheneaux Islands Antique Wooden Boat Show. Our state brims with summer festivals, but the boat show in Hessel is without doubt one of the finest and so worthy of a visit. For starters, the setting in… Continue

Posted by Jeff Smith on August 9, 2009 at 10:12am — No Comments

Back to the Future, Downtown Manistee

Moving Spirit wine shop and art gallery This is the second installment in a series of blogs about the entrepreneurial mettle that Manistee is relying on to move forward in Michigan’s changing economy. There is a phenomenon that historic preservationists talk about,… Continue

Posted by Jeff Smith on July 6, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

Good Things Going on in Manistee County

This is the first installment in a series of blogs about the entrepreneurial mettle that Manistee is relying on to move forward in Michigan’s changing economy. As Michigan continues the fight to right itself economically and scrambles to find models to follow and examples that inspire, our business and government leaders should take a look at a few things happening in Manistee County. I recently had the good fortune of taking a day to check out some of the success stories there, thanks t… Continue

Posted by Jeff Smith on July 3, 2009 at 9:00am — No Comments

Friends of Sleeping Bear Are Keeping Busy

When visitors think of the crew that takes care of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, they naturally picture the rangers patrolling the beach or the maintenance people tending the campgrounds. But there’s another group behind the scenes that donates hundreds of hours a year to ensuring that the park looks beautiful and stays natural. The group is called The Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes—150 members st… Continue

Posted by Jeff Smith on June 20, 2009 at 8:30am — 1 Comment

Wind vs. View

Yesterday afternoon I was at a gathering about Michigan’s energy options and happened to run into Don Coe, a partner in Black Star Farms, the vineyard and B&B about 15 minutes north of Traverse City, on Leelanau Peninsula. Coe often describes himself as a farmer, which is true, since Black Star Farms grows grapes and orchard fruit, but the title doesn’t fully encompass his experience. Coe also worked in the upper echelons of a major distiller and ran their government relations operation prio… Continue

Posted by Jeff Smith on June 9, 2009 at 12:26pm — No Comments

Civility in Our Energy Debates

I had the occasion to hear Eric Baker, CEO of Wolverine Power, speak recently about the company's plans to build a coal-fired power plant in Rogers City, on the Lake Huron shore. Given the debate over global warming today, it's no surprise that the plant is controversial--adamantly opposed by most in the environmental community because of its CO2 emissions; supported by people in the power industry who feel Michigan will need the plain reliability that coal brings to the state's electrical grid… Continue

Posted by Jeff Smith on May 29, 2009 at 7:30am — No Comments

Phil Power and The Center for Michigan

Late last week I had the good fortune to have lunch with Phil Power at the Economic Club of Traverse City monthly luncheon. Power was the guest speaker and was there to discuss The Center for Michigan, an organization he calls a “think and do tank” that he founded to help chart a path for Michigan as it works its way through this economic upheaval. Power is a businessman who built a chain of 65 newspapers before selling them in 2005. Shortly thereafter, as he heard one dire prediction after ano… Continue

Posted by Jeff Smith on April 20, 2009 at 1:23pm — No Comments

Party On -- For the Environment

I had the pleasure of attending the annual banquet of the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council Friday evening. For those of you who have never been, the event happens every April, and NMEAC uses it as an opportunity to shine light on the many, many, many people in our region who are working to preserve what we love about this remarkable place. The event is something like an Academy Awards night for people working on environmental issues. Over the course of the winter, NMEAC accepts no… Continue

Posted by Jeff Smith on April 19, 2009 at 9:17am — No Comments

Keep an Eye on the Wind

In doing research for an upcoming story, I had the occasion to call Ed Rice, executive director of Traverse City Light and Power last week. The municipal owned utility has earned a reputation as one of the bright spots in the state for getting a start on moving forward into an energy future based much more on renewable energy. Part of the reason for that is a goal that the city adopted of having 30 percent of the city’s power be renewable energy by the year 2020. By contrast, the state’s recent… Continue

Posted by Jeff Smith on April 13, 2009 at 2:09pm — No Comments

Season stretchers

April is gathering momentum here, and most of our snow has turned to water. Around our house, there are only patches where the terrain and wind conspire to make big snow drifts. And even in the forests nearby, little snow remains. But I know of a trail, Lake Ann Pathway, not far from Traverse City, that gets more snow than other places around here and stays a little colder, so I went there yesterday to see if there was still enough snow on the trail to ski. My favorite section of the trail start… Continue

Posted by Jeff Smith on April 5, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

Warm, somehow

The gear sled. Phone photo by Tim Dirks. Okay, one final blog post about winter camping in the Porcupine Mountains. When I tell people I went on a winter campout, most of them seem completely perplexed that anybody would want to do that, because, in their minds, it would ba… Continue

Posted by Jeff Smith on March 24, 2009 at 9:11am — 1 Comment

Nother love note to the quinzhee

John Velis cozy in the quinzhee, warm digs for a winter campout. (The air hole appears larger than it actually was--about 4 inches diameter.) Phone photo by Tim Dirks. When my three friends and I gathered in a rental unit near the Porcupine Mountains the night before we were… Continue

Posted by Jeff Smith on March 20, 2009 at 10:00am — 4 Comments

Porcupine Mountains at Winter's Edge

Looking for a nice place to lie down for a while, on the Escarpment Trail, Porcupine Mountains, March 14, 2009. Lake of the Clouds in background. Phone photo by Tim Dirks. I’m just back from the Porcupine Mountains for an end-of-winter campout with three friends. I’ll write… Continue

Posted by Jeff Smith on March 16, 2009 at 5:30pm — No Comments

Hey, I found more winter...

Winter is nearly done, at least according to the calendar, with only two weeks left until spring’s first day. So what better time to head even farther north and sleep in the snow to get one last good dose of the white stuff before it all becomes river water? At least that’s what… Continue

Posted by Jeff Smith on March 7, 2009 at 6:26pm — 2 Comments

How to Build a Quinzhee

We just posted a video about how to build a quinzhee—a snow shelter that makes a great fort in the backyard or an even better shelter to camp out in in the great Northwoods. Making the video and building the quinzhee brought back some thoughts about when I first made one, so thought I’d share here. The first time I built a qunizhee I was on an end-of-winter trip to Yellowstone, where we skied into the backcountry for a few days and set up a basecamp. My friend John Gillies was living in Wyoming… Continue

Posted by Jeff Smith on February 8, 2009 at 10:00am — 1 Comment

It feels good, so do it

Am talking about cross-country skiing here. And this is a love note to my favorite sport. I feel that when I read about cross-country skiing, the information often concentrates on the physical health benefits. And of course, those benefits are bountiful and wonderful -- like the sport burns more calories per minute than almost any sport, and by being outside you get some nice vitamin D at a sun-diminished time of the year. and you build muscle strength and on and on. But the thing that gets… Continue

Posted by Jeff Smith on January 23, 2009 at 8:29am — 5 Comments

Inspiring Inaugural at the State Theatre, Traverse City

The State Theatre in downtown Traverse City projected, for free, a live big-screen feed of President Barack Obama’s inaugural address today, and I was fortunate to be there to take it in. It hadn’t really occurred to me prior, but as we all sat there—a full house—I realized that the State was an ideal place to watch the transition of power, because the State Theatre embodies so much of what the new president says we need to thrive in the days ahead. The State Theatre was in a sense as dark, co… Continue

Posted by Jeff Smith on January 20, 2009 at 3:00pm — 1 Comment

Walking and talking about walking, with Bob Otwell

Thursday afternoon I took a walk with Bob Otwell to talk about walking. And more specifically about making Traverse City a more walkable place so more people will just plain walk around. Sound like a stupid idea to write about? I hope not, because walking, as simple as it is, has amazing power to do lots of the things we need done right now, as Bob pointed out to me during our 1.5-hour stroll on a sunny, 8-degree day. Bob, by the way, is a great person to go on a walk with because part of his… Continue

Posted by Jeff Smith on January 16, 2009 at 9:30am — 3 Comments

Consider, if you will, the snowshoe

I was talking with a Traverse City gentleman the other day and he was saying that his son wanted to go skiing with him, but the dad declined because he was too out of shape. My instant recommendation was to get a pair of snowshoes and some poles. I'm a fan of snowshoes for people looking to get active in winter for a number of reasons. 1. Stability. With snowshoes and a set of poles even if you're not used to getting around in snow you are not likely to fall. And even if you do fall, yo… Continue

Posted by Jeff Smith on January 7, 2009 at 9:00am — 8 Comments

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