Winter Recreation 2026: Sledding, Skiing & Ice Fishing Around Grand Blanc, Fenton, Linden, Columbiaville & Tyrone Township

Winter in the Grand Blanc, Fenton, Linden, Columbiaville and Tyrone Township corridor is not a season to hibernate through. Within about a half-hour of nearly every home in this guide there are verified sledding hills, cross-country ski and snowshoe trails, a downhill ski resort, and three fishable lakes with public access for ice fishing. This guide collects the real places, the addresses, the ice-safety numbers from the Michigan DNR, and what the season means for buyers and sellers working toward a year-end move.

Sledding Hills: Verified Hills in Every Direction

Genesee County has no commercial snow-tubing park, so winter sledding here means classic public hills, and the region has good ones within minutes of every community in this guide. The area's most popular hill is Creasey Bicentennial Park at 1505 E. Grand Blanc Rd. in Grand Blanc, a big hill visible right from Grand Blanc Road with several runs and a warming hut on site; past seasons have charged about $2 a person when an attendant is on duty, so bring a few dollars and check with the city before you go. In Linden, Linden County Park at 15349 S. Linden Rd. keeps an intermediate hill by Clover Beach off Byram Lake, and as a Genesee County park it is open daily from 8 a.m. to sunset. Fenton families have used the hill behind St. John School at 514 Lincoln St. for generations, and in the city of Flint, the Flint Southwestern Academy hill off of 12th St. is one of the county's largest and steepest, roughly 50 feet tall and 190 feet across, with lights for after-dark runs. For Columbiaville and eastern Tyrone Township, the steepest local pick is the expert hill locals call Toboggan Hill along Washburn Road north of Carpenter Road, near the Genesee-Lapeer county line. Ride with a buddy, avoid hills that run toward streets or water, and remember that helmets are cheap insurance for the little ones.

Cross-Country Skiing and Snowshoeing: Seven Ponds and Holloway

The flagship winter trail destination in this corner of the state is Seven Ponds Nature Center at 3854 Crawford Rd. in Dryden, (810) 796-3200. The center protects nearly 500 acres of woodlands, wetlands, ponds and prairies with roughly six miles of trail, and it is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cross-country skiing is allowed right on the trail system, with the honest caveat that this is a nature preserve rather than a groomed Nordic center, and the center's winter program series adds guided snowshoe walks all season. The annual WinterFest, held on a Saturday in late January from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for about $3 admission, is the can't-miss date: visitors can bring their own skis or skates, borrow the center's snowshoes, join snowshoe walks, skate or ski the frozen pond, watch ice cutting, gather at a bonfire on the ice, and enter the snowman competition. Every activity and program date is confirmed on the center's winter programs page.

Closer to Columbiaville, Holloway Reservoir Regional Park in the Genesee County Parks system doubles as a winter walking and cross-country destination, with the same miles of parkland trails that carry hikers through the warm months. It is the obvious first stop for families in Columbiaville, Otisville and eastern Tyrone Township who want snow-covered trails without a long drive.

Downhill Skiing and Snowboarding: Mt. Holly

For lift-served turns, Mt. Holly Ski and Snowboard Resort at 13536 Dixie Highway in Holly, (248) 634-8269, is the closest alpine hill to this guide's communities: about 8 miles and a 15-minute drive from downtown Fenton, and about 6 miles from Grand Blanc. The resort serves skiers and snowboarders of every level and runs night skiing most seasons, with published hours that typically run Monday through Saturday until 10 p.m. and Sunday until 9 p.m. Everything about a snow day is weather-dependent, so check the resort's own site for the day's hours, lift status and conditions before you load the car. One honest note: Mt. Holly does not operate a snow-tubing park, and there is no commercial tubing hill in Genesee County, so plan sledding at the public hills above instead.

Ice Fishing: Holloway Reservoir, Lake Fenton and Lobdell Lake

Michigan's inland lakes are open to ice fishing all winter, and three fishable waters sit inside or right beside this guide's communities. Holloway Reservoir, the roughly 1,200-acre Genesee County reservoir between Columbiaville and Otisville, is the sleepiest and most productive: walleye is the primary sport fish, and anglers also pull channel catfish, black crappie, bluegill, northern pike, smallmouth and largemouth bass, yellow perch and tiger muskellunge through the ice, with public access points around the reservoir managed by Genesee County Parks. Lake Fenton, about 845 acres in Genesee County, holds black crappie, bluegill, largemouth and smallmouth bass, northern pike, rock bass, walleye and yellow perch. And Lobdell Lake, the roughly 545-acre all-sports lake that straddles the Genesee-Livingston line near Linden, serves up largemouth bass, black crappie, bluegill, yellow perch, sunfish, smallmouth bass, northern pike and walleye, with walleye and black crappie among the species stocked there.

Rural Season Notes: Deer Season on Acreage

For homeowners and buyers on acreage in Tyrone Township or around Columbiaville, November also brings Michigan's 15-day firearm deer season, November 15-30, 2026. If you snowshoe or hike public land near rural properties, wear hunter orange and keep pets on leash, and remember that hunting on private land requires the landowner's permission. Winter is also the moment to confirm the systems that keep a country home comfortable: the well, the septic system, snow removal access, and a generator or generator hookup for outage-prone rural lines. Our winter-ready country homes guide walks through each of those checks in detail.

What Winter Recreation Means for Buyers

The recreation map above is a four-season case for this stretch of Michigan. Buyers comparing Grand Blanc, Fenton, Linden, Columbiaville and Tyrone Township often start with the summer lakes, but winter is when the same communities prove their year-round livability: a sledding hill in town, skating and bonfires at Seven Ponds, downhill turns at Mt. Holly within 15 minutes, and ice fishing on a public reservoir that in July was a boating lake. For buyers, the season also rewards the tour schedule. Inventory sits near its fall peak with the 30-year fixed rate at 7.24 percent for the week ending October 29 per Freddie Mac, and winter sellers are typically motivated to reach a closing before the holidays. A winter visit shows you the real house: how the furnace and water heater run, which way the wind hits the front door, who clears the driveway, and whether the sun reaches the deck.

Four checks belong on every winter tour in these communities: confirm snow removal responsibility and driveway access, ask about the age of the furnace, water heater and roof, look for ice dam signs along the eaves, and for rural homes verify the well, septic and generator hookup. For lake-adjacent homes, ask the seller or township about public lake access, since a deed that reaches the water is different from a shared access point. Our Southern Lakes lake-living guide details the access and value questions, and the Columbiaville and Tyrone Township guide covers the rural checklist.

Explore Homes Near the Ski Hills and Ice

To see what is currently available near the sledding hills, ski runs and lakes in this guide, visit our featured homes page for a curated selection of active listings across Grand Blanc, Fenton, Linden, Columbiaville and Tyrone Township, and the monthly market stats page for the sourced, dated numbers behind the season.

Why Work with Rob Moen and The Moen Group?

With more than three decades of experience and thousands of transactions across Genesee, Livingston and Lapeer counties, Rob Moen brings deep market knowledge and sharp negotiation to every client. As Principal Broker of Keller Williams First and a past President of the East Central Association of Realtors, he helps buyers compare communities, structure offers, and act with confidence in every season, and he knows exactly how winter moves the market in each of the communities this guide covers.

Ready to find your winter home? Contact Rob Moen at (810) 691-0019 or send a message online. Your next home is waiting.