Return of the Gorge!
The past week saw the return of meaningful snow to the Keweenaw! For me, the week was also a mix of conditioning activities and meetings starting with a 2,100 yard swim on Monday morning and a Houghton County Recreation Authority meeting on Monday afternoon. The latter brought the opportunity to brief the authority members on our township’s efforts to ready snowmobile trail #15 for use this winter and to coordinate with key stakeholders (MDNR, MDOT, KEDA, and Baraga County) to work toward turning the rail corridor south of Chassell into an all-purpose trail. I was also able to brief the authority on our upcoming hearing in February to seek public input on our Chassell Township plan to submit either a Passport or Natural Resources Trust Fund grant proposal to the MDNR in April seeking funding for additional improvements to the canoe/kayak launch on the Sturgeon River. I also briefed the authority on the re-opening of former trail #17 at Maasto Hiihto which will provide a by-pass to Tomasi Road as well as Chassell Township’s recently submitted 5-Year MDNR Recreation Plan.
Tuesday morning would include a chilly 3.5-mile run in Chassell which included a side trip down to the lake at Centennial Park.
That afternoon, I drove up to The Bluffs in Houghton to make a presentation to residents there on my experience doing the Border to Border Ski in Finland last March. In the evening, I would drive up to the Houghton County Fairgrounds for a special meeting of the Hancock Trails Club board.
Wednesday would be bookended by a Keweenaw Chamber meeting in the morning and a Chassell Township Board meeting in the evening. The first would involve annual reports by the Chamber and the Keweenaw Economic Development Alliance. The second would involve me reporting out to the Chassell Township board regarding the progress on the SPARK Grant projects, progress on the rail corridor development efforts, thanking Dave Mattson and Ryan Kuntze for their work over the past weekend to chainsaw deadfall from snowmobile trail #15, the setting of the hearing to gain public input on our expected Passport or Natural Resources Trust Fund Grant proposal to further improve the Sturgeon River canoe/kayak launch, and our discussion at the previous Thursday’s planning commission meeting with architect James Marusich about Dan Palosaari’s proposed redevelopment project at the Chassell Mercantile site.
Thursday I would meet over lunch with Mike Richard from Realogic and one of his staff about the opening of their office in Houghton. With unexpected clear shoulders on US 41, I would also fit in an afternoon run to Broemer Road and back.
Friday would be a combination of a 2,100 yard swim and personal financial business at Superior National Bank.
The snow that started on Friday continued throughout the weekend which kept me busy shoveling on both days. Sunday, we were supposed to do a snowshoe hike on the North Country Trail to O Kun de Kun Falls, but less than desirable road conditions resulted in the hike’s cancellation. As an alternative, I met up with our friend Mark Roberts at the Tomasi Trailhead at Maasto Hiihto where we went on a 9-mile ski.
The groomers have been making their best efforts to roll the trails, but, with snow continuing to fall, they had their work cut out for them. Nevertheless, Mark and I hit the trails where we quickly checked out the re-opened Trail #17. This is a really nice alternative to Tomasi Road. The trail runs through the woods and has a thrilling downhill drop near its end. We then skied Creekside along Swedetown Creek.
We jumped off trail to ski through the beautiful pine forest as we approached the gate heading toward Churning Rapids.
We skied from there up to the Triangle and then followed the pine-lined Sunset Trail.
We would ski along the north rim of the Swedetown Creek before dropping into it to ski its length for the first time since before the Fathers Day Flood in 2018. It was a long process, but the bridges wiped out by the flood have now been replaced after significant effort by the City of Hancock, the Hancock Trails Club, OHM Advisors, and MJO with funding support from FEMA. The gorge is definitely the crown jewel of Maasto Hiihto and it is awesome to have this important skiing asset available once again!
You can see my GoPro video from the ski at the following link to the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel:
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