Hiking the Chassell Trails Ahead of Ski Season
The election and reporting to the Township Board on the part of the Planning Commission were last week’s primary highlights. A very important happening I did not mention in my previous post involved Baraga Telephone’s success in securing a $3.3 million USDA Reconnect Loan that will help bring highspeed broadband fiber to the home to more residents not currently being served in Chassell Township. Earlier this year I had written a letter of support for our Township Supervisor Dave Mattson to go along with Baraga Telephone’s application. You can read the news report on this success which will support remote work here in the Keweenaw on the Daily Mining Gazette’s webpage at this link.
Election day brought an awesome sunrise!
This past week concluded our 2022 Airbnb season. I caught this moonlight shot over the lake while heating the sauna for a couple that was staying with us.
Needing to be at the Township Board meeting last Wednesday, I had to pass on the Keweenaw Running Group run; as a result, I shoehorned in an afternoon rail-trail run.
Having been at the remote worker networking event in October, I missed last month’s Township Board meeting. This resulted in a rather lengthy report to get the board caught up on recent activities, including the RFP for redevelopment proposals for the Hancock Street properties; UPEA working out details with the selected vendor on the canoe/kayak launch gangway and floating dock with transfer; progress on the canoe/kayak launch signage funded by the Visit Keweenaw grant; discussion of our planned direction on the DNR SPARK Grant opportunity; discussion of our progress with the historic interpretive trail on the mill site; discussion of our planned direction with the blight remediation assistance program; and an update on our progress with the master planning process.
Last week also included the Veterans Day holiday. I want to give a big shout out to all the veterans out there who have served our country at great risk to themselves to assure our freedom. I particularly want to recognize my Dad who was honored on Friday as the oldest living veteran in his county’s veterans organization at age 96. He served in the Navy on an LSM in the south Pacific during WW II and in China during its revolution. He had the opportunity to speak at this event about his recollections regarding the delivery of the atomic bomb components by the Indianapolis.
Snow made its arrival to Chassell last week as well! You can get a look at the gently falling flakes at this post I made to Pinterest. The arrival of snow also means the number of rail-trail runs left in 2022 will be rapidly dwindling, so I pulled on my spikes and got out there on Sunday morning!
On Sunday afternoon our hiking group met up at the Chassell Heritage Center and hiked the Chassell Trails. With winter soon upon us, this was likely our last visit for the year without either cross country skis or snowshoes.
We hiked a combination of the ski trails and the snowshoe trails and made a stop at Hamar Creek Falls along the way. It was a great afternoon for a hike in the woods!
Monday this week was spent preparing my President’s message for the Chassell Heritage Center Newsletter and minutes from last month’s Keweenaw Nordic Ski Club meeting.
On Tuesday Mat Moore (our Chassell Historical Organization Curator) and I met on the historic trail with MTU’s College of Social Sciences Department Chair, Don Lafreniere, to discuss the incorporation of the Keweenaw Time Traveler into the trail project.
Through QR codes on the signs, visitors will be able to access historic maps of the mill and they will be able to ping against the maps to orient themselves to the site. In addition, this tool will allow visitors to access historical photographs and important historical information. Don provided me the QR codes and I shared these with Terri Frew so her students can include these with their sign designs which we will be receiving this week!
Do you embrace winter and have the ability to work remotely? Would you value living in a place with ubiquitous natural beauty that has NO congestion and lower crime? Consider locating in the Keweenaw where you will be surrounded by amazing places! Learn more by visiting Remote Workforce Keweenaw at https://remoteworkforcekeweenaw.com and learn about those who have made the decision to locate here by following the Remote Workforce Keweenaw Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RemoteWorkforceKeweenaw.