Spark Grant Progress
Last week would end in a flurry of activity. Most importantly, DP Construction would complete the accessible walkway from the pavilion to the waterfront at Centennial Park here in Chassell. This was the first deliverable funded by our Michigan Department of Natural Resources Spark Grant which also received financial support from the Chassell Lions Club.
I would also meet on site at the Sturgeon River Launch with Chris Holmes, Dan Palosaari, Brian Waters, Lynn Gierke, Cole Smith, and Craig Austin to discuss the input we received from Merrie Carlock from the MNDR on our Natural Resources Trust Fund and Recreation Passport grant proposals to discuss how we would modify our proposed program to incorporate her feedback. We will be looking to widen the base of the approach to incorporate a paved ADA parking space and walkway to the headwall as well as including a paved ADA parking space and walkway to the proposed restroom.
I also had the opportunity to talk with Andy Powers with MDOT about his recent visit to assess the rail corridor between Chassell and Arnheim. He will be running an RFP that will provide three options to proposers: removing the rails; removing the ties; and removing both the rails and ties. He indicated that he will be looking to include trail preparation as well.
Friday afternoon Julie and I would go boating with our friends Cindy and Bill as well as a few of Cindy and Julie’s water aerobics friends. It was a beautiful afternoon to be on the water and we traveled out of the South Entry and went as far as the Jacobsville Lighthouse on Lake Superior’s Keweenaw Bay.
Saturday would be the Parade of Nations in Houghton. Julie did a book signing for four hours at Black Ice and I went out to Maasto Hihto where a handful of volunteers were staging lumber for the boardwalk construction on Trail 17. I can’t say that I provided any meaningful assistance, but I was able to capture a few shots from the progress.
The antibiotics I had been taking were effective in knocking out the cellulitis on my foot as well as substantially reducing the pain and discomfort I had from the infection. I felt good enough to try hiking with crutches on Sunday. Our hiking group met up to hike the Holy Transfiguration Monastic Park just off of the Eagle Harbor Cutoff. I would hike with Julie and our friend Sue as I was certain the steepest part of this hike would not be in my best interests.
We ended up going 2.6 miles with over 600 feet of elevation gain as we hiked down and back up along the edge of the Jacobs Creek gorge.
You can see a GoPro short video from the hike at this link: https://youtube.com/shorts/eB0KxeG_lVU?si=MyTct_4XI22MA82s
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