Michigan Travel · Upper Peninsula
Agate Falls trestle stays closed: Snowmobile Trail UP8 shut between Bruce Crossing and Kenton all winter, with a reroute
ONTONAGON COUNTY, Mich. — Snowmobilers in the western Upper Peninsula will have to go around the Agate Trestle this winter.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources said Tuesday that the section of Snowmobile Trail UP8 between Bruce Crossing and Kenton will be closed for the season because the trestle has compromised footings. The section had been scheduled to stay closed only until Nov. 1.
The detour. A reroute runs south of UP8 and uses parts of trails UP3, UP150 and UP107, the DNR said. The DNR’s Parks and Recreation Division and the Sno Valley Riders Snowmobile Club are putting up signs along the detour, and riders should follow the posted signs and the DNR’s reroute map.
What’s next. Engineers are designing a repair for the footings, and the DNR expects the work to happen in 2027. The department says it will post any change to that timeline on its trail closures page.
A landmark crossing. The trestle carries the trail more than 100 feet above Agate Falls on the Middle Branch of the Ontonagon River. It was built in 1900 by the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway. No train has crossed it since 1981, and the DNR acquired the trestle and rail line about a decade later and turned it over to recreation.
Before you ride. Check the DNR’s trail closures page and the posted reroute signs before heading out, and plan extra time for the detour.
Sources:
Michigan Department of Natural Resources, “Snowmobile trail over Agate Falls in Ontonagon County to be closed this winter,” Oct. 20, 2026 (closure, reroute trails, signs, 2027 repairs, Nov. 1 original date, history), https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/about/newsroom/releases/2026/10/20/snowmobile-trail-over-agate-falls-in-ontonagon-county-to-be-closed-this-winter
WLUC-TV6, “Snowmobile trail over Agate Falls to be rerouted this winter,” https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/2026/10/20/snowmobile-trail-over-agate-falls-be-rerouted-this-winter/
Photo: James Phelps, “Agate Falls (265409244).jpg,” 2006, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0, cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Agate_Falls_(265409244).jpg
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