Copper Harbor MI
THE TWO DECADES OF VISIONS THAT LED TO 30 MILES OF WORLD-CLASS SINGLETRACK
It began in a little trailer in a field. So cold on winter nights that the water in your glass would be frozen come morning. The year was 1993, and there, in Copper Harbor, Michigan, the Keweenaw Adventure Company was born.
The ridges of the Copper Harbor trails ascend from the middle of Lake Superior up the Keweenaw Peninsula, and parallel the shores. With dramatic elevation changes and impressive vistas surrounding you, this area deserves the attention it now receives from the industry and riders across the country—the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) recently designated this trail system as a silver-level Ride Center.
But its trails didn’t appear overnight. They started with a vision, or rather visions that built upon each other for 20 years, eventually building a reality of dreams. The first of those visionaries lived in that frigid little trailer-cabin in the field.
Steve Brimm had a passion for the land that surrounded him. And looking out on it, he saw potential—to turn that passion for the terra into a life-sustaining venture; to realize the land’s true recreational value. “No other entity was taking advantage of the natural beauty in this tourist base,” Brimm says. With his wife, Julie, Brimm founded Keweenaw Adventure Company, focusing on dog sledding in the winter and kayaking, at first, in the summer. But they soon saw an opportunity to expose people to more of that big, wide wilderness beyond.
The only bike trails at the time were a series of old logging roads and one scraggly singletrack trail. “That was really all,” says Brimm. But his Keweenaw Adventure Company offered a trail map, and a way to tune your bike if it was running rough.
As a kid who loved Copper Harbor in the summer, and had been mountain biking out West, Raymond saw this area as an opportunity to craft his dream of a full-fledged ride zone into reality.
That was enough to get the momentum rolling. A year after the Adventure Co. was founded, the first annual Fat Tire Festival happened. This inaugural race ran down the old logging roads and dusty two-tracks of the day, taking the racers miles around the outskirts of the Keweenaw Peninsula. About 30 locals tried their mettle that first year.
Within several years, the Brimms, who’d set this wheel in motion, were ready to set their sights on new ventures, and a young man who’d spent his childhood on the shores of the Keweenaw was ready and willing to take it over. In 1999, Sam Raymond became the new manger of the Adventure Co.
As a kid who loved Copper Harbor in the summer, and had been mountain biking out West, Raymond saw this area as an opportunity to craft his dream of a full-fledged ride zone into reality.
Considering the beauty of the area and its accessibility, Raymond’s vision seemed simple enough: make this place the “Moab of the Midwest.” All it needed, of course, were a few more trails.
Friends of the Adventure Co. gathered for the cause and set out to lay, trim, brush and rake the first legit set of singletrack trails in Copper Harbor—all by hand. Their labors were rewarded with the sheer joy of riding what they’d just created. Paul’s Plunge, Rock’n Roll and French Annie were their early accomplishments. Time has since eroded these trails from the map.
But as the trails evolved, so the Fat Tire Festival progressed. The racers were pitted against the thrills of sweat-inducing climbs and rugged descents. Raymond moved the course in from the outskirts of town, ending it at the spectator-friendly community park. With an enthusiastic audience, the energy would catch on.
And it did. Raymond and the volunteers of the Fat Tire soon hosted a cookout and live music to entice racers to spend the night and create a mountain biker presence in the town. “Growth was steady, but slow,” Raymond admits.
A life-long mountain biker mindful of sustainable trail building, he thought he “could do a pretty good job” to aid the effort. And indeed, Rogers did a fine job.
Enter the bushy-haired kid from Wisconsin.
Moving up in 2005, Aaron Rogers had come to shred the nearby ski hill, Mount Bohemia. But as spring rolled in, his job rolled out of reach, and he found himself with generous time to devote to trail building with the crew of Copper Harbor. A life-long mountain biker mindful of sustainable trail building, he thought he “could do a pretty good job” to aid the effort. And indeed, Rogers did a fine job.
While he lopped, dug up roots and swung a maddock into the rocky soil, Rogers and Raymond cultivated a friendship. It led to a vision: This place, this scene, could be huge if it had more structure and—more funding.
In 2008, the two registered the Copper Harbor Trails Club (CHTC) as a 501(c)3. “We needed to appear a viable organization and have a tax incentive for people to donate,” Rogers says.
With donations coming in, Rogers could get paid for his talent and time in the woods. But when trail-building ambitions began to exceed the work of one man, the CHTC hired another dedicated builder and bought a mini-excavator. With the added resources, they could carve around five miles of trail a summer.
Their projects of the last few years have caused quite a buzz among adrenaline junkies. Danimal, an intermediate dirt jump trail rips down 300 vertical feet and whips riders around an anstounding 27 features. It hones the skills of those not yet ready for Flying Squirrel. An advanced downhill line, Flying Squirrel covers 350 feet of vertical, with 35 high-flying features, including a wall ride and a whale tail. It’s a trail that the crew painstakingly pounded and smoothed out every inch of for the ultimate ride. Moments after these gravity-fed trails were ready, bikers were soaring through the air—25-feet into the sky off some of the features.
Pedaling up the 600-foot ridges will have you panting by the top, if not sooner, but the ride down will take your breath away.
Then there’s On the Edge, which literally starts on the edge of a cliff. It weaves its way along that cliff before it descends, slithering through a ravine down a series of banked boardwalks. It’s a favorite of photographers given its dynamic aesthetic.
The Flow is another recent gem. Starting at the top of Brockway Mountain, this trail ebbs and flows through large, deep berms on its three-mile descent. Though the majesty of Lake Superior is a commanding presence during the ride, riders should keep their eyes on the trail. The trail’s end holds its greatest thrill. Snaking through a multitude of turns, it finally swings around a rock nob on a bermed bridge held up by a 40-foot-long elevated rock wall. Then boom! You’re spit out on the highway. The Flow has been voted one of IMBA’s 2012 Flow Country Trails.
Copper Harbor currently hosts 30 miles of world-class singletrack. Riders tread over volcanic conglomerate rock beds, between pine trees, through cedar bogs, over planked boardwalks and along cliffs. Pedaling up the 600-foot ridges will have you panting by the top, if not sooner, but the ride down will take your breath away.
If huffing and puffing isn’t your style, the Keweenaw Adventure Company offers shuttles up the mountains.
Shuttle runs. More evidence of Copper Harbor’s legitimate trail system. With each passing year, the Adventure Co. rents more bikes, sells more maps.
And of Fat Tire Festival? It’s transformed into the Bell’s Beer Copper Harbor Trails Festival and is capped at 500 racers. The enduro continues to gain popularity as Midwest riders lust for more gravity events. The memorial dock jumping competition sends riders into the chilly Superior waters; and an intense downhill course is in the mix for next year.
Besides top-notch trails to ride, racers are treated to a Harbor-style celebration. As famished riders cross the finish in the park, they’re greeted by rowdy fans, a meal hot off the grill and an ice cold microbrew. Then the party continues across the street with live music at the local bar. It’s no wonder trail enthusiasts come from all over the country and Canada to rock the trails and the party.
It only took the visions of a few dedicated souls and hundreds of dull hand tools.
Last winter, IMBA designated Copper Harbor a silver-level Ride Center—one of the three highest recommended riding destinations in the world.
Not bad for a town of 90 year-round residents. It only took the visions of a few dedicated souls and hundreds of dull hand tools. This perseverance carries beyond the woods to the evening meetings where hundreds of hours are spent making the next big decisions.
As for Rogers, he hopes to see another trail crew added in Copper Harbor, with each crew having access to their own excavator.
A tad ambitious, but Copper Harbor is not for the faint-hearted. In his early days, Raymond believed: “If you build it, they will come."
An expansive project is also proposed: a 30-mile singletrack loop around the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The Keweenaw Point Trail, when complete, will voyage bikers and hikers through previously hard-to-find-and-get-to sites including waterfalls, inland lakes, sand beaches and cliffs. The pipe dream is to implement primitive campsites, so adventurers can explore the treasures of the lake and land day by day.
A tad ambitious, but Copper Harbor is not for the faint-hearted. In his early days, Raymond believed: “If you build it, they will come.”
Now, in her early days, the club’s new executive director, Lori Hauswirth, thinks: “Combine the offerings in Copper Harbor with the other three mountain bike systems in the Keweenaw, and this region should be on everyone’s vacation list far into the future.”
It’s a vision we can all share here Copper Harbor.
