The only natural-ice luge track in the country, open to anyone

Most luge tracks in the world are sealed concrete chutes kept frozen by miles of refrigeration pipe, reserved for athletes training for the Olympics. Tucked in the dunes of Muskegon State Park, just up the shore from North Muskegon, there is one that breaks both rules: it is frozen by nothing but Michigan winter, and it will hand the sled to you.

The track runs 850 feet down a wooded slope. It has six curves and two starting points, so first-timers can begin partway down where it is tamer. It is a kunstbahn — German for “artificial track,” the banked-curve kind real luge is raced on. But it is the only one in the country built from natural ice instead of refrigeration. Crews flood and pack it by hand when the cold sets in. So whether it runs at all depends on the weather, the way it would have a century ago.

The man who designed it knew the sport from the inside. Frank Masley was a three-time U.S. Olympic luger. He laid out a course steep enough to be a real thrill, but gentle enough for someone who has never lain on a sled in their life. You show up, they give you the gear and a lesson, and then you go down on your back, feet first. You can hit about 30 miles an hour, with your shoulder blades a couple of inches off the ice.

The whole thing sits in a winter-sports complex with skating trails through the trees and cross-country ski loops, but the luge is the headline. It is a rare, slightly improbable thing — an Olympic-style run on real ice, in a Michigan state park, where the only qualification is that you are willing to lie down and let go.