Copper Harbor has 136 residents and more than 50 miles of singletrack. Local tourism sites still call it an IMBA Silver Ride Center, a tier the association retired last October.
The International Mountain Bicycling Association retired its Gold, Silver and Bronze Ride Center levels on October 22, 2025. Copper Harbor had been Silver since 2012, and the window to reapply under the new system closes next month.
What actually replaced it
IMBA’s new structure has two levels: Ride Center, which needs 60-plus miles and three of four badges, and Premier Ride Center, which needs 100 miles and all four. Existing centers were given a 12-month extension to reapply, at $250 plus $7,500 plus expenses. Until they do, IMBA’s own language is that “they won’t earn any Badges.”
That window closes around October 2026. Nothing about the trails changed. The scoreboard did.
Worth noting what Silver meant while it existed: IMBA’s 2018 list had 39 Ride Centers, six of them Gold. None of the Gold centers were in Michigan. Copper Harbor was Silver and Marquette was Bronze.
The club does not own the ground
The Copper Harbor Trails Club does not own the ground its network runs on. In the club’s own words, “our trails are located on both public and private land.” The system is stitched together from four separate legal instruments: a license agreement with Grant Township, permits with the Michigan DNR for state forest land, a trail easement covering more than a dozen miles on Keweenaw Mountain Lodge property, and arrangements with private landowners.
The club built a nationally known trail system on land it does not control, and it holds together because four different parties keep saying yes.
What happens when one of them says no
In 2021 it nearly came apart. When the trails opened on Memorial Day weekend, Keweenaw County, which owned the land under several of them, made the club close Danimal, Flying Squirrel, Downtown and Overflow. Stairway to Heaven was also shut to bikes, roughly three miles in all. The county’s insurance agent had recommended closing the trails and determined that a $5 million liability policy, five times the $1 million the club carried, would cover the risk. Two private landowners along Downtown revoked access the same season.
County Board Chairman Don Piche said at the time that “the county never ever wanted to close those trails.” His explanation: “Our insurance company told us if we don’t do something, we might lose our insurance. Or our premiums would go sky high.”
The fix came in March 2022, when Keweenaw Mountain Lodge bought the county land next to the Lodge and donated a trails easement to the club covering more than 12 miles of trail. Danimal and Flying Squirrel were set to reopen that summer. Downtown, which crossed private land, stayed closed at the owner’s decision.
The bigger land picture
The Nature Conservancy has been buying out the Keweenaw holdings of a New York investment firm, the Rohatyn Group, including 22,700 acres for $27.2 million that closed in October 2022.
About 10,000 acres of that land are moving to the Michigan DNR in two phases: about 4,500 closing in August 2026 and another 5,476 before the end of the year. It is happening while the trail club faces a deadline of its own.
If you are going
There is no chairlift. Keweenaw Adventure Company runs a van shuttle, and the 2026 shop season closes October 18. Fall color in the northern Keweenaw typically peaks from the last week of September into the first two weeks of October, and Copper Harbor runs a little later than the southern end of the peninsula.
Correction, Sept. 11, 2026: An earlier version of this article said the trails closed in December 2021 and that an insurer, not a landowner, closed them. The trails closed in May 2021. Keweenaw County, which owned the land, closed them on the recommendation of its insurance agent. We also removed a reference to a Trails Fest weekend that has passed and several characterizations we could not source.
Go See It
Copper Harbor Trails (CHTC Basecamp), Copper Harbor
- Hours
- No daily access hours are posted. The club's Trail Status page was last updated May 18, 2026; closures are posted on the club's Facebook and Instagram pages and on Trailforks.
- Cost
- Free to use and open to the public, per the National Recreation Trails listing; the club's own site does not state a summer fee. Winter: $5 day-use pass or annual membership. A trail map is $5 at Keweenaw Adventure Company and other town businesses.
- Season
- Open year-round per the National Recreation Trails listing. In winter, snowshoers and backcountry users take over, with a few groomed loops for cross-country skiers and fat bikers. Daily shuttle passes run Memorial Day weekend through mid-October.
- Drive
- From Marquette: 2 hr 47 min (146 mi) via US-41 N
From the Bridge: 5 hr 29 min (309 mi) via US-41 N (toll on the Bridge) - Trail mileage varies by source
- the club's home page says 70+ miles of singletrack, the Copper Harbor tourism site says 38+ to 40+ miles, and the National Recreation Trails listing says 40. Ask the club before planning around a number.
More worth reading
Sources, credits, and reporting details
Sources & accountability
How this story was reported
Editorial methodAggregation
Last verifiedSep. 11, 2026
Corrections statusNo material correction note is recorded on this article.
AI assistanceResearched and drafted with AI tools. Reviewed and approved by editor Keegan O’Brien.
