HANCOCK, Mich. (WZMQ) – The Hancock Trails Club has announced a new renovated trailhead and bike park project throughout the Maasto Hiihto and Churning Rapids Trails, but will need help from the surrounding community to receive state funding.
The 25 mile route has surrounded Hancock for decades, and has been in need of attention for years.
“There are great trails, but the parking lot itself had been just a dead-end road,” said Nate Laakonen, a Hancock Trails Club Member. “With its proximity to the city and also to the Hancock beach and campground, we thought it’d be a great spot to put in a new bike park and improve the amenities here.”
The new bike park will be fit with runs for all levels of bikers throughout the seasons.
“It’s going to feature several skill trails,” said Laakonen. “This’ll include a pump track, a strider loop for younger kids, and some other skill lines that will be more focused on intermediate level riders to advance their skills.”
The Trails Club and the city plan to provide visiting guests plenty of access to the site. In particular, with the Hancock Campground just down the road.
“One of the things that we’d like to do in the future is have a trail from this area to the campground,” said Dean Woodbeck, Chair of the Hancock Recreation Commission. “It’s one more amenity for campground visitors to use.”
After support from Visit Keweenaw and the City of Hancock to break ground on the project with a $20,000 grant this past spring, the project was accepted into a grant campaign through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. With this, the trails club must meet a community funded goal of $50,000 over the next month to receive a matching grant, heavily affecting the project.
“We’re really hopeful that everybody will support the project and kind of share the vision that we have,” said Laakonen. “Ground is going to be breaking in about a month, at the end of July. By the beginning of August, we’ll start building trail here.”
To donate to the trail campaign, visit patronicity.com.
