Warming to McMiller again
For decades, the sharp crack of gunshots at the McMiller Sports Center, south of Eagle, Wisconsin, has caused tension among skiers gliding on the cross-country trails adjacent to the shooting range.
This fall, they’re answering with noise of their own: hammers and saws put to use on a new warming shelter that will remove them from sight, if not sound of the guns.
The 30-foot by 40-foot building is modeled after a similar shelter opened in 2012 on the Zillmer Trails in the northern unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest. It’s scheduled to open in time for the 2014-2015 ski season, with a changing room and flush toilet. A boiler for hydroponic heat will be added the following year.
It will be a significant improvement from the trailer set up last year to accommodate skiers, who were pushed out of the original lodge they built in the 1980s.
The expanded retail operation tied to the shooting range filled up the space previously devoted to tables and chairs for those taking a break from the trails. Instead of a place to eat and relax, skiers found boxes of shotgun shells and T-shirts for sale, touting “If you ain’t killin’, you ain’t livin.”
Many feared they would be shoved into that small trailer until, maybe years later, the Department of Natural Resources made good on a promise to build them a better home.
Delivery came sooner than expected, thanks to a grant from the federal Recreational Trails Program and donations from skiers and members of the Wisconsin Biathlon Association, which has been active at McMiller in recent years.
The entirety of Tom Held’s story about the new shelter on the Zillmer Trails appears in the December 2014 print edition of Silent Sports. To order a copy, call 888-706-4045. Or subscribe online and avoid missing another issue!