Timberlee Hills Owners Officially Welcome Snow Tubers (And A New Baby!); Consider Expanded Offerings

Snow tubing season is now underway at Leelanau County’s Timberlee Hills, the largest tubing hill without designated lanes in the state, with its official opening day yesterday, Dec. 30.

We caught up with co-owner Mike Zaryczny after an evening snow-making session: “It’s exciting to be able to open — though I wish mother nature would help out more. We are fortunate that we have just one gun and one hill to take care of.”

The original 200-acre “Timberlee” property was one of the first ski hills in the area; over the years several parcels were sold off and the ski hill was reinvented as a tubing run. When Zaryczny, a Leland grad, purchased Timberlee Hills along with wife Kelsey Zaryczny in 2017, the tubing operation included 40 acres in southern Leelanau County with a 10,000 square foot lodge, bar and kitchen, which they remodeled two years ago. They added outdoor firepits last season. The Zarycznys and staff also supplement their main winter tubing season by hosting special events and weddings.

Now five seasons in, the Zarycznys say they have fine-tuned the operation: “The first years were first-come, first-served; now tubing reservations are all online. This is something we implemented with COVID; rather than a rush all at once, reservations allow us to spread things out a little more on the hill.”

Kelsey noted that while the lodge bar is open as of this weekend — “and we make a mean bloody Mary” — she is still in the process of training this season’s kitchen staff. “We don’t overcomplicate it; we are best known for our homemade pizzas.” Timberlee’s kitchen will open for the season in the coming days; follow on Facebook for details. Mike also notes that glow tubing, which they started last year, is back for 2021/2022, with extended hours on Saturday, “typically 7pm to 10pm, with glow sticks, a firepit with colors going, and a DJ.”

In the midst of opening preparations, the couple welcomed a daughter, Reagan, six weeks ago. Past guests know that Labrador retriever Calli is also a fixture at the hill, trained to run and retrieve any hats or mittens that fall off patrons on the way down. “She’s nine now, so sometimes she chooses not to,” laughs Mike.

The Zarycznys, who live in the adjacent Timberlee Hills neighborhood, have also hatched an idea for constructing small cabins at the 40-acre Elmwood Township property. Mike shares, “We are at step one of 850, but having now owned the hill for five years, we know that a lot of the visitors — whether they are local or from out of town — think that we have lodging; we receive several calls each season asking for it. The idea is to keep people here a little longer to enjoy the property. In the fresh snowfall, they can even snowshoe in the valley.”

Kelsey adds, “We are gearing this toward families, people already coming to our business, and also the community, who could rent the cabins for family outings.” She notes that they are looking for feedback from the planning commission, neighbors, and the overall community before embarking in further design and engineering studies. “We are going to make sure we think everything through and do things the first time the right way.”

While no formal site plan or land use application has yet been submitted to Elmwood Township, at its regular December meeting the planning commission first heard of the proposed project concept at Timberlee Hills. Timberlee representative Sarah Keever of Northview 22 noted in an informal review: “As their operation continues to grow and work within the rural resort zoning district, lodging is something they’d like to offer. The site plan, absolutely conceptual at this time, is for up to eight cabins in near proximity, at 400 to 600 square feet, that don’t contain full kitchens. They are primarily for hosting guests coming for use of Timberlee Hills resort.”

She noted that “It’s difficult to maintain rural resort properties and agricultural properties, for them to stay as they are and make them economically feasible. Lodging would maintain the outdoor recreation and special events as well as allow the continuation of the rural resort district.”

The planning commissioners confirmed with Keever that the potential cabins would not be considered short term rentals: “They are spending the time, money, and energy to support their operations; just using as a weeklong vacation spot is not what they are looking for,” she said. Planner/Zoning Administrator Sarah Clarren added that by definition STRs are single family dwellings, “so this does not qualify as that.”

Planning Commission Chairman Rick Bechtold said, “It’s an interesting project. I’m looking forward to them coming back with a more refined plan.”