A highly anticipated winter tradition in Ingham County is about a month away.
Snow tubing at Hawk Island is expected to open the weekend of January 11. Reservations for time slots will go live starting December 9.
It’s such a popular event that Deputy Director of Ingham County Parks Brian Collins said people will ask from as early as Labor Day how soon they’ll open.
He said that for 2025, tubing could start even earlier than scheduled due to the winter weather already in Lansing.
“We got a nice cold snap right around Thanksgiving that we were able to actually crank up the snow guns Thanksgiving night, and they've pretty much been going ever since,” he said.
Private reservations can be made by phone starting on Monday, December 9 for larger groups such as those coming from schools and nonprofits.
Collins expects public reservations to be available Wednesday, December 11.
All time slots typically get booked within a week.
Parks staff pump about one million gallons of water out of the lake to create the snow for the tubing hill.
“It's a lot of work to get it up and going,” Collins said. “Once it is going, I just kind of sit back and listen to everybody enjoying it. You know, it's one of my favorite times a year to be working in the park.”
During the winter, Ingham County Parks also offer cross-country skiing at Burchfield Park and Lake Lansing North Park as well as snowshoeing at Burchfield Park.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
