02/27/12 ~ The trails are all in great condition, yep, I said great! No more ‘good’ conditions. I got a call from Pres. Mike late yesterday from the trail; first of all, he’s logged over 600 miles this past week on his sled from Munising to Tacquamenon Falls and said he found good riding most of the way. Trail #89 and 8 do get ‘tired’ by the end of the day but that’s to be expected with the amount of traffic we’ve seen on the weekends. This morning I woke to 2-3 inches of fresh snow here in town and it’s still snowing which will really help the trail into town. The map shows that the snowbelt got even more since yesterday morning putting that whole area in the 2 to 3 foot depth range. The NWS has us under an advisory but are cautious to say how much we might actually see out of the system coming in, looks like it might hit the lower UP with as much as 5 to 9′ depending on the track it takes.

As of last night, Pres. Mike said that there was close to 6′ of fresh snow out in the snowbelt area. He and Norm took the groomers out to set up the reroute for#443 around the logging operations. They ran into a couple snags of brush piles that still need to be cleared out before they can finish it. He also said it’s going to be a beautiful ride. This reroute will be a permanent change to #443 in hopes that we don’t have a conflict with logging operations in the future. There will be a short section of 200 to 300 feet of shared trail/roadway. The loggers also opened up about a 1/4 mile of #88 from M-77 going east on Camp Newton Road to access and haul out wood before load restrictions go on the roads.

While you are out there enjoying the trails you may be missing some awesome sites along the Lakeshore Trail #89. Aside from the overlook at the Log Slide, did you know there are new viewing areas where you can look out over the Big Lake? These are near the parking lot south of the Hurricane River Bridge. The National Park Service also opened the rest rooms there this winter! There are some really cool sites in the campgrounds off #89, too; like the foot bridge over the river, the mouth of the river, and many cool photo ops. Slow down and enjoy our National Lakeshore and all it has to offer in the winter!

Last Sunday, the 18th, a modular helmet was found on the hill headed out of town on M-77. The finder figured it must have been set on the trailer and rolled off going up the hill… To claim it, call Bayshore Market Gas Station 906-494-2581.