Over The River and Through The Woods Snowshoe Race
Join the U.P. Land Conservancy For Some Fun In The Snow On This Scenic 5K Trek
Volunteers going out to pack the trail for the upcoming UPLC snowshoe race/trek through the Vielmetti-Peters land preserve in Marquette Michigan. (photo by C.D. Burnett)
Marquette has long been known to be the place to go for fun in the snow. This year a new event is being added to the mix. The first annual “Over the River and Through the Woods 5k Snowshoe Race/Trek” will be held at the future Upper Peninsula Land Conservancy’s Vielmetti-Peters Preserve located less than one half mile from Lowe’s in Marquette. The event is geared towards all ages and abilities. The course is a 5k scenic trek through the Preserve that goes over Midway Creek and has several challenging hills. If you are a hard-core snowshoe racer you will be able to start at the front and race for the prizes for top male and female but there will also be plenty of room at the back for the trekkers looking to see the beauty of the newest addition to the Upper Peninsula Land Conservancy (UPLC).
The event will be held at 2pm on Sunday March 15th and Registration is currently open at www.uplandconservancy.org. If you register by March 2nd you will receive a long sleeve t-shirt and dinner at the Ore Dock will be provided to all racers and friends from 4pm to 6pm during the after party (donations accepted for friends).
Scenic waterfalls located during the warm months on the Vielmetti-Peters Preserve. (photo by C.D. Burnett)
The UPLC was founded as the Central Lake Superior Land Conservancy back in 1999 and has grown considerably over the last 15 years. To date the UPLC has 28 preserves and easements across the entire Upper Peninsula totaling just under 4,000 acres. By the end of 2015 we are hoping to increase that number to 30 and 6,000 acres. The UPLC has a very active board of directors as well as two part time staff, Christopher Burnett, Executive Director and Jeffrey Caldwell, Assistant Director. The money raised from the event will be used to monitor all the above properties as well as do community and educational outreach.
In the past we have been limited by many of our preserves not being very accessible to the public but we are very excited to now have two preserves that we can have events at and also have open to the public for hiking and snowshoeing. In addition to the future Vielmetti-Peters Preserve we established Tory’s Woods Preserve on Hwy 28 near the Alger-Marquette county line and the Gamber-Brisky Preserve on Lake Michigamme. Besides the snowshoe race, we plan to have nature walks, nature photography events, a trail run, and educational events at our new preserves during the coming year.
Our 5k snowshoe race/trek will be the culmination to a weekend celebration by the Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition called Celebrate the UP 2015. Their conference will be held on Friday and Saturday with many of the participants coming out on Sunday to enjoy the race and our new preserve. More information about the conference can be found here: http://www.upenvironment.org/
To register for the race: UPlandconservancy.org
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