Hancock Trails Club

12/25/2025

This news clip features some video of Friday's Luminary Trail.

You are invited to hike, snowshoe, or even snow-bike for two hours in the evening, guided by the lights.

12/21/2025

As many of you know, we evolved into a four-season club a few years back. To better reflect our year-round activities, we are finally doing some "digital housekeeping" and merging our duplicate pages.

Please give our official page a like/follow: 🔗 https://www.facebook.com/hancocktrails/

We will be posting all future trail updates, events, and club news on that page exclusively. Thanks for sticking with us!

11/05/2025

Lost dog last seen near junctions of Upper Creekside/ Long Bridge/Sunset - sign posts C61 & C62 after lunging lead rope out of my hand to follow deer scent.
https://hancocktrails.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/churning_maasto_summer_050223-3.pdf

She disappeared around 11 am on Tuesday Nov. 4th so could have traveled a long ways by now. Poppy is a tan, small 43 # American pit wearing a pink harness and green collar. The green collar has a name plate with phone number. She may be trailing a long orange lead rope that could have hung up by now and possibly chewed off. Though happy to disappear after deer she is probably ready to follow someone home by now. Please call or text at (906) 281-1486 if you can provide a sighting or lead her out.

10/03/2025

On this 80 degree October afternoon snow seems a long way off. But this week we finished mowing the ski trails. We celebrated by mowing the field around the Churning Rapids Observation Tower. For various reasons the field had not been mowed in several years. The Keweenaw Land Trust Conservation Easement with the owners encourages retaining the area as an open field. We were happy to oblige that this year and delay its gradual creep back to forest land for a little ecological diversity. The other trails groomed for skiing have been mowed as well over the last few weeks. So get out there and enjoy the warm weather while you can.

09/21/2025

Saturday morning four volunteers patched up Long Bridge with eight new deck boards and screwed down other loose boards. Long Bridge is at least 25 years old now so it will need to be rebuilt within a few years. But for now it is a better and safer ride or walk.

05/20/2025

A reminder that the 2025 Annual Membership Meeting of the Hancock Trails Club starts with a pizza social at 6:00 pm this evening, May 20. We will be meeting at the Orpheum at 5th & Elm, 426 Quincy St. in Hancock. All are welcome. Hear what is coming down the trail for this summer. Be among the first to know! We'll see you there.

04/26/2025

The Hancock Trails Club is seeking nominations for three open seats on the Board of Directors that will be coming up for a vote electronically in May as well as in person voting at the upcoming Annual Membership Meeting at the Orpheum Theater at 5 th and Elm in Hancock on Tuesday May 20th. Under our bylaws terms are for three years.

The Hancock Trails Club is 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation (all volunteer) which operates and maintains the Maasto Hiihto/Churning Rapids trail system in collaboration with the City of Hancock. We are seeking hikers, bikers, skiers and snowshoers who would like to see the trail system continue to improve and serve the community with high value recreational opportunities in all four Copper Country seasons. Have ideas of how the trails can be improved? Please consider working with us.

For this cohort of Directors one special need is to recruit accounting and financial skills to replace our long serving treasurer whose term expires this spring. Are you good at organizing events? We need that too.

So if you would like to give back by contributing to the long term success of this invaluable resource, please fill out our short survey here. Nominations close next Thursday at 8 pm on May 1st.

Please feel free to forward this message to any people you think would make good candidates.

Happy trails

John Diebel
Hancock Trails Club

02/28/2025

The Hancock Trails Club regrets reporting that the 2025 Glide 'N Gorge has been cancelled for March 1. We just could not pull it together in the form we wanted when we wanted it. Stayed tuned since if good skiing persists into late March we may host a free social ski through the Gorge with refreshments and a chance to socialize on March 15.

12/30/2024

Mercer’s MECCA Trails to host Winterfest on January 18

Mercer, WI -- The MECCA Trails grooming team is preparing Mercer’s 21k trail system for its annual Winterfest. Live races are scheduled to be held on Saturday, January 18, and virtual race events are available now through mid-February.

Winterfest has become known as the “best-run small race” in the region, according to organizers. Race director Rodney Silvis is optimistic about participation in this year’s live event on January 18, saying, “We expect a big turnout from students on the Claire d' Loon 5K. More experienced skiers and those training for longer races like the Birkie will compete on the Flowage 15K and MECCA 30K courses.”

As in previous years, MECCA Trails is also offering a series of virtual Winterfest events, which allow skiers to ski the courses on their own schedule and turn in their best time. The virtual events opened in early December and will continue through February 15, 2025. Participants have the option of completing the 30k, 15k, or 5k races or another unique virtual event, the Turtle River Pursuit, which combines a 10k classic ski and 10k skate, and can be completed by an individual or a team. The Mercer Springs Snowshoe Tour allows participants to shoe at their own pace or keep a time to be eligible for prizes.

