South Bend Outdoor Activities

Canlan Ice Sports has three NHL-sized rinks, and all three receive their fair share of carvings during professional skating lessons, open-skate sessions, and high-intensity hockey leagues. Of the many offerings, the center’s weeklong hockey camps develop trainees' agility and shooting skills, just as its three-on-three youth-hockey leagues pit one inadequate barbershop quartet against another. Regardless of the reason for arrival, visitors can always grab food and refreshments at the Thirsty Penguin, a full-service restaurant and bar that overlooks the rinks and doubles as a secret meeting spot for Batman’s roundest nemesis. For off-ice excitement, guests can visit the inflatable playground, freely traversing the double-sided slide and other components comprising the bouncy playland.

Echo Valley brings together tobogganing, tubing, and ice skating into one snowy spot for wintertime revelry. At the tobogganing hill, quarter-mile runs accelerate sledders to speeds as fast as 60 MPH before bringing them to a safe halt at the bottom, where the staff then sends the toboggan back to the top via an overhead lift. Ice skaters find ample space for gliding and pirouetting on the 43,000 square-foot rink. After tubing to their heart’s content or taste-testing snowflake appetizers, visitors can warm themselves around the lodge’s circular fireplace or observe fellow snow-goers from the expansive observation deck while sipping on hot chocolate or nibbling on snacks.

Since 1979, the namesake of Gary's Indiana Muskie Experience has navigated local lakes and waterways while helping anglers reel in trophy fish. By reading weather patterns and reflecting on wisdom gained through years as a water wizard, the fishing specialist sets out in search of the muskellunge, a deep-dwelling predator known to weigh up to 70 pounds. Gary carefully selects lures that represent the fishes' seasonal diet, finicky appetite, and general distaste for swashbuckling pirate hooks. He also equips each of his guests with rods and reels capable of withstanding the fish's well-known strength. Most expeditions take place on Webster Lake, Backwater Lake, The Barbee Chain, Lake Tippecanoe, James Lake, Oswego Lake, Loon Lake, and Upper Long Lake.

Wings Stadium plays host to more than just board-slamming checks during the Kalamazoo Wings' home hockey games. On select days, the 8,023-seat venue opens its frozen confines to amateurs interested in all sorts of winter sports. Skaters of all ages can glide across the smooth ice during open-skating sessions, and members of the Kalamazoo Curling Club practice and face off throughout the fall and winter. On weekend nights, hockey fans can bring their own skates to a K-Wings home game and finish their night skating and checking the ice for lost incisors.