Verification note: Ledger establishes: IMBA relaunched Ride Centers Oct 22 2025 with two levels replacing Bronze/Silver/Gold, existing centers got a 12-month extension and reapply at $250 + $7,500 + expenses; Copper Harbor was Epic (2009), Bronze (2011), Silver (2012); the trails club's network sits on township, DNR, Lodge-easement and private land. Keweenaw County, the landowner, closed Danimal, Flying Squirrel, Downtown and Overflow on Memorial Day weekend 2021 on its insurance agent's recommendation, with a $5M club policy set as sufficient; private owners on Downtown revoked access; Keweenaw Mountain Lodge bought the county land (finalized March 23 2022) and donated a trails easement; Danimal and Flying Squirrel were set to reopen in 2022 and Downtown stayed closed. TNC's 22,700-acre/$27.2M Oct 2022 purchase is transferring ~10,000 acres to the DNR in two 2026 phases. Sept 9 2026: the DNR-phase sentence and the lodge-sale month were corrected in the copy. Sept 11 2026: corrected the closure date (May 2021, not December 2021) and who closed the trails (Keweenaw County as landowner, on its insurance agent's advice, not an insurer acting over a landowner); removed unsourced characterizations and the past Trails Fest listing. The article does not claim Copper Harbor has lost Ride Center status.
Primary sources
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IMBA Expands Community Designation Program with New IMBA Trail Town Recognition and IMBA Ride Center Relaunch — International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA)
Published Oct. 22, 2025. Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.
The release itself does not use the words 'retired' for Gold/Silver/Bronze, nor state the fees or 12-month extension; those come from the IMBA Ride Center page/FAQ and Singletracks' report (below).
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IMBA Ride Center (designation page) — International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA)
Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.
Fees and the extension are in the linked Ride Center FAQ PDF and 2026 Application Guide, which were not fetched.
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IMBA 2018 Ride Center Fact Sheet — International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA), hosted by Visit Roanoke
Published May. 17, 2018. Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.
IMBA document mirrored on a third-party CVB asset host.
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IMBA Ride Center – Copper Harbor — Copper Harbor Improvement Association (copperharbor.org)
Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.
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Trails | Copper Harbor Trails Club — Copper Harbor Trails Club
Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.
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Copper Harbor Trails Club and Keweenaw Mountain Lodge Work Together to Ensure Trails are Open for 2022 Season — Keweenaw Mountain Lodge (press release)
Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.
Release does not name John Mueller; Singletracks (Apr 4, 2022) identifies him as Lodge owner and dates the closing March 23, 2022.
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10/27/22 News Release from The Nature Conservancy — The Nature Conservancy, republished by Keweenaw Community Foundation
Published Oct. 27, 2022. Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.
Release does not state the $27.2 million price.
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Copper Harbor Trails Fest — Copper Harbor Trails Club
Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.
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Copper Harbor, MI Mountain Bike Shuttle — Keweenaw Adventure Company
Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.
Additional reporting
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IMBA revamps Ride Center designations, adds new 'Trail Town' label — Singletracks Mountain Bike News, Greg Heil
Published Oct. 24, 2025. Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.
Source for the fee and extension figures; IMBA's own FAQ PDF should be fetched to make this primary.
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The MTB Trails That Helped Popularize Copper Harbor Have Been Shut Down. However, Relief May Be in Sight — Singletracks Mountain Bike News, Matt Miller
Published Dec. 20, 2021. Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.
Named news report; the county board minutes were not fetched.
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Copper Harbor's Closed Trails Reopen After Land Acquisition — Singletracks Mountain Bike News, Matt Miller
Published Apr. 4, 2022. Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.
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TNC buys final 9,749 acres of Keweenaw Heartlands — The Daily Mining Gazette, Graham Jaehnig
Published Dec. 24, 2022. Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.
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Land transfer nearing completion — The Daily Mining Gazette, Graham Jaehnig
Published Aug. 12, 2026. Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.
Article corrected Sept 9 2026 to read 'roughly 10,000 acres in all, about 4,500 closing in August 2026 and another 5,476 before the end of the year', matching this report.
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Completing the final step — The Daily Mining Gazette, Graham Jaehnig
Published Aug. 25, 2026. Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.
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Copper Harbor, Michigan — Wikipedia
Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.
Supports: 'The population of the CDP was 136 as of the 2020 census.'
Census Bureau page for Copper Harbor CDP not fetched (QuickFacts URL returned national data; API requires key).
Photo and media credits
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Michigan, Copper Harbor.jpg (featured image) — Richard B. Mieremet, NOAA, via Wikimedia Commons
Featured image record. Accessed Sep. 9, 2026. Public domain.
Supports: Featured image caption: 'Photo: Richard B. Mieremet, NOAA (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.'
Commons file identified Sept 9 2026 via the Commons API from the author credit and matching aspect ratio.
