H Donn de Yampert decided recently to check out the Mountain Bike Trail in Copper Harbor, named Paul’s Plunge, only he went on foot, not on a mountain bike. He said people normally do this route on trail bikes, but he decided to turn around when it got a bit “gnarly” on foot.

It’s probably a good thing he did, as this description I found of Paul’s Plunge online said it’s a challenging trail with two distinct sections. The upper portion has dense forests, rocky and rooty terrain, with boardwalks and occasional open glades and is considered upper intermediate to advanced in difficulty. All features can be rolled or walked easily if needed. The section below the Keweenaw Point trail descends into madness, literally, with massive boulders, roots deep mud and more. Even walking this stretch is difficult. Only experts should attempt the lower portion. YIKES!

In case you don’t believe the wordage that I found about Paul’s Plunge online, we have a video from a few years back, by Dialed In who said, “The intensity ramps up as we try to keep the rubber side down on this one. Are you ready for the plunge?” Umm... NO!

OK, first off, Paul is crazy! Seriously, if you are capable and crave that adrenaline rush, go for it! At the very start of the vid there are people off to the side of the trail, getting out of the way of the bikes - which shows you better have your head on a swivel if you hike it. But if you do, your reward is a beautiful hike.

I never knew Capt. Paul had a plunge.
And what an adrenaline rush, video!
I had to slip on my jockstrap and
cup to watch it. Gotta take care of Ted
and the twins.
It took me back to my childhood days
when we used to blaze trails through
Palmer Park woods in Detroit.
Nothing like the plunge, but just as exciting.

Alright, Paul is out of his mind.
Holy Toledo! My nephew does stuff
like this and I'm always worried
he's going to get hurt, or worse.
I'm not going to tell him about
this trail, though he went to
Copper Harbor last month so I'm
thinking he may have done this
already

Really nice pictures!

WOW....just wow....people really do this...it
amazes me....the Harbor is HUGE for mountain
bikes...put me in a car, and let's just go to the
top of the mountain.

Happy FRIDAY THE 13TH!

Friday the 13th

Simply WILD!

But I want to know more about Paul...
Is The Plunge named after its designer and builder, or did Paul one day take the "The Plunge" and it's named in his memory?

And Alex,

We performed our daredevil antics all along The Ed Hines Park & Trail. In the 70's, on a Friday or Saturday night it could get pretty wild.
And Ted? Really?

Donna,
Thanks for the Reader's Digest link.

I got my M.D. from the Reader's Digest.

There was a day I would have done that and not on a
nice mountain bike with shocks and knobby tires
either, but on a black Schwinn Heavy Duty, newspaper
bike, with the racks and fenders removed!! lol

Yer Welcome DA...I'm with ya!