GOGEBIC COUNTY, Mich. (WZMQ) – Two western UP trails have been reopened, following severe flood damages from the Father’s Day Flood in 2018. Both the 8-mile U-P Trail No. 3 in Lake Linden and Trail No. 2 in Gogebic County (pictured below) are now open for public use.
After the Father’s Day flood tore through the Lake Linden to Dollar Bay area of the trail, over $10 million in repairs were made.
Trail and property analysts said around 50% of snowmobile trails in the state of Michigan exist on private land. In the past, Trail No. 2 was on private land and the owners had restricted access to the existing trail. The DNR has since formed a new route along old US 2.
“Individual clubs that maintain and groom snowmobile trails work with private landowners to get permission for those trails, so it depends on the type of agreement or the area but clubs have agreements to provide access to snowmobile trails for 4 months for the year,” commented Matt Torreano.
Funding for these repairs came from numerous sources, including $4 million from the Michigan Economic Development Corp., $2 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, $2.1 million from state ORV funds, $1.5 million in federal Land and Water Conservation Fund and $.5 million in snowmobile program money.
“A reopened trail will look like a new trail, with some slight changes to the route and there’ll be of course clearing and obvious construction that’s taking place and it will look differently than it did in the winter of 2018 before the flood took place,” commented DNR Property Analyst Matt Torreano.
The DNR noted that trail managers have not groomed Trail No. 2, as it would interfere with road clearings and snow removal.
Click here for a list of Michigan’s snowmobile and off-road trails open for public use.
