Sturgeon River Hike on the NCT
The past week started with some township related business as Township Clerk Lynn Gierke and I would do a call to learn about a potential archiving option for the township’s social media. While in the office, I had the opportunity to provide clarification to a local resident about the adjustable boat ramp dock and waterfront boardwalk that will be part of the projects funded by the SPARK Grant as well as the vision for a marina which is part of the preliminary engineering study for Centennial Park which we expect to receive from U.P. Engineers and Architects at the May Township Board meeting. I would also turn out a letter of support for the county’s funding request for Sheriff’s department vehicles to Congressman Bergman for our Township Supervisor Dave Mattson’s signature.
Tuesday morning I would meet up with our Chassell Historical Organization’s maintenance committee (Ed Kautto, Mike Soumis, and Mat Moore) and a representative from Bach Mobilities out of Escanaba at the Chassell Heritage Center to discuss a commercial-grade stair-climber to greatly improve accessibility to the building. We had hoped to do a platform elevator which would be more in line with universal accessibility, but, at over $200,000, the cost was too far out of reach for what we could reasonably raise. Based on the committee’s recommendation, I would correspond with the board via e-mail and entertain a motion to acquire and install the proposed stair-climbers. With a motion and a second supporting this direction as well as unanimous affirmative votes from board members, we will proceed with this last key step in improving accessibility to the Heritage Center which follows earlier projects to construct an ADA accessible ramp and parking outside the building. This project will be made possible by generous contributions from our patrons and the earlier projects were made possible by both contributions from our patrons and grants from the Keweenaw National Historical Park Advisory Commission.
After celebrating Julie’s birthday with friends over the previous weekend, the two of us would enjoy lunch on her actual birthday at Sky Sushi which included a couple of very nice treats!
The pool at MTU’s SDC was closed during the week for maintenance so Julie and I would opt for walks instead, including 2.3 miles on Monday evening down and through the Chassell Historic Trail and 1.9 miles on Wednesday from MTU’s SDC.
Wednesday I would finalize photo and video montages for Thursday evening’s Peter Wolfe Chapter of the North Country Trail’s annual meeting and meet up with Chapter President Connie Julien and Vice-President Mark Roberts at MTU to make sure it would play on the audio/visual equipment. You can see a couple of them on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel these links:
Thursday morning, Cham Deschaine would be out with a bucket truck to cut down three tall trees in our backyard that succumbed to beetle infestation which has added substantially to our already significant firewood supply.
I ran over to the Fire Hall where the Chassell Recreation Committee (Brian Waters, Steve Spahn, and I) would do a follow up phone call on the kayak/paddleboard vending concept we had discussed last week. We will be discussing this at greater length at this coming week’s Chassell Planning Commission meeting.
As a shout-out to General Motors, my 2003 Chevy Tahoe would turn 1/3 of a million miles on the way to the PWC of the NCT’s annual meeting.
The rocker panels and the backside of the rear wheel wells are starting to show their age with some rust, but otherwise this has been one amazing vehicle!
Friday morning we picked up a one-night booking for that evening in the cabin from a couple coming over from Bayfield, Wisconsin. Since the weather was nice and warm, I washed the windows in both the sauna and the cabin. With such amazingly perfect weather for early May, Julie and I then headed down to the Canyon Falls roadside park and put in a 4.7 mile hike on the North Country Trail on the stretch between the falls and the Humpback Bridge.
You can see my GoPro video from the hike on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel at this link:
We only picked up one tick a piece during the hike and, better yet, no mosquitoes!
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! Not sure? Come UP for a workcation to check it out! Learn how at Visit Keweenaw at https://www.visitkeweenaw.com/plan/trip-ideas-itineraries/workcations/ Visit Remote Workforce Keweenaw at https://remoteworkforcekeweenaw.com. Learn about those making the decision to locate here by following the Remote Workforce Keweenaw Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RemoteWorkforceKeweenaw.