While you can do many of these sports, like cross-country skiing, ice fishing, and snowmobiling throughout the state, Cadillac, Michigan, is one of my favorite spots to try these activities. Here are seven Michigan winter sports you can experience on your next winter visit to Cadillac, Michigan. I’ve also included several Cadillac area winter events you won’t want to miss.
Thank you to Cadillac, Michigan, for hosting portions of my stay.
Photo Courtesy of Cadillac Area Visitors Bureau
Photo Courtesy of Cadillac Area Visitors Bureau
Table of Contents
Down Hill Skiing
While you may not consider Michigan mountainous, it has over 40 ski areas and ranks second in the United States for ski areas in a single state. Caberfae Peaks marked its 86th season in operation in 2024, celebrating its heritage as the first ski area in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula and the third oldest destination ski resort in the Midwest. It features the highest lift-served peaks in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. Due to Cadillac’s high elevation and its location on the edge of the snow belt, Caberfae offers huge vertical drops with consistently great snow.
Still independently owned and operated, Caberfae has a special place among Midwest skiers. Caberfae is a value-oriented, family-friendly, and pretension-free resort that is a true “skier’s ski resort” because it has excellent skiing without all the extra bells and whistles.
Some more fun facts about Caberfae:
- In the 1930s, a group of volunteers from Indiana, Grand Rapids, and Cadillac were interested in starting a local ski area and founded Caberfae. The U.S. Forest Service and the group combined forces and created a winter ski area with a Civilian Conservation Corps building and a single ski run.
- A Ford Model A car engine powered the first ski lift, a rope tow. A Packard Motor Car engine later replaced the Ford Model A engine.
- The Meyer family of Cadillac, who skied Caberfae since they were kids, bought the ski area in 1982.
Piper’s Pro Planning: The Mackenzie Lodge is located at the base of the slopes—a 39-room lodge with ski-in/ski-out accessibility. This is the perfect place to stay for a Cadillac ski weekend getaway.
Cross-Country Skiing
Cross-country skiing depends on the skier’s movement to glide across snow-covered terrain without using ski lifts. While some regions of the world use cross-country skiing as transportation, it’s a winter sport in Michigan.
If you don’t downhill ski, you can enjoy the MacKenzie Trail, 10 miles of non-motorized trails groomed for cross-country skiing accessible from Caberfae’s property.
Cadillac is a perfect launch point for cross-country skiing and is adjacent to downhill ski areas. William Mitchell State Park alone has 2.5 miles of cross-country ski trails, as shown on this map.
Piper’s Pro Planning: You can also rent cross-country skis at Caberfae.
Snowshoeing
I think of snowshoeing as an extension of hiking, where you walk over snow with the assistance of snowshoes. Cadillac is a great place to snowshoe because it can happen almost anywhere.
William Mitchell State Park’s Heritage Nature Trail is a popular snowshoeing venue with a 2.5-mile loop of trails surrounding the 235-acre preserve. The trail begins at the Carl T. Johnson Center. Beginning snowshoers will enjoy one of the park’s Lantern-Lit events for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. They occur every Friday night through the winter along the scenic Heritage Nature Trail at the Carl T. Johnson Center, as the weather allows. The first lantern-lit snowshoeing event at William Mitchell State Park, with over 200 participants, took place in January 2025. This fun outdoor event will continue throughout January and February. You can check the Friends of William Mitchell State Park Facebook page for dates and times.
Grab a group of friends for the self-guided hike. After your hike, warm up at the bonfire and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate.
Piper’s Pro Planning: The Carl T. Johnson Hunting and Fishing Center lends snowshoes on a first-come, first-served basis.
Winter Fat Tire Biking
A fat tire bike, sometimes called a fat bike or snow bike, is an off-road bicycle with oversized tires, usually 3.8 inches or wider, with 2.16-inch rims or broader. This style of bike is designed to work effectively on soft, unstable surfaces like snow.
For snowshoeing and fat tire biking, the Cadillac Pathway Winter Sports Trail (WST) has the Northern Michigan Mountain Bike Association (NMMBA)—Cadillac Pathway Grooming Team groom a 3-foot-wide flat base for you to use. They compact the snow, and a V-plow removes excess snow. They groom every day, weather permitting.
You have two options: the entire 11-mile loop begins and ends at the trailhead at Seeley Road, or a nice 5-mile loop, known as the Polar Bear Loop, that leaves from the trailhead and does not cross Seeley Road. The terrain on the east side of Seeley Road is for beginning bikers, although intermediate levels will also enjoy it.
Once you cross Seeley Road, it’s for the intermediate to advanced levels. There are no technical obstacles, just some hefty climbs. The WST is easy to follow. Follow the groomed path. You’ll find maps on the trail at key intersections. Remember, you’ll see a few spots where the WST crosses the XC ski trail— fat bikers must yield to the XC skiers.
Piper’s Pro Planning: Fat tire biking is also a great winter option if weather conditions have left you without enough snow for cross-country skiing.
Ice Fishing
Cadillac has three large inland lakes—Lake Cadillac, Lake Mitchell, and Lake Missaukee—that offer great ice fishing opportunities. You’ll find that Cadillac is one of the most popular ice-fishing destinations in the Lower Peninsula. The quarter-mile Clam Lake Canal connects Lake Cadillac and Lake Mitchell.
