Copper Harbor lies at the end of US 41 at the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula. Situated in the center of Lake Superior, it's a little off the beaten path. When the folks at Trek first mentioned this trip I had to dig out the map to see just where we would be going. The adventure had Shandro and myself heading from Vancouver to Houghton County Memorial Airport in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where we would be met by Hansi Johnson, the regional IMBA director, and Aaron Rogers, the Copper Harbor Trail Club President. We weren't sure what we were in for but the locals showed us a good time both on and off the bike, in true Midwest style.
The purpose of the trip was to experience and capture some of the riding and celebrate the designation of the Copper Harbor trail network as an IMBA Ride Center, one of only 7 in the world. In addition to the Ride Center designation, the Copper Harbor Trails Club held a grand opening to a new gravity fuelled jump trail, "Flying Squirrell".Copper Harbor has been a favorite lesser known Midwest riding gem, so Midwest-based Trek Bicycles has invested heavily in their trail network, providing a $10,000 matching contribution to the Copper Harbor Trails Club to help establish the trails. In addition, $10 from every full-suspension bike Trek sells goes to IMBA to build and support riding areas like Copper Harbor.
www.TrekBikes.comwww.CopperHarborTrails.orgHave you ridden Copper Harbor? Do you want to now?
73 Comments
1. Want to camp for free and get hammered? Go to where they were shooting skeet and climbing around the chimney. (See point 3 for what beer to buy, or your gay)
3. KBC beer in hands on the beach...BEST FU**IN BEER IN THE WORLD
2. Flying Squirrel? Excuse me, but I prefer to call it The Midwest's A-Line
4. Stairway to heaven is cool, but a tad over-rated. In my opinion, red line is the harbors root and rock hidden gem.
5. Copper country has SO MUCH to offer other than MTB as well. But don't tell too many of your friends...one of the reasons I love the area is because of it's seclusion.
6. 3 comes before 2 because don't you dare tell me you don't go buy beer BEFORE every single epic ride you take
All that aside, the keewenaw is an awesome place to live and the people are one-of-a-kind. Oh, and norcal77....GO f*ck YOURSELF!
Looks great..
www.copperharbortrails.org/trails