Valley Spur Cross-Country Ski and Mountain Bike Trails

Because Valley Spur is artfully laid out, meticulously groomed most days of the week, and less well known — therefore less crowded — than Pictured Rocks trails, the 38-mile cross-country ski trail system in the Hiawatha National Forest three miles south of Munising is a favorite destination of many dedicated cross-country skiers. Heavy snows make for a deep base and for skiing from December into April in most years. Dick Fultz of the Cross-Country Ski Shop in Grayling inspired a Traverse Magazine article.
In summer most of these loops are used for mountain bike trails with a 9-mile loop. Get ski and bike maps at the Pictured Rocks/Hiawatha Visitor Center.

A wonderful variety of scenery, including hardwood forests, hemlock groves, and small lakes, make all Valley Spur's 11 loops interesting. The B beginner's and warm-up loop, 2.8 miles starting at the parking lot, is perhaps the most scenic of all. The first stretch follows an old logging railroad grade, the namesake "Valley Spur." It crosses a creek (here a narrower snowshoe trail is between the ski trail and creek) and follows the upland edge of a swamp.

Traverse Magazine writer Jeff Smith waxed rhapsodic. "Criss-cross a sleepy black-bottom creek. Catch the glint of sun off the rivulets. Trace your eye along the pillows of snow that edge the stream as it widens and necks down --- a dark serpent weaving through the hemlock and snowy marsh."

Forest Service planner Dave Worel, now retired, laid out the trails starting in 1978 to take advantage of the gentle slopes and varied topography of this glacial landscape, on an end moraine and its small hills. "The difficulty on the expert trails comes not from speed but turns," he says. "The winding valleys mean you have to step around corners at some speed. Skiing is supposed to be fun. It's no longer fun if you're frightened at the top of a hill. My intermediate trails tend to be fairly easy; nobody wants to be a beginner. The H loop [a 4.4 mile intermediate loop] goes through a wetland valley and an old-growth eastern hemlock stand that's probably 300 years old."

For Dave, Valley Spur was as much a labor of love as part of his Forest Service job. He was often one of the volunteers out at the cozy log warming cabin on weekends. The Clinton administration's quiet cutbacks and downsizing of the federal government reduced the Hiawatha National Forest staff from 169 in the early 1990s to 130, who do the same amount of work as 169 used to. Valley Spur's operating budget is less than a third of what it wa

s during the first Bush Administration. Skiers are now asked to pay, and Friends of Valley Spur was been organized to maintain the trail system. The annual catered Taste and Glide ($15 including trail fees) on the first Saturday in March promotes Valley Spur. Now the Noquemanon Trails Network administers the trails.

For skiers who want well planned ski trails that are an alternative to highly groomed trails, there's McKeever Hills Ski Trail that winds among the lakes on Hiawatha National Forest land south of Munising. Its 6 1/2 miles of loops are mostly intermediate, with one challenging loop around Wedge Lake. It's on H-13 13 miles south of Munising. Parking is south of the turnoff to Pete's Lake Campground.

Winter storms come up with unusual suddenness here. Skiers should always be informed about weather fronts. Note to skiers on overnights in Munising: on winter weekends, Munising lodgings can fill up fast with snowmobilers. Book ahead, or get a room in Marquette or Escanaba, where lodgings are plentiful. (If you do stay in Marquette, use M-94 and not M-28 to avoid sudden snowsqualls off the lake.)
(This is not completely updated in every detail..

On M-94 3 miles south of Munising. Typically open from sometime in December into April. (906) 387-2512. $6 donation requested.

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