Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By LARRY HOLCOMBE
Ironwood — The Superior Snowshoe Walkers are preparing for another season of weekly excursions on local trails.
“With all the snow we’ve had, we’ve been out already a few times,” said Sam Davey, a spokesman for the group. “We did a little work, checking the Michigan Welcome Center trail the other day. There’s no shortage of snow.”
As in past years, the group’s first event will be the Mark Fitting Annual Memorial Walk on Jan. 8, starting at Michigan Welcome Center on Cloverland Drive in Ironwood. The walk starts at 6:30 p.m.
Fitting was a local businessman and silent sports enthusiast.
Davey said the Welcome Center trail is in good shape, adding the Sisu Dirt Bike Crew did some trail tending during fair weather months to keep things nice. The trail begins and ends in the parking lot of the Michigan Welcome Center, although you can access it from the Riverside Cemetery. “There’s a half-mile loop, a one-mile loop and a one and a half-mile loop,” said Davey. “You can go about two miles without backtracking too much.”
The trail skirts the Montreal River and is on city and state property. Davey recalled a conference call with representatives of several state agencies when he was pitching the idea of the trail. “They were pretty confused about what we were proposing. A trail? Where? But in the end they said, ‘Go for it.’”
Davey said the trail is an asset to the community, right off the highway with parking available, but there are many fine trails in the area, and the group enjoys visiting them each year.
He said the Miners Memorial Park Trail has about three miles of trail and that may increase when work is done on the new mountain bike trails there.
Candlelight walk
Speaking of the Miners Memorial Park, the Friends of the MMP will host a candlelight snowshoe walk on Saturday. This eighth annual event will begin at 6:30 p.m.
The walk is not a race, so people of all experience levels will be able to walk, ski or snowshoe the Aurora Loop, a one-mile trail that begins and ends at the trailhead west of the Ironwood school bus garage.
Organizers are asking interested members of the public to build snowmen at the trailhead or in wider portions of the Aurora Loop in the days prior to the event.
Snowshoe schedule
The weekly Superior Snowshoe Walks are on Wednesdays, starting at 6:30 p.m., and continue through mid March. Headlights or flashlights are recommended.
For more information, Sam or Anne Davey at 906-932-2020 or cell 906-285-3142, or the Hobby Wheel at 906-932-3332.
The remainder of the schedule includes:
Jan. 15 — Bessemer walk will be at Bluff Valley Park on North Moore Street.
Jan. 22 — Cottonwood tree walk in Ironwood. Park at Manny’s Restaurant.
Jan. 29 — Gogebic Country Club in Ironwood.
Feb. 5 — Miners Park Trail Head at 776 E. Ayer St. in Ironwood. Red Devil Loop walk.
Feb. 12 — Schaumburg Park on U.S. 51 in Oma, Wis.
Feb. 19 — Michigan Travel Center Walk on Cloverland Drive in Ironwood.
Feb. 26 — No walk, Ash Wednesday.
March 4 — Miners Park Walk Pabst Loop. Park at City Garage on Penokee Road.
March 11 — ABR Trails, E5299 West Pioneer Road, Erwin Township.
March 18 — Wolverine Ski Trails, 5851 Sunset Road, Ironwood Township. Potluck cookout with bonfire. Bring a dish to pass, drinks and chairs if you wish to sit outside.