Paved bike trails are in good condition heading into the busy summer season.
It took a while for snow and ice to melt on trails like the Heart of Vilas County and the Conover Phelps Trail.
Then spring storms took down trees and branches.
But Great Headwaters Trails Executive Director Jeff Currie says that debris has now been cleared.
“I know there have been some volunteers out doing some clearing. It’s possible the towns have also been in on getting that done,” said Currie. “We definitely did have some bad weather, but from what I understand things are looking in great shape at this point.”
Travel Wisconsin keeps biking and hiking trail reports updated on its website.
It took more than 10 years to make the Conover-Phelps Trail a reality.
The roughly 11 miles stretch connects the two communities in northeastern Vilas County.
The last three miles were the most challenging to build according to Currie.
“The first two parts were mainly on railroad grade or established areas like in the park in Conover, but this last part was entirely in new areas where no trail had even been set out before. It was on steep banks. It was really hilly when you get into Phelps which makes for an interesting part of the trail and a really pretty one,” said Currie.
While riders were able to get a couple weeks of use in late last summer after construction ended, Great Headwaters Trails will be celebrating officially this weekend with a short ceremony and a ribbon cutting at Phelps Lakefront Pine Park.
“There are just a lot of people that I know will want to celebrate it and a lot of people that deserve thanks for helping get it completed and keeping the whole project moving along,” said Currie.
The ribbon cutting is at 10:00 a.m. this Saturday.
GHT has another event this summer to showcase what the trail has to offer: the Ride with Leinie.
There will be three route options, two of which take riders on the Conover-Phelps Trail.
Currie says Dick Leinenkugel reached out to GHT after previous hosts of the ride in the Land o’Lakes area met their fundraising goals.
“We were really happy that he was interested in having the ride continue. He seems very interested in seeing, not just the Conover-Phelps Trail be highlighted and celebrated and used, but also wants to see the stage set for further trail development that our group, GHT, is working on,” he said.
Leinenkugel will be at some sign-up events in the Conover-Phelps area in the next couple of weeks.
The first one is this Thursday from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Twin Lake Pub in Conover.
GHT is also once again hosting the SepTimber Ride from Eagle River to Three Lakes on September 10.
