Miners Castle snowmobile trail closure

[Rich Kay]

Small town politics going on within the county chain of command here I am sure.... Just like all the shi$#!*^ with the grooming that has been taking place which now finally has been worked out I hope. I thought it was always lawful to run the side of H-58 anyway from Conners rd east to H-15 (at the bear trap) ? Sleds have been doing it for years from my observation. Will be calling all the numbers above and getting some local input from contacts I know!

 

[Rich Kay]

This all takes me back to when there was a big pissing match over sleds (and sleds with studs) causing damage at road crossing areas..... I thought the outcome was ruled since we buy and use the same gas that cars and trucks do with the road taxes being paid to fix the roads the money is there to do so it just becomes a finger pointing game on who really maintains it? Gota fight for everything these days.....WAY to much fat at the top of command!

 

[NOS-PRO]

"Too much fat at the top of command"

You got that right.

This reminds me of the Chassel trail a few years ago where for a few years, the snowmobile trail was shut down from Baraga to Houghton-Hancock. In this time....houses were built on the edge of the water, some pretty big. The trail was opened again and home owners were furious! Our plan was to take that trail (cause it was officially open again for snowmobile use). The home owners roped off a very narrow trail and took all their snow, piled it as high as could be on the trail....so you had to climb and come down these straight up snow baracades. The DNR was there also and said "well, the trail is open but use caution". I'm not a snow-crosser, but I can say I felt like I was. 2 friends of mine rolled their sleds and for how much snow we put back in their driveways....it would have been better for them to just keep the snow down and let the snowmobilers pass on thru. One owner stood there watching and yelling at us "stupid snowmobilers".

 

[4StrokeAddict]

I think us stupid snowmobilers should take our business (food, gas and hotel) out of Alger County. That would send a nice message as there are plenty of other places in the area for us to spend our money. How long do you think it will take the businesses to have the road commission's collective @$$e$? Sending email in a few.

 

[BigDogrx1]

"Too much fat at the top of command"

You got that right.

This reminds me of the Chassel trail a few years ago where for a few years, the snowmobile trail was shut down from Baraga to Houghton-Hancock. In this time....houses were built on the edge of the water, some pretty big. The trail was opened again and home owners were furious! Our plan was to take that trail (cause it was officially open again for snowmobile use). The home owners roped off a very narrow trail and took all their snow, piled it as high as could be on the trail....so you had to climb and come down these straight up snow baracades. The DNR was there also and said "well, the trail is open but use caution". I'm not a snow-crosser, but I can say I felt like I was. 2 friends of mine rolled their sleds and for how much snow we put back in their driveways....it would have been better for them to just keep the snow down and let the snowmobilers pass on thru. One owner stood there watching and yelling at us "stupid snowmobilers".

Just at the moment he yelled "stupid snowmobilers" I would have pulled my bibs down and #*$&@ on his driveway.

 

[4StrokeAddict]

This appears to be Doug Miron's email as it wasn't previously listed. Please add him to your email list when sending messages to the Alger county officials: acrc@jamadots.com

http://www.usspecbook.com/MI/Alger County

 

[4StrokeAddict]

Message sent!

 

[BigDogrx1]

E-mail sent also

 

[NOS-PRO]

Just at the moment he yelled "stupid snowmobilers" I would have pulled my bibs down and #*$&@ on his driveway.

Lol, trust me.....we had some words and left him to dig out his driveway again.

 

[4StrokeAddict]

Just wanted to bump this back up to the top. There are lots of great people who belong to clubs and other snowmobile organizations that fight to keep our trails open. Lets help them by sending a quick email to the local officials who made this political decision so we can continue to ride at one of the best attractions the UP has to offer. Here is the list again (thanks everyone for doing the leg work).

Mike Graves

906-202-0216

Doug Miron, Chairman 906-387-2042
Fax: 906-387-5167
Email: acrc@jamadots.com
You may also want to contact the
Alger County Commissioners,
the
body that governs the county.
District 1
Catherine A. Pullen
906-452-6629 (leave message)
cpullen@algercourthouse.com

District 2
Joseph P. Vanlandschoot
906-387-2343
jpvanl@jamadots.com
District 3
Esley M. Mattson
906-202-3308

District 4
Jerry Doucette (D)
(906) 202-0061
JerryDoucette@charter.net

District 5
Mickey Rondeau
(906) 439-5656
mgrondeau@tds.net

 

[snowman 700]

From the MSA

Proof that there is strength in numbers!

Because of the volume of calls to Munising Visitors Bureau and Alger County Road Commission, both parties felt the need to sit down again and revisit the closure of Trail 422! In a public meeting at 1:00PM today Dec 17 2015 ACRC agreed to allow snowmobiles on the 2000 ft of H-58 connector to Miners Castle for 1 more year as long as Munising Visitors Bureau agreed to aggressively work on a suitable reroute to be in place for next year! Both parties were happy that a suitable solution could be reached and snowmobilers WIN! Thank you Munising Visitors Bureau and Alger County Road Commission!!

 

[4StrokeAddict]

Just received the following..

I attended a meeting at the RC today and the trail will re-open. Plans were made to continue to find a solution to moving the trail off the pavement as soon as possible.