The Highlands at Harbor Springs

The Highlands began in the mid-1950s as Harbor Highlands, a small ski hill started by a group of local businessmen. Everett Kircher, founder of the Boyne ski company, bought it and reopened it as Boyne Highlands for the 1963 to 1964 winter. The resort took its current name, The Highlands, in 2022, and it remains Boyne owned.

Skiing and snowboarding run across terrain the Petoskey Area Visitors Bureau measures at more than 400 skiable acres, with terrain parks, night skiing, a tubing park, a free beginner area and cross-country and snowshoe trails. The resort shares a season pass with Boyne Mountain to the south.

Golf has a long history here. The Heather, a Robert Trent Jones Sr. design from 1966, was Boyne’s first 18-hole course, and the resort has since added The Moor, the Donald Ross Memorial, the Arthur Hills course and Doon Brae, a lit par-3 short course that opened in 2025. Summer and fall also bring mountain biking. The resort closes briefly between seasons, and its main lodge reopens for winter in December.