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Feb 27-
Wow, I can't
believe it's been almost a week since the last time I wrote. I guess
time must fly when you are having fun! Actually I think the main
reason why I did not write at all last week was that after my ride on Monday,
I did not ride until Friday. Tue and Wed were spent catching up on
things that needed to get done, then Thursday was just a day of rest and
then I did hook up with Dave's KSE ride on Friday afternoon. We did
not get much fresh snow after the stuff early in the week last week, but
a few inches every day or so- just enough to keep things fresh. We
did have a decent little storm this morning. Most areas have picked
up around 4-5" as of midday today, but some locals just to my south (and
I mean just!) picked up about twice as much. Nora and I went
down to Houghton to do some shopping and I was surprised to see how much
new snow they had picked up. When we left Lake Linden we had picked
up around 3-4" of new snow and the new snow totals in the Houghton area
just 10 miles to our southwest were closer to 7-8". I think most
areas have picked up another 2-4" since, which would put totals in the
Houghton area in the double digit range and totals further north in the
5-6" range. It's still snowing lightly now, with what looks to be
a burst of heavier snow to move into the region from the MN Arrowhead by
this evening and then a pretty hefty dose of LES to occur from later tonight
through Wed morning. It sure looks like someone is going to get buried
up here from later tonight through Wed morning. Not entirely sure
who, but I have a feeling someone in the western 1/2 of the UP (from Ironwood
to Marquette) could pick up 2 feet+ of new snow. Right now I would
place my bets on the higher terrain areas west of Marquette and east of
L'Anse and perhaps the tip of the Keweenaw. I do think that many
other areas should see at least a foot of new snow fall in the 48 hour
period starting tonight.
Friday's ride was fun.
Dave really knows the backwoods behind his house which is where he took
us Friday afternoon. We were out for more than 4 hours, but yet never
traveled more than about 8 miles as the crow flies from Lake Linden and
never crossed our own tracks once. Plus we were on the groomed trail
for about 2-3 miles to get from one logging road to the next. We
also got to play in some of Dave's own fields as well as those of his relatives.
Between he and his family, they own a few hundred acres and most of it
is all farm fields which are lots of fun when there is fresh snow.
I think the first hour of the tour could have actually been called a "carving
clinic" as once we got into the fields, the 7 guys we had out on the tour
all took a shot at doing some carving. Some actually did very well
and some still need a little more practice, but I think everyone had fun.
I know I did and it was great to not have to deal with the head cold anymore!
Poor Nora got it from me [I have no idea how! :)] and had to leave from
work early on Friday, but she too seems to be getting over it now.
We did have a few "stucks"
on the ride Friday. Some tours we take the folks are just terrified
to get stuck. I'm not sure why, maybe they just think that they are
never going to get out. Or perhaps they just do not want to be a
pain to the guide and cause a hold up or cause the guide to have to help
dig out. Then there are groups that maybe do not want to get stuck
too often, but still manage to every mile or so anyway. Those are
the ones who's idea of deep powder riding is perhaps a little different
that that of KSE's idea of deep powder riding! And then we have the
group like we had on Friday. They were not afraid to get stuck, did
not want to make it happen on purpose, but did have fun, got stuck and
then were also good at pitching
in and helping Dave and I get the sleds unstuck.
Of course with all
the fun riding and digging out we needed to take a few rest
stops and the weather on Friday was perfect for that. A bit of
sun, some clouds, light winds and temps in the low 20's. That rest
stop just so happened to be right next to a little play
spot. There are not too many areas were jumping can be done up
here. All the logging roads are flat like a regular road. There
may be a berm that one could jump if they wanted to, but we usually do
not do anything that dangerous on a KSE ride. But this spot Dave
knew about did have some fairly nice jumping spots as Dave
demonstrates here. If you every wondered why you never see me
in a jumping photo, you can read about why in the Feb 2001 journal entry.
But the short answer is my jumping career ended in the hospital.
I'm actually not afraid to get hurt, to me it is just not worth risking
the season. If I could be OK in 24 hours after any accident, then
I would endure any of the pain associated with the accident. To me
the worst part about my accident was sitting out most of Feb, all of March
and all of the April riding done that year and