Vasa and TART trails a mess after storms
Tue, Aug 4, 2015 - By TART
TRAVERSE CITY, MI- Heavy storm damage occurred yesterday across our local trail systems. Hundreds of trees are down blocking the trails causing them to be impassable. The amount of debris from this storm is unprecedented and will take many days to clean-up. Using the trails is unadvised at this time.
Due to the extensive damage from the storm, City and County crews will be working to clear streets and sidewalks before turning their attention to the trails. In the meantime volunteers and chainsaw trained TART Trail Ambassadors are working tirelessly to clear the trails.
Wind blew down roughly 500 tress on the Vasa Pathway alone
(All photos from TART)
The following is a list of local trails and their current status:
- TART Trail-Northern Michigan Mountain Bike Association (NMMBA) volunteers tackled 3 Mile to Bunker Hill Road Monday evening. The trail is clear from Three Mile to Holiday Road. More help is needed between Five Mile and Bunker Hill Road.
- Leelanau Trail-TART Trail Ambassadors are clearing the trail at Carter & Birch Point Roads moving north.The trail is clear between Carter Road and Cherry Bend trailhead.
- Vasa Pathway-With roughly 100 trees across the 5k loop alone, trails will be cleared clockwise in the same pattern they are groomed in the winter. A trail workbee will be held Tuesday 8/4 at 8:30am starting at the Bartlett Road Trailhead.
- Vasa Singletrack – Trees down by the hundreds. Stay tuned to Northern Michigan Mountain Bike Association for workbee and trail clearing updates.
- Boardman Lake Trail – Nine trees are down on the east side and one on the west side of the lake. The City of Traverse City will provide an update of when they can get to the trail. TART Trail Ambassadors will start clearing debris as soon as they can.
- Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail-Hundreds of trees are down on the entire stretch from Empire to Port Oneida which is impassable. The National Park Service has closed the trail until further notice. Friends of Sleeping Bear volunteers are the maintenance crew on the trail.
Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail is impassable due to down trees
Real time updates and photos will be posted on our Facebook page Facebook.com/TARTtrails and daily updates will be posted here on our Trail Maintenance page. To report trail updates, please post photos on our Facebook page with details, email photos and details to [email protected] or call the TART Trails’ office at 231-941-4300.