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Giving Tuesday last year kept on giving to the Copper Harbor Trails Club. Around the time of the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation’s Giving Tuesday event last year, CHTC announced that the club would be partnering with biking industry leader, SRAM, to match the club’s Giving Tuesday donations and fundraising from a club campaign for continuing to improve biking trails around the tip of the Keweenaw. With those combined funding sources, the group was able to complete 10 miles of new trails, as well as make major improvements to a number of biking community favorites.
“We met the pledge last year so we were able to get all the funding from strands so we had a humongous year this past season, we actually built 10 miles of brand new trails in Copper Harbor for mountain biking, hiking, trail running, and backcountry snowshoeing and skiing, which is the biggest year we’ve ever had. We added a bunch of new downhill trails at the East Bluff Bike Park, in partnership with Rock Solid Trail Contracting. And we’ve been working with them for a number of years to add trails to the East Bluff Bike Park project. And then we started on the Keweenaw Point Trail phase three project with Grant Township as a partner for that one.” – Nathan Miller, President, Copper Harbor Trails Club
Copper Harbor Trails Club President Nathan Miller says that he’s enjoyed working with the members of Copper Shores in the years past. And say it’s great to be a part of a day that supports so many different aspects of life in the Keweenaw. The trails club brings in thousands of people each year to visit Copper Harbor and ride their trails. But he says that the club also recognizes many familiar faces on the trails as residents staying active. He says that the club will continue to focus on improving and adding exciting trail options. They also want to increase more accessible biking experiences for the whole community around Copper Harbor.
“We’re also looking at building more new easy trails in Copper Harbor because we know that our terrain is fairly challenging in this not exactly the best terrain for a lot of folks. And so we’re looking at building more gentle trails for folks who just aren’t used to going fast down hills or climbing really steep hills or going on jumps and things like that because we recognize that there’s a lot of families and older folks who just don’t need that level of intensity to have fun and keep going off.” – Nathan Miller, President, Copper Harbor Trails Club
Miller adds that the club is still finalizing construction plans for 2024. But says that there are plenty more exciting developments to come to the area for outdoor recreation. The Copper Harbor Trails Club has been a partner with Giving Tuesday for a few years. Miller says that he’s blown away each year to see the support of the community and the passion of people working with the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation for the day of giving.
Giving Tuesday with the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation last year raised over 650,000 dollars from individuals in the community and from friends of the Keweenaw Peninsula. Annually the foundation has provided a match sum to add to the day of giving’s total. Adding up to over 2.7 million dollars spread throughout the copper country over the past six years. Find more information about Giving Tuesday with the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation here, and more about the Copper Harbor Trails Club here.
