Raging Torrent
The past week started with a short North Country Trail hike along the Sturgeon River at Canyon Falls. The roadside park had recently been opened for the season which made accessing the trail easier, but we would need to contend with a late season snow (which would continue the next couple of days) that had blanketed the area with several inches of wet, slushy precipitation. Cleats were a good choice to navigate the extremely slick boardwalks and terrain along the way.
Upon reaching the Sturgeon River, we found a raging torrent making its way toward the falls and the canyon below it. I cannot recall having seen the river higher than I saw it on this visit. A slip into the river on this day would have surely resulted in one’s demise. At the falls, the surging river washed up and over the rock shelf where you can normally take photographs with confidence. It would be a more challenging effort on this day.
We hiked a mile westward while enjoying the many views of the powerful hydraulics below us.
You can see my GoPro video from this hike at this link:
After the hike we met up back in Chassell at the space over our garage to celebrate Julie’s birthday.
Coming back to the snow that we were just getting a taste of on April 30th, the next couple of days would bring record breaking May snow to Herman which is not far from Canyon Falls. Twenty-seven inches would fall there in a twenty-four hour period which would break the record for May snowfall to the east of 100 degrees west longitude (effectively east of the Rocky Mountains). Herman would receive 48 inches of snow overall as part of this storm. Meanwhile in Chassell, which we like to refer to as being in the Keweenaw’s banana-belt, we would receive no accumulating snow.
Tuesday was election day and we would have three millages on the ballot here in Chassell Township involving roads, school operating, and recreation. All three would pass. It was particularly exciting to see the recreation millage get renewed for the next five years as this will allow us to continue the planning commission’s work to develop the township’s recreation assets with public input. This coming Monday our recreation committee will meet to develop a survey. Its results will drive our next 5-Year Recreation Plan and chart the course for our future projects.
Wednesday I got out for my second rehab run putting in four miles on the rail-trail at just under 9:00/mile pace. I would follow this up with a another four mile run at a similar pace on Saturday. I am feeling good about the progress I am making.
Wednesday evening I attended the Redevelopment Ready Community Summit session on development put on by Wendy Rampson from the Michigan Association of Planning. The session provided good reinforcement for the course we have been charting for Chassell Township as we work our way through the Redevelopment Ready Community process with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, particularly with the work we have completed with both our Master Plan and our zoning ordinance. While talking with representatives from Laurium after the meeting, I learned about a remote worker who has come to Copper Harbor from Chicago.
On Thursday I attended a meeting with Anne-Mari Paster from the Finlandia Foundation along with members of the Finnish Council of America to discuss the Foundation’s effort to acquire the Finnish-American Heritage Center and related assets with the closure of Finlandia University. Given the significant Finnish immigration that came to this region as well as the important history of Finlandia University/Suomi College, maintaining these important assets are significant not only Hancock, but to Finnish-Americans nation-wide and Finns who had family come to the America and then return to Finland.
Thursday evening’s Chassell Planning Commission meeting was focused on tracking progress on key projects including Industrial Graphics’ production of signage for the Chassell Historical Organization’s historic interpretive trail on the mill site and the township’s canoe/kayak launch as well as Feighner’s production of the gangway, floating dock, and ADA transfer for the canoe/kayak launch. All are expected to be produced during May.
On Saturday evening we went out to our friend’s Rich and Debby’s place for sauna. Rich indicated he had a couple of friends from Stanton Township who would be there as well. One turned out to be John who is a remote worker living in Freda who I had met at the Luminary Ski back in December. The other, Joe, is a cousin of our Daavettila neighbors in Chassell. There was a lot of great conversation in the course of the two hours we spent going back and forth from the sauna. I would learn from John about a remote worker from Chicago who came to Chassell last fall. It turned out that the remote worker had bought his house from our friends Miles and Jennifer who had moved to the Iron Mountain area.
Do you embrace winter and have the ability to work remotely? Consider locating in the Keweenaw where you will find ubiquitous natural beauty, no congestion, and lower crime! Learn about those making the decision to locate here by following the Remote Workforce Keweenaw Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RemoteWorkforceKeweenaw and be sure to visit the Remote Workforce Keweenaw website at https://remoteworkforcekeweenaw.com.