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We lucked out with a beautiful day Monday to take a group of elected officials on an ATV ride on the Prospector Trail system.
Organized by St. Louis County Commissioner Paul McDonald, this was a three hour ride that included a stop at the Beaver River Bridge.
Mary and I had been on the trails Saturday to see where we could go in the allotted time. We also checked to see how bad the bugs were.
We met at the Ely softball complex and had a pre-ride visit from U.S. Forest Service Kawishiwi District Ranger Aaron Kania and John Pierce to talk about working together on trail system.
A little after 2 p.m. we made our way through town to the Taconite Trail. When the trailhead is completed it will be nice to leave from there for future group rides.
The Taconite itself is a beautiful ride, especially with the hills on the property purchased by the Town of Morse.
We ran into a couple of groups of riders, including some rental units from Lossings Power Sports. Everyone looked to be having fun that day.
There was one issue that came up when we got to the Beaver River Bridge: no bathrooms. This is something the Prospector board is looking to fix. The club in Crane Lake has recently installed all-concrete privies that are government-approved. We are looking at possible locations to have these installed and the Beaver River Bridge is high on the list. When we were stopped on the bridge there was plenty of laughs and trail discussions, just what we had hoped would happen on this ride.
McDonald was instrumental in forming at ATV Joint Powers Board with Lake and Koochiching counties to oversee trail development. This has meant better coordination of projects and one-stop shopping at meetings where clubs and agencies can discuss issues and projects.
So if you saw a group of wheelers going through town on Monday, that was us. We had a great ride with the board and others who joined in on the fun!
