If you haven’t heard, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is a mountain bike lover’s dream. Many major cycling publications have sent teams of riders to report back to the rest of the world on our riding. (For reference check out: Da Yoopers and PinkBike). World-class trail systems can be found in Houghton, Copper Harbor, Ishpeming and Marquette. The towns have apparently come to the realization that cycling tourism is a real thing. The rich natural resources of the UP are ideal for mountain bike trails.
Munising, home of the world famous Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, is in the process of putting some serious singletrack in place. As part of their new trail the Munising Bay Trail Network decided to create a skills loop and a jump line. I first heard about the jump line through instagram. I follow Landowski Trailworx, LLC and they started posting some beautiful berms, jumps, bridges, and rock gardens. I saw that they were geotagging some of their feed in Munising. The trail looked like it had some solid lines.
Last weekend I invited Tim up to Basecamp and we loaded up the full squish bikes and headed East. We stopped at Hillside Party Store for snacks then unloaded in the gravel parking lot.
Initially we started climbing on a super nice crushed gravel pathway but soon found out that this trail was under construction. As best as I can tell this was the new connector to the Trust Fund Trail.
We started over and climbed the gravel road to the start of the current singletrack loop. The short climb is not fun at all, but it gets the blood flowing and builds stoke. We entered the trail at the end of the jump line.
From the bottom of the line you get a great perspective of the run. Looking up you see several deep berms, tabletops for days, and a sweet arched roller bridge.
We lugged to the top and we were drooling the whole way up. There are two routes up: the quickest is a shortcut to the top; the other a longer scenic route. We opted for the shortcut most of the time. At the top of the line you get a sense of why its called “Superior Air.”
The Superior Air line is a blast. The current line starts out slow with a few rollers but quickly builds with tabletops that increase in size after the first two berms. I was able to really let loose after the first lap and then it was on.
There is a little something for everyone on Superior Air. Every tabletop can be rolled and the final double is very easy to manual over or roll. Honestly though, this trail was made to be railed.
Munising is getting rad. I’ve heard good things about the Valley Spur singletrack. Hopefully that gets expanded soon. I would like to see a loop there.
The pace of Superior Air is great to safely learn how to hit small to medium size dirt jumps in a gravity setting. I am following Landowski and Munising Bay Trail Network anxiously awaiting the opening of the next phase. It has some nice looking roll-ins, rock gardens, and gaps. I am pumped!
On the way out of town the smell of pasties wafted through the car. We had an afternoon of riding planned in MQT so we opted out of the hefty hand pies, for now. We’ll be back.
-J
Dirtbag Yuppie 