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Club News & Newsletters
Also, we recently had an article on area trail development in the newspaper:
East Range trail work advancing
By CHARLES RAMSAY
Regional Editor
Published: Tuesday, April 8, 2008 11:23 PM CDT
DULUTH — Summer 2008 is shaping up as a busy time for building trails on the East Range for a snowmobile-all terrain vehicle route, and for the Mesabi Trail as well.
The Ranger Snowmobile/ATV Club received a recreational trail easement from the St. Louis County Board Tuesday across state-tax forfeit land the county administers, for a grant-in-aid recreational trail that is expected to connect with the state off-highway vehicle park near Gilbert, and a trail connecting Gilbert to Eveleth and other trails.
The Mesabi Trail project also will be paving about 10 miles of trail on the East Range, and starting on plans to go to Embarrass. The Ranger club will be paying $1,990 in fees to the county for costs. But another situation is getting the approval of a small-portion owner for the easement, said member Duane “Dewey” Rudolph of Fayal Township. He sent a registered letter to the part-owner, and said he may have to send another one.
The club is looking to extend a newer dirt trail from the vicinity of the old Lake Mine west of Aurora along the east side of County Road 138 up to the Giants Ridge resort and over to Biwabik and to the OHV park outside Gilbert, to avoid being too close to the nonmotorized Mesabi Trail. Some earthmoving work, as well as grading, is expected to be performed by club volunteers. Once work is done, it will be inspected by state officials for approval in the state’s grant-in-aid trail system.
Rudolph said that the newer trail will be for multi-use enjoyment, from horseback riders to mountain bikers, all-terrain vehicle riders and snowmobilers. It won’t be open to four-wheel-drive trucks for now, he added.
“It’s going to be a great asset to those communities on the Range,’’ Rudolph added.
Mesabi Trail director Bob Manzoline said Tuesday that they work with the Rangers Snowmobile/ATV Club and other groups regularly, and have worked on portions of trails near to each other. Some cooperation may occur on several graded crossings, where motorized vehicles may cross the Mesabi Trail.
“They’re all connected by snowmobile trails,’’ on the East Range, he added.
Work on the trail this summer includes 13 miles of paving being put down, from three miles in Itasca County (Scenic Road 7 to Marble); four miles, from McKinley to Biwabik; and six miles, from Giants Ridge over the Laurentian Divide toward Hwy. 135. Planning will proceed for the next segment, from there to Lamppa’s Corners in Embarrass.
The goal of the snowmobile-ATV trail is part of an overall plan for building some destination trails, Commissioner Keith Nelson of Fayal Township said. There are future trail hookups possible along Forest Highway 11 to Two Harbors, and to the Cloquet Valley trail system, which comes up toward Aurora.
The new East Range trail can “open up any number of possibilities for connectivity,’’ he said.
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