Madeline Island Trails
/by Marnie Sanborn Myhre, 2022
New boardwalks for the Burroughs trail.
We’ve had a busy year with lots of new work accomplished on the trails in 2021/2022. The goal to make the trails more accessible to the community and visitors year round is an ongoing project, but we made a dent and will continue in our efforts. The best time on the trails is in the winter with Nordic skiing, but we are working hard to make muddy summer trails more walkable without needing knee-high rubber boots.
Although we don’t have a way to accurately track trail usage, we’re confident in reporting that usage is up significantly from years past. Near town, Ken Myhre has been setting a ski track on the east side of the Capser Trail and flat-grooming the majority of that trail to encourage multi-use, which has led to lots of hikers, snowshoers and snowmobilers sharing the trail with skiers. I actually skied past two other skiers and four hikers on the trail during our last big blizzard. On a north-end ski outing in late February the Burroughs Trailhead lot was completely full, and Keith Sowl remarked that he had never seen that happen or that many people skiing in all his years working on the trails. I’ve also seen numerous cars parked in the new Schoolhouse Trailhead lot on several occasions.
So what are we doing in response to last year’s survey reporting that our constituents want to see attention paid to our system of trails? Here’s a list of some of this year’s accomplishments, skillfully headed up by Tom Kromroy:
• The Burroughs hiking trail from the parking lot to the lake overlook was “duck boarded” to allow hikers to enjoy it all summer long in spite of muddy conditions from spring and rain. This 3-day project was completed by a hard-working group of volunteers and entailed putting the boards together, carrying them to the trail and placing them where needed … and then after the boards had settled for a couple days, leveling them.
• Duck boards have been placed in muddy areas at the bottom of ravines on the Upper East Loop Trail.
• The footbridge over the stream below the large ravine on the Schoolhouse/Harmon section of trail was replaced.
• Attractive and effective MIWP signs were assembled and installed at the three major north end trailheads — North Shore, Sowl, and Schoolhouse.
• A new, simple, parking lot was installed at the Schoolhouse Trailhead which can accommodate 4+ cars, giving trail users a safe place to park.
We’ve also been working closely with the Madeline Island Trails (MIT) organization in the maintenance and grooming of the trails on the MIWP lands. Madeline Island Trails (MIT) has:
• Cleared the trails in the fall after big storms to have the trails ready for grooming in the winter.
• Regularly maintained and groomed the trails for winter Nordic skiing.
• Created bypass reroutes (winter only) around large ravines on the north end trails to allow for both easier/safer grooming and skiing.
• Installed a “Clemson leveler”, a section of 4” perforated PVC pipe, through the two beaver dams below the Capser Trail bridge to mitigate water back-up from the dams. Water has been flowing through that pipe already this spring, and the water level was well below the bridge late last fall.
• Partnered with the Town of La Pointe (Ben Schram) to help maintain the Capser Trail by removing dangerous deadfalls and encroaching brush from the sides of the trail.
• Volunteered time and expertise to re-design trail maps for both North End and Capser trail systems.
• Begun exploring options for dedicated snowshoe trails on MIWP lands. A trail from Black Shanty Road to the end of Snow Place Road has been flagged for use next winter, with the aim of extending it to the Capser Trail overlook deck on the west and into the State Park and perhaps to the Lagoon Trail on the east.
Work on the trails will continue with a plan to install more duck boards on other problem trail sections, with the Nucy Meech Trail a top priority. New trail signs will be made and installed on the trails. We welcome your ideas for further improvement to make the trails an even more important part of your Madeline Island experience.
