Closed

[limewave]

This weekend I received some very sad news. The camp where many local cyclists like to mtb has been closed to the public. It was one of the best places to ride in the entire state, having more than 30 miles of intermediate and advance trails.

The Camp is owned by Chicago Area Boyscouts. They have been trying to sell it to a developer. However, the township has refused to rezone the land which has blocked the sale. CAB has since sued the Township and spent more than a million dollars in legislation.

The trails are now closed to mountain biking, hiking, camping and fishing. They say it has something to do with insurance, my feeling is they want to punish the locals and the township for blocking the sale.

There is a large campaign to save the camp, if anyone is interested in helping, we could use as much support as possible. You can get more information here (http://www.ooec.org/default2.asp).

[Geonz]

Good luck with it!!! We're also losing lots of facilities downstate for the same kinds of spiteful "we're mad at y ou so we're playing politics" reasons.

[TrekJeni]

Geoff and I rode Owasipee last Labor Day weekend. That's a bummer. Robin (the Weimaraner) went with us and I think we ended up doing about 15 miles that day. We got hopelessly lost and wandered into a camping area with cabins. We asked the people where the trail head was and found out it was a ways away yet. Robin was cooked. What 10 year old dog wouldn't be? :D The nice people (family from Chicago) loaded Geoff, myself, Robin and our bikes into two vehicles and took us back to the trail head. Their little boys kept feeding Robin cookies along the way. She was in heaven.

That really sucks Limewave. We have a "Save Owasipee" sticker and donated to the cause last year. I'm really sorry to hear that.

Will the scouts still be able to use them? Geoff is an Eagle Scout - maybe we can get grandfather'd in or something.

Jeni
who is a Yooper, living in Cincinnati, who went to Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp when she was in seventh grade and has family in Muskegon (what a mouthful). We should hook up next time we're north. Speaking of which, I need to find SalsaMTB... wanders off to find her

[milkbone]

That really sucks...sorry...we are going through the same thing here...base is bull dozing a good section of the best local trail here this week:(