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“We’re try-
ing to help
communi-
ties go that
extra mile,
literally
and meta-
phorically,
to connect
with one
another
along the
route.”
Kristen Bennett,
Iron Belle Trail
Coordinator,
Michigan
Department of
Natural Resources
along the route. Some communities with a little more
experience building trails have said, ‘Give us the money
and get out of our way,’ while others ask for a little more
hand-holding.”
Trail surfaces will change by area and amount of traffic.
The Polly Ann Trail has paved surfaces through the towns
of Lake Orion and Oxford, which turn to crushed lime-
stone and gravel as the trail winds its way out of town and
into more rural areas where they crisscross gravel roads
nearly as narrow and desolate. As the trail leaves Oakland
County, it turns to packed dirt and travels on.
Funding Sources
The Iron Belle is a project of Gov. Rick Snyder, who has
devoted quite a bit of political capital and resources to
the project in a time of budget cuts and fiscal hand-
wringing. Both the hiking and the multiuse trails are
more than 60 percent completed. Officials had hoped to
come close to finishing them before Snyder leaves office
in 2018, but Bennett believes that although significant
progress will be made, completion won’t happen for
another five to 10 years.
Though not directly involved, Eric Oberg, director of trail
development for Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, has been
monitoring the progress of the unusual dual-trail project.
Both trails will offer users every aspect of Michigan,
from concrete streets to white oak forests and every-
thing in between, although the hiking trail, which follows
the New York-to-North Dakota North Country Trail for
much of the way, will be a little more desolate.
“Michigan has such a huge outdoor heritage, so it’s
always been at the forefront of the trails movement,”
Oberg said. “The Iron Belle is all about taking what’s
already great about Michigan trails and making them
incredible.”
Old Trails—New Route
Instead of building an entirely new trail, Michigan
officials decided to piggyback on existing trails, using
strategic investments and expertise navigating the
federal grant system to help local communities fill
in the trail gaps. Trails like DuPage County’s West
Branch DuPage River Trail and the Cass River Green-
way that winds through Frankenmuth will keep their
name and community feel, but will also have an Iron
Belle designation.
The bike route heads north from Detroit, through the
suburbs of Sterling Heights and through Flint, Colum-
biaville and Kawkawlin, where it follows beautiful Lake
Huron to Oscoda. From Oscoda, the trail heads west
through Huron National Forest to Roscommon, and then
north again to Cheboygan and Mackinaw City, where
cyclists can either take a ferry to Mackinac Island and
then the Upper Peninsula (UP) or drive the bridge to the
UP. From there, the trail runs hundreds of miles on the
Lake Michigan coastline and through Hiawatha National
Forest. At Escanaba, riders continue west to the trail’s
end in Ironwood.
Hikers will take the longer, arguably more scenic
route, heading west from Detroit to just outside Kalama-
zoo. Thru-hikers will continue on the trail north through
Manistee National Forest to Mackinaw City, where they
will need to cross the Great Lakes. On the other side,
hikers will travel mostly along the Lake Superior coast-
line to Ironwood.
“[The state of Michigan and the Department of Natural
Resources aren’t] trying to own or manage any of the
trail,” said Kristen Bennett, Iron Belle Trail coordinator.
“We’re trying to help communities go that extra mile,
literally and metaphorically, to connect with one another
1,273
MILEAGE OF THE IRON
BELLE HIKING ROUTE
ALL PHOTOS: TOM PIDGEON PHOTOGRAPHY
10
RAILS TO TRAILS WINTER 2017
B E A U T Y A N D S T R E N G T H