Kayak Launch Installation!

On Monday of this past week Feighner Dock delivered and installed the Sturgeon River kayak launch! This has been quite a journey that dates back to the 2017 recreation survey when Chassell residents overwhelmingly told the Chassell Township Planning Commission that they wanted to see river trails. Focusing on the Sturgeon River at the US 41 bridge on the back side of the tragic accident and fuel spill that occurred there, we secured a MDNR Waterways Grant that, along with recreation millage funding, helped us get the preliminary engineering for the project completed by John Paul Pietila with Traverse Engineering Services. We then worked with Chris Holmes at U.P. Engineers & Architects on the site and launch designs. We also worked with Hunter King at the EGLE and Jean Battle with the Corps of Engineers on the required permitting. We sought and received a $20,000 recreation grant from the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation to support the project. The grant combined with recreation millage funding allowed us to proceed by having DP Construction implement the site design. This work involved excavating a notch in the bank of the river to keep the launch out of the current and to provide an ADA accessible slope to the river as well as installing a concrete headwall at the bottom of the slope where the launch gangway could be attached to the shore. Soaring aluminum prices in 2022 delayed acquisition of the launch and gangway, but we eventually awarded the project to Feighner Dock based in Charlotte, Michigan with a U.P. base of operations in Gwinn. We also received a destination grant from Visit Keweenaw which allowed us to develop two interpretive signs for the launch site. The first of these signs provides a map of the river that covers its course from Prickett Dam on down to Portage Lake and identifies put-in and take-out points. Steve Rouser from WUPPDR provided important technical assistance with this map. This sign also points out the river’s historic use for moving white pine timber to the mill in Chassell highlighting “the cut” excavated in the 1870s from the river to Pike Bay where the historic trail on the former mill site can be accessed. The second sign, beautifully illustrated by Chassell resident Mat Moore, highlights the wildlife and fishery found in and along the Sturgeon River. John DePue with the MDNR and longtime Chassell DPW employee Joe Youngman provided technical assistance with this sign.

Just ahead of the launch’s delivery at 3:00, Krisitin Ojaniemi from Discovering, Colin Jackson from WLUC TV 6, and Thomas Fournier from ABC 10 and the Keweenaw Report interviewed both Mat Moore and me for stories about the launch and signage installation. You can see Colin Jackson’s story at this link.

When the launch arrived, Steve Spahn, Mat Moore, and I helped the crew from Feighner unload the components and stage them throughout their effort. It took almost until 8:00 p.m. to get it all put together and attached to the headwall.

It is exciting to see the positive community response to the launch on social media. A large group jumped on the launch’s availability on Tuesday and provided rave reviews!

The ADA transfer, 4” toe plate around the perimeter, transfer plate on the headwall, cutting and capping of the corner posts, and additional gangway rails are expected to be added this coming week. It is an awesome feeling to see all of the effort that has gone into this project culminating in this implementation!

Tuesday I tweaked the summary information that will be included in the recreation survey that Chassell Township residents will the have an opportunity to complete. A link to a Google Survey will be sent out in a mailing to residents this coming week with hard copy surveys available at the township offices.

Tuesday evening I met with the Planning Commission’s Capital Improvement Committee to work on our six-year capital improvement plan.

Wednesday morning I was back on North Country Trail on Plumbago Creek to the west of Alberta where our team led by Mark Roberts completed a rebuild of the bridge over the creek.

Even with some rain, the project was completed! Above is the day 4 crew including: (back row): Bill, Mark, Stan, Ken, Robert, Jennifer, and Julie. (front row): John, me, Sally, Linda, and Nancy.

Once the sun came out on Wednesday, it turned out to be a rather hot day! Julie and I opted for a swim at the SDC instead of a running with the Keweenaw Running Group.

Thursday, I attended Mark Worrall’s very informative presentation on the relationship between the railroad industry and the mining industry at the Chassell Heritage Center.

Friday morning after squeezing in a 2,000 yard swim at the SDC, I met up at 9:00 a.m. with Kayleigh and Jesse from Visit Keweenaw to show them around the kayak launch and the Chassell Historic Trail.

Kayleigh posted this nice overview of the Historic Trail on this link to Instagram.

Late Friday morning we headed down to the Trap Hills to get in a 6-mile hike on the North Country Trail near the site of the US Mine. A really cool aspect of this segment are the talus slopes you will find along the escarpment to the west of the mine site.

We really like this narrow valley that you will find about three miles in from the east end of the segment. The moss covering the rock in this area is an eye-popping green!

I am a bit space limited for more photos, so here is the link to my GoPro video at this link to the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel:

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