Registration for Winterfest Live and Virtual events is now open at meccatrails.com. Participants that register for Winterfest prior to January 1st will receive a price discount. Those registering before January 8th will be entered into a special drawing for a “Legendary Season Pass” for SnowRiver Resorts, which includes skiing at Lutsen Mountain, Jackson Creek Summit, Black River Basin, and Granite Peak.

MECCA actively collaborates with the Town of Mercer, Iron County Parks and Forestry Department, and Wisconsin DNR to maintain the 21k trail system. Winterfest is presented by the MECCA Ski Club in collaboration with the Gogebic Range Health System and thanks to sponsorship from Aspirus Health and the Mercer Chamber of Commerce.

For more information about Winterfest, to register for the live or virtual race, and to get the latest trail conditions, visit www.meccatrails.com.

12/20/2024

December 20

Late last week a contractor for the American Transmission Company began clearing trees from the full width of their powerline right of way in north Hancock. Initially it did not seem the work would have a material impact on our four trail/powerline crossings (Quincy trail & Tomasi Loop). But as the work continued this week the crossings became rougher and rougher to where a skier is likely to want to remove skis and walk across the intersections on Quincy and Tomasi Loops. Please be aware. Hopefully the work will be done soon and snow will fill back in.

Likewise Tomasi Road was plowed earlier this week. Though the crossing corridors on the road initially had very rough berm barriers of large frozen ice chunks the Hancock DPW removed the berm barriers though one is advised to be on the lookout for stray ice chunks. The road itself has had very light traffic since plowing and with last night’s light snow the crossing corridors likely can be skied without removing skis. But those conditions are subject to change so proceed with caution at those crossings.

12/03/2024

Donate to the Hancock Trails Club!
GIVING TUESDAY IS OPEN! BUT... JUST FOR ONE MORE DAY!
MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO OUR TRAILS.

Hello, friends of Maasto Hiihto.

I am writing you from The Hancock Trails Club to encourage you keep things happening on the ground for the Maasto Hiihto/Churning Rapids trail system. Today, Giving Tuesday, is your one big opportunity to provide a matched donation to improve our trail system.

The generosity of so many during Giving Tuesday has made a huge difference in our finances over the past three years. Your donations have helped support many important projects, such as the following:

• the construction of Skyway, High Point Pass, and Basswood Highlands
• several improvements to the ever-popular Creekside trail
• the purchase of a new Yahama Wolverine for ski trail grooming
• the maintenance of a mini-excavator passed from another trails club
• the acquisition of a 40-acre parcel of land in the Maasto system
• And most recently, we completed a project of which we're very proud: the reopening of old Trail 17 as an alternative route to Tomasi Road. This trail includes an impressive new bridge and walkway over Swedetown Creek, which you can see in the picture below.
The bridge was partially funded by a Keweenaw Destination and Development Grant from Visit Keweenaw and a generous donation from the Meyers family of Chassell. Our past Giving Tuesday donors also helped to match the funds that made this $50,000 project possible.

These are just a few examples of how YOUR contributions matter!

So, if you'd like to give your favorite trails some more love with matching funds, NOW is the time to do so. Follow the link below, which takes you to Copper Shores, for more details about supporting us.

https://www.coppershores.org/giving-tuesday

The deadline to donate is TOMORROW Tuesday, Dec. 3.

Mail In: Mail your donation to Copper Shores, P.O. Box 299, Hancock MI, 49930. All mail-ins must be postmarked by Dec. 3. Make sure your check is addressed to "Copper Shores Community Health Foundation” with "Hancock Trails Club" on your check's comment line.

In-Person: Drop off your donation to the 5th Floor of the Huntington Bank Building on Quincy Street in Hancock across from City Hall.

Let's continue to make a difference together!

Happy trails,

John Diebel.

Treasurer, Hancock Trails Club

10/03/2024

Ladies & Gentlemen, what an opportunity for trail fun we have coming up at Maasto Hiihto. Looking for an opportunity to give back to the trails? This is it.

Saturday morning at 9:00 am we will assemble at the Tomasi trailhead. We hope to have enough people to split into two groups to clean up the Creekside trail. One group to w**d whack Sidewinder and do a little ditch clean out. The other to work down stream from Tomasi Road w**d whacking as necessary. Bring a w**d whacker if you have one but the club has five or six available along with other tools. The plan is to quit at noon. Reply with any questions or call 906-281-1486. It would be helpful to let us know if you can make it ahead of time.

Happy trails, John Diebel