Thanks To Ely Igloo Snowmobile Club

[Lee Borgersen]

4/3/2010 1:39:00 PM

  
Trail markers put up on Tomahawk Trail

by Nancy McReady (BDub)

What do snowmobilers do when their prime riding days melt away? In the case of the Ely Igloo Snowmobile Club, they get out on the trails and start working.

The Tomahawk Snowmobile Trail crosses some of the most remote and desolate area in all of Minnesota. A person can ride for miles without seeing any signs of civilization. All around you is nothing but heavy tree cover. The trail goes through some of the roughest country with hills, rocks and swamps. If your machine should happen to break down or if you have an accident on one of the many twisting turns of the trail, it can be hours before help comes to your aid.

There are few road crossing and even fewer landmarks to identify where you are on this trail. The Ely Igloo Snowmobile Club has wanted to have mile markers on the Tomahawk Trail for quite some time. The markers would be of great assistance to ambulance and rescue crews in finding an injured or lost snowmobiler.

Recently the Club asked for financial help for the project from the Lake County Recreation Board. A grant for $1,400 was approved with the help of Fall Lake Township. The Club had asked for bids to mark the 82 mile Tomahawk Trail, but with the snow's sudden meltdown by mid March, snowmobiling options are very limited. The Ely Igloos decided this would be an opportune time for Club members to mark the trail themselves.

First a Club member set out on the 82 mile trail from Ely's softball field to the North Shore Trail and marked every mile with a piece of orange mesh fastened to a tree.

Then last Saturday, several Club members gathered at the softball field at 8 a.m. They discussed the project and split into groups to start a various sections of the Tomahawk Trail. Each had the tools to drive the posts into the frozen ground and to attach the trail markers to the posts.

By mid afternoon, 49 miles of the Tomahawk Trail had been marked at roughly one-mile increments. Placement of the post was best determined by the ground makeup. If there was ledge or swamp, the post was move to better location nearby. In the next few weeks, the remaining trail markers will be in place.

The Ely Igloo Snowmobile Club thanks Lake County and Fall Lake Township for making this project possible. And also a big thanks for the Club members for getting the job done.
 

[BDub]

Thanks Lee for posting the article.  The Ely Igloo Snowmobile Club is a great bunch of workers who care about their sport for themselves and for visiting snowmobilers.