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WATERSKI MagazineTraverse City, Michigan, is about as close to the Caribbean as, well, northern Michigan. Ludicrous, then, that skiers would compare the water in Torch Lake and its chain of spillage with water around the Bahamas.
Unless you come from the Upper Peninsula of the “mitten state,” you drive to the lake with your back to the aquas of the south. Up casually rolling U.S. 131 you drive, and drive, passing through every shade of green in the spectrum. You take a slight hitch west and, bam, like a bucket of cold water in the face, there's Torch Lake – looking lost from the tropics.
“The water is unbelievable,” says Matt Waller, a water ski instructor at nearby White Birch Lodge. “You can see at least 15 feet down. I've been here eight years and have never gotten tired of the view.”
Or the skiing. The middle of Torch Lake, which National Geographic once called one of the most beautiful bodies of water in the world, usually absorbs breezes from Lake Michigan. But a straight shot down the western shoreline keeps slalom and barefoot runs under a protective covering of forest and hills. Backwash is soaked into another tropical characteristic, a sandy shore and
bottom, which drops as far as 250 feet.
If the winds turn gale-force, you can migrate from Torch to the smaller Elk Lake. The best-kept secret on Elk is Spencer's Bay on the west shore, one of the few spots that's protected on more than one side. Over on the east side of Torch Lake is the narrow east-west path of Clam Lake. It's less vulnerable to open-water chop and there's a huge sandbar that becomes an evening party floor at the far southeast end. The sand is soft, the water colorful, and skiing days long. Yet you're as close to the Arctic as you are to the Caribbean. – Robert Stephens
