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Silver Creek reroute now open

September 30, 2024

Pictured is the new tread and puncheon completed during our Silver Creek reroute project. To best meet the needs of both the private landowners of this section and trail users, the SHTA moved the Trail a few hundred feet east of Silver Creek to a new alignment. Photo by Tamer Ibrahim.

The Silver Creek Reroute has been completed and is officially open!

This project was initiated at the request of the generous landowners who allow the Trail to cross their private property to move the Trail to an area that worked better for both the property owners and trail users. The SHTA moved 1,400’ of tread east of Silver Creek to a new location, and installed a new puncheon over a wet area.

The new route has been cleared and blazed, and is easy to follow thanks to a team of volunteers who cleared the Trail between Gun Club Road and Lake County 301/Fors Road Trailhead and completed 3.5 total miles of blazing.

Our Trail Atlas was previously updated to include the new route. Any version of the Trail Atlas, (both digital and printed) dated September 20, 2022 or later features the current route. The printed maps do have an overlay message that reads “Temporary reroute in place between Lake County Road 301 and Gun Club Road. Please check website for updates.” That message can now be disregarded, and will be removed from future editions of our printed maps. The overall distance of this section between Reeves Road Trailhead and Lake County 301/Fors Road Trailhead is now 5.3 miles, or .1 miles shorter.

Volunteer Crew Leader Nicole Halgrimson said the weather was dry and warm last weekend, perfect for blazing, and it was really rewarding for volunteers to see trail users going by on the roadwalk bypass on Gun Club Road while they were working to get the section reopened. “We were able to say, ‘Thanks to the work you’ve done this weekend, we will be able to have the hikers back on the Trail,’ ” Nicole said.

Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR), and SHTA members and donors. Thanks to this support, we were able to contract with Elemental Industries to complete the reroute. We would also like to thank the volunteers who cleared and blazed this section, and the landowners who helped preserve the SHT on their property.

Volunteers finished the final clearing and blazing work on this section last weekend.

Volunteer Jessica Litzinger removes the closure sign from the Lake County 301/Fors Road Trailhead sign.

When you see an ENRTF sign on the SHT, it means a project completed on that section was funded by this program. There will be a constitutional amendment question on November general election ballots this year to rededicate these funds that conserve and protect Minnesota waters, land, and wildlife. Please vote “Yes” on Nov. 5 to support the Trail. To learn more, go to Minnesotans for the Great Outdoors.

By Annie Nelson, SHTA Development and Communications Director