Call it the jewel in Michigan’s bike trail crown: On June 7, the Top of Michigan Trails Council will dedicate a new 62-mile trail that will link Gaylord, Cheboygan and Mackinaw City. The crushed stone trail is the longest contiguous rail trail in Michigan’s nearly 1,400 mile trail system. The June 7 dedication will include simultaneous ribbon cuttings at 8:30 a.m. in the towns along the trail, including Gaylord, Vanderbilt, Wolverine, Topinabee, Cheboygan and Mackinaw City. The morning’s events will culminate in Indian River at 1 p.m. with a dedication ceremony at Marina Park. The public is invited to bicycle to the event from any of the ribbon cutting communities. Register with the Trails Council to enjoy a lunch in Indian River and obtain a commemorative tee shirt. Registration and trail maps can be found at www.trailscouncil.org
LINEAR PARK The 62-mile trail represents a 12-year effort. When abandonment of the rail line became a reality in the 1990s, a number of individuals began lobbying the state to buy the land for public use, virtually a linear park. The Top of Michigan Trails Council, formed in 1994, was in the forefront of the movement including many of the original board members: Tom Bailey, William Brown, Jeff Bodzik, Gerald Danin, Fred Fettis, Wesley Hovey, Horace M. Huffman, Roy Kuczawara, Neal Kretchman and Sebron Litzenberger as well as TOMTC’s original executive director, Jennifer Srigley. The Department of Natural Resources sought funding from the Natural Resources Commission to purchase the trail from the Detroit and Mackinaw Railroad. Support also came from the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Michigan Chapter, which assisted with lobbying efforts when the Natural Resources Commission was being asked not to fund the trail purchase. The chapter has evolved into the Michigan Trails & Greenways Alliance (MTGA) headquartered in Lansing. On the national level the Rails to Trails Conservancy leads the charge for trail development from its Washington D.C. office. Since its inception in 1986 RTC has assisted hundreds of communities and rail-trail advocates in building nearly 13,935 miles of rail-trails throughout the U.S.
For further information on the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy see www.railtrails.org.
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