The Carl T. Johnson Hunting and Fishing Center and the Outdoors Skills Academy at William Mitchell State Park offer Ice Fishing seminars each year. These workshops, entitled Hard Water School (Ice Fishing), have a classroom component taught by experts in their field and a field component. So, once you learn techniques to target and tight-line pan fish through the ice, how to target walleye using your electronics, and how to set tip-ups targeting walleye and pike, you get out on the ice and practice your skills.
The Carl T. Johnson Hunting and Fishing Center and the Outdoors Skills Academy offer a variety of free and paid programs year-round. I learned a lot talking to the DNR volunteer based in the center over the summer. You’ll find a link to their programs here.
Piper’s Pro Planning: William Mitchell State Park requires a Michigan DNR Recreation Passport. You can purchase one at the park if you don’t have a recreation passport. Remember, you’ll need a fishing license, too.
Snowmobiling
Cadillac has a vast trail system spread through the Huron Manistee National Forest. Over 200 miles of groomed trails connect north, south, and west for days of sledding fun. You can download a map of the area’s snowmobile trails and a list of rental outfitters here. Several of these outfitters rent snowmobiles.
K&R Outfitters, LLC offers guided snowmobile tours. If you aren’t familiar with the area, this would be a great way to feel secure and confident while getting out on the snow trails.
Another option for snowmobiling is the Fred Meijer White Pine Trail State Park. You can access the trail from the east side of Lake Cadillac. The trail utilizes a network of trails, sidewalks, and road shoulders that follow the Lake Cadillac shoreline. This 92-mile linear, paved trail state park connects Comstock Park in Grand Rapids to Cadillac. This is Michigan’s second-longest rail trail and follows the rail bed of the old Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad. The trail connects 15 towns and cities to Cadillac. The trail is open to snowmobiles from December 1 through March 31 between Cadillac and the Russell Road trailhead, located just south of Cedar Springs.
For the latest trail report, check out this website.
Piper’s Pro Planning: Michigan offers a free snowmobiling weekend each year. For 2025, it is January 17th through the 19th. You can legally ride without a snowmobile registration or trail permit during the free weekend. See the Michigan’s State Department of Natural Resources website for more information.
You’ll need energy to participate in these winter sports. For ideas on where to eat, check out this article on the “13 Best Places to Eat in Cadillac, Michigan.”
Photo Courtesy Cadillac Area Visitors Bureau
Photo Courtesy Cadillac Area Visitors Bureau
Winter Rafting on the Pine River
If you’ve had summer paddling experiences, you can continue the fun year-round by adding winter paddling to your adventures. Wintertime paddling can be challenging. Before you try winter paddling, get some experience during the summer months.
Located in the center of Michigan’s Manistee National Forest, Pine River Paddlesports Center offers fun for the whole family. Located in Wellston, 30 minutes east of Cadillac, Pine River Paddlesports offers year-round fun, including winter rafting down the Pine River. You can choose between having a guide in your boat or paddling separately beside your boat on a one-hour and 15-minute float.
The experience includes the option of a scenic 1.7-mile hike along the Silver Creek path and returning to your car or the other side of the river at 2.4 miles. Either way, you have the opportunity for stunning scenic overlooks.
Piper’s Pro Planning: Pine River Paddlesports can also outfit your paddling adventure along the Pine River. Wear clothes made from wool or new synthetic fabrics such as fiber pile, polar fleece, or Capilene for a winter rafting trip.
Bonus: Don’t-Miss Cadillac Winter Events
Here are some fun times to visit Cadillac in winter. If these events sound like something you’d like to plan, check out the links for specific dates and times.
- Cadillac’s Christmas in the Park & Tree Lighting
- Holiday Market in the Cadillac Commons during the holiday shopping season
- Lantern-lit Snowshoeing at William Mitchell State Park in January and February
- Midwest Snowkite Jam the first weekend in February
Check the Cadillac Area Visitors Bureau website for real-time trail and winter weather updates. From its home page, scroll down to Trail Updates, and you will find everything you need to know about winter sports weather conditions. You’ll find all you need to decide if the weekend you’re planning your getaway is the best weekend to go for your sport, including:
- Downhill Ski Conditions, Caberfae Peaks updates daily
- Ice Fishing Report, Pilgrim Village Fishing Shop updates weekly
- Snowmobile Report, Coyote Crossing Resortupdates weekly
- Cadillac Pathway updates regularly
Pin this to your favorite Michigan Travel Board!
While Piper is a lifelong Michigander, she’s had adventures worldwide. Bomb-sniffing dogs chased her in the middle of the night in Bogota (working late), gate agents refused her boarding to Paraguay (wrong visa), and US Marshals announced her seat number on a plane while looking for a murder suspect (she’d traded seats). It’s always an adventure! She even finds exciting activities in her home state of Michigan, where she lives in Lansing with her husband, Ross Dingman, her daughter, Alexis, and two granddaughters.
Fabulous ways to embrace the winter months outdoors!
I’d like to try ice fishing.
That was one of my father’s favorite winter sports. Dress warm!
great winter fun!
I have never heard of winter rafting before. I imagine it can be challenging, but would also provide some beautiful winter views.
In Michigan we do it in several places. Another great place to try it is Big Bear Adventures in Indian River.