The Magic Of Leelanau Part I

Intro

In 1973 I didn’t believe in God and I didn’t want anything to do with any type of religion. This was a Christian Science school so I had to abide by and respect the protocol there. We were required to read from the Science & Health book each day for about 15 minutes in our dorm room at our desk. We were also required to participate in a Church gathering on Sunday. I didn’t read out of the Science & Health book. Instead, I put my head down and got an additional 15 minutes of sleep. 🤣

The Sunday service was short and sweet. I would zone out of course and don’t remember much about Sundays there. With all that said, in the three years I was there I had myriad events that made me think twice about the evidence of God. But God never won me over. I rationalized it all being a coincidence. I’ve picked the three most poignant events that are etched into my heart from each year I was there. This is the first one from 1973…

9th Grade X2

Based on my dyslexic history and having to take some sort of entrance exam to get into Leelanau, we were told that I could come there under one condition: I had to repeat the 9th-grade year over again. So, in 1973 where I normally would be in the 10th grade I found myself back in 9th grade. That was a setback for sure. I wasn’t too happy about it, but I didn’t have much say so in the matter. Truth be told, I was pretty immature for being 15 years old at the time so I probably looked more like a 9th grader than a 10th grader anyway. 🤣

Lay of the Land

By the time I started at Leelanau my atheistic attitude was strong and impregnable. The “G” word didn’t come up there much with my friends, but if and when it did I was like “Whatever.” I didn’t believe any of it. I was an Atheistic, Agnostic believer. My eyes were closed and I was living in darkness. However, there was this powerful energy force there as I mentioned earlier. The school was on the shores of Lake Michigan (click here to see on Google Maps or check out the aerial pic below)  which was just to the west of the main campus.

It was probably three city blocks due west before you hit the beach from the main campus area. The campus itself was relatively small. The total student count was about 110. You had the student center which is where we ate. There was a boy’s dorm (one main one and two small cottage-like dorms). The girl’s dorm and the faculty main building which is where the library and school were. All the buildings were in close proximity to each other. From the student center to the boy’s dorm was a couple of blocks.

There was also a gymnasium that was north of where the main campus was situated but that was no more than a three-block walk from the main campus area. Once you walked out the back door of the boy’s dorm you were headed due east. To your right about two blocks was a makeshift baseball field. There were tennis courts and a practice football field. If you kept going due east you’d have to climb a 20-foot hill and then you hit South Homestead road. On the other side of South Homestead Road is where all the magic began. 

Prospect Hill

Once crossing over South Homestead Road the terrain immediately turned into the enchanted forest. The entire east side of the road (both sides were basically all wooded) was covered with dense trees and foliage. It was a forest of rolling hills that once you entered there seemed to be an infinite amount of virgin real estate of nature. There was a sizeable hill you’d have to climb to enter the woods. It was steep enough that you couldn’t just walk normally up the hill.

It was probably a good 200-300 feet until you got to the crest of the hill. On the crest of the hill, there was a path that was parallel to Lake Michigan which was visible from the path. However at that point on the path you’d be at the bottom of what was called “Prospect Hill.” You could walk along the path up the hill which was a gradual grade where walking was like walking up a normal hill in your neighborhood.

On the right side of the path was dense woods with rolling hills as far as the eyes could see. Back in 1973, there was nothing back there but forests of trees. They’ve since commercialized it with condos, roads, and a golf course. If you kept walking up the trail you would eventually run into the ski hill that the school had back then. They had a toe rope at the bottom of the hill that would take you to the peak of Prospect Hill (total elevation about 900 feet). When you let go of the rope on the top of Prospect Hill you’d have to take a left to go down the ski hill. However, the view was to die for. On a clear day (there weren’t too many in the wintertime) you had a spectacular view of Lake Michigan. 

Spirit In The Woods

In the wintertime skiing was the main sport. You’d have to walk from the dorms up Prospect Hill which was about a half mile. There were two ways to get there. One was to walk toward the gym which was north of the main campus. South Homestead dead-ended there, but there was s surface road that you could walk on that would get you to the ski hill. The other way was to walk up the back side of Prospect Hill.

They cut a path through the trees from South Homestead Road to the top of the ski hill. When we were done skiing this was the fastest way to get back to the dorms. I would walk up the hill to get to the main ski slope on occasion. It was a tougher way to go than walking on the surface road, but I loved the woods. The scenery was captivating.

I’m not sure how many times I walked up that hill to go skiing, but I only remember one time. It was etched and wired into my consciousness. Because we were right on Lake Michigan it snowed basically every day in the winter from the lake effect. But we did get some pretty good storms. This particular day I was walking Prospect Hill via the back trail. We had gotten about six inches of fresh snow the night before. Normally I would walk straight up the hill without stopping until I got to the top.

This day was different though. I was about three-quarters up the trail when all of a sudden I had this gut intuition. The instinct was to stop, turn around, and Listen which is exactly what I did. Even though I had made this walk several times and knew the scenery I remember turning around slowly with wonderment and anticipation. When I turned around I was like, “Wow!” What a beautiful sight to behold. It was like the first time seeing it. I was spellbound. 

The sun was out (that didn’t happen too often) and it illuminated the white fresh snow to a different level than I’d seen before. The silence in the woods with three feet of total snow on the ground has an unexplainable energy. I stayed there for several minutes soaking in the majestic beauty. I remember thinking, “You’ll never forget this day as long as you live” as I headed up the rest of the hill. To this day (50 years ago as of this post) I still get flashbacks of that moment in time.  

To Be Continued…