Sugar Loaf Is Back, and This Time You Climb It Yourself

"I don't need to force myself (to see this place as a ski resort)," Chad Jordan told the Glen Arbor Sun during a preview walk in September. "I can still see the chairlifts and people yelling off the lifts when you hit your jumps!"

Jordan built the first snowboard park at Sugar Loaf. Today he is infrastructure manager for the Leelanau Conservancy, which opened the hill to the public on Friday evening, October 9. The resort closed 26 years ago, and its lodge came down about five years ago. The Conservancy built its new trails on top of the old resort. The Snowcat route is the new trail, the legacy runs are the winter terrain, and the old red chairs are being refinished to return as benches. There are no lifts, so every bit of elevation is earned on foot.

The Old Resort Is the New Trail Map

The new Summit Trail climbs about half a mile from the parking area to the top. It follows the path the Snowcat used to take. On the way up you cross the ground where the lodge, an outdoor pool and the tennis courts stood. Look north and you'll see "Awful Awful," the steep vertical run, and its twin, "The Wall," which still carries a scar from years of skiers. Good Harbor Bay sits beyond them.

The resort's old hardware is still around, too. Crews working the property since June have found snowmaking pipes and concrete bases for lift towers, and an old red bull wheel sits in deep grass on the neighboring land. The Conservancy saved about 20 of the red lift chairs and plans to powder coat them and place them around the property as rest spots. Some will go at the obvious overlooks. Others will be tucked into the woods, and a few won't be on the map at all.

"We'll put some Easter eggs on the property, and they won't be on the map. But if you find it, you find it." Chad Jordan, to the Glen Arbor Sun

So the old ski area is still the hill's main draw. The Conservancy kept it and changed how you get up it.

What Opened on October 9

The opening celebration started at 5 p.m. and ran until dusk at 4500 S. Sugar Loaf Mountain Road in Cedar, with the Summit Trail open to explore. Conservancy communications director Brighid Driscoll previewed the event on 9&10 News that morning. The station reported that from the opening on, the property would be open 24/7 for the views and trails.

The climb from the lot to the summit gains 449 vertical feet. The summit sits at 1,059 feet above sea level, one of the highest points in Leelanau County. From the top, the Sun's editor counted Little Traverse Lake, Good Harbor Bay, Pyramid Point, the Manitou Islands and the Crib lighthouse to the northwest. On the way down you look out over the county's farms and orchards instead of the water.

Before you drive over, here's what's settled and what isn't:

• Parking. Two crushed-gravel lots serve two trailheads and hold more than 120 cars combined. For opening night, the Leelanau Conservancy asked visitors not to park on public roads and noted that the Leelanau County Sheriff's Office does not permit roadside parking there.
• What's not part of the project. The Conservancy says the golf course and the airstrip are separate. The Sugar Loaf townhouses sit next to the parking area. The Conservancy plans to plant 138 native trees and shrubs there late this fall as a buffer, and the lot edges will be seeded with native plants and wildflowers.
• Rules not yet posted. We haven't found anything published for Sugar Loaf specifically on dogs, hunting or restrooms. The FAQ on the Conservancy's Sugar Loaf page was written before the opening and still says the property is "not yet open," even though the top of the same page announces the October 9 opening. Check with the Conservancy before planning around any of those details.

Winter: Ski Anything You're Willing to Hike

The real test of the Conservancy's approach comes when the snow arrives. Two-thirds of the way up the Summit Trail is a gated section that used to be the tubing run. Skiing and snowboarding will be allowed again this winter, but only under your own power, which means Nordic or backcountry. The chairlifts and rope tows are not coming back.

Conservancy staff have worked with the Michigan Backcountry Alliance on what that could look like. The ideas so far include splitboarding, where a snowboard splits into two ski-like halves for the climb, plus alpine touring, telemark and glade skiing. The old runs need very little work to be skiable again.

"A lot of the legacy ski runs are pretty open still, so there's not a lot of work that we need to get those in shape," Jordan told the Glen Arbor Sun. "This winter these will all be available and open to folks to ski. It's similar to what you would find at an alpine resort. You can poke around and see what looks fun that day."

The Conservancy also hopes to groom parallel-track cross-country trails. So far that's a goal, not a promised service. For a first snowy weekend, the safe bet is skins, touring gear and a ski down Awful Awful, a run plenty of people last rode on a chairlift.

Spring 2027: Bikes Come Back to the Hill

Off the Summit Trail, a narrow side path leads to 9.5 miles of switchback mountain-bike trails. Jordan expects them to open in spring 2027. This is also a return. In the late 1980s, Sugar Loaf hosted the National Off Road Bicycle Association's national championships, and some of the riders went on to the Olympics and the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame.

"This is the very first place I ever rode a mountain bike," Jordan told the Sun. He also managed the 27 miles of bike trails at the Conservancy's Palmer Woods property.

These trails won't be built like a championship course. Average grades run 7 to 10 percent, which is beginner level, and the climbing route goes all the way to the summit. "It's not just elite mountain bikers that will be able to ride here," said Caleb Garone, the Conservancy's stewardship project manager. That gentle grade fits the rest of the plan, since anyone who rides to the top will get there under their own power.

How the Hill Changed Hands

The Conservancy could take this approach because it controls the whole hill. Rumors about who owned Sugar Loaf circulated for years. Then in 2020 the Edmund F. and Virginia B. Ball Foundation bought the property and paid to demolish the hotel and clean up the site. The Conservancy announced its $8 million campaign in July 2025 and hit the goal two months later with gifts from more than 1,000 people. MLive reported that the purchase closed on March 11, 2026, and that the land is now set aside for conservation and public recreation, not a commercial resort. Reported acreage varies a little: the Glen Arbor Sun says 285 acres and MLive says 288.

Restoration started in June. Since then, Jordan and Garone have tallied raptors kettling over the peak, an oriole, an indigo bunting and a scarlet tanager in a single 15-minute stretch, a turkey that lives on the summit, and a red-tailed hawk that tends to show up near the bottom of Awful Awful.

The Conservancy's first five-year plan adds a covered pavilion and community gathering space at the summit, plus a picnic area and a kids' play area near the parking lot. Until those are built, and until the refinished red chairs are placed, the summit offers what it did on that preview day: the half-mile climb and the view to the Manitous.

If you're new to the area, our Cedar and Maple City neighborhood page and our guide to everyday life in Cedar and Maple City cover the rest of the area around the hill. If you'd rather head toward the lakeshore, see our roundup of outdoor adventures around Glen Arbor and Sleeping Bear.

Expecting houseguests this fall who want to see the view from the top of Sugar Loaf? Or wondering whether a cottage near Cedar could earn rental income while its owners are away on ski weekends? At Leelanau Living Realty Group, we know this side of the county, from Sugar Loaf Mountain Road to the shore at Good Harbor. Relax. We got this.