Another winter weekend in the Copper Country means more snowmobiles traveling through town. Each year, communities in the Upper Peninsula welcome the tourism economy that comes along with traveling the trails. But for some property owners, snowmobiles can become a nuisance when exhausts are modified.
Too many people are running cans and pipes and making their snowmobiles louder, and that leads to a lot of problems for us as a department. That aggravates landowners and people who live in these communities. Keeping your snowmobile exhaust stock is important. – Ron Yesney, Trails Coordinator, Michigan DNR
Copper Country’s snowmobile trails travel directly through many towns, running parallel to some major roads and crossing some well-trafficked intersections. Michigan DNR trails coordinator Ron Chesney asks snowmobilers to keep a steady hand on the throttle to keep noise levels relatively low.
It’s also very important to ride at a safe speed, especially coming in and out of communities where you’re crossing several roads and streets. There are people on the trail, maybe walking your dog, things like that. You have to just really be mindful of how fast you’re riding. – Ron Yesney, Trails Coordinator, Michigan DNR
Trail Three’s reopening in 2023 allowed visitors to travel along the Keweenaw waterway from Dollar Bay to Lake Linden. The vital trail was missed for nearly five years following washouts in more than 150 sites from the Father’s Day flood.
It’s a fun trail to groom and an even more fun trail to ride. So just really expect people to go out, go ride it, head into the villages in Lake Linden, Hubbell, Tamarack City there, and visit those businesses. It’s really important now that that trail’s reopened that we frequent those businesses and support them. – Ryan LaPorte, Present, Keweenaw Snowmobile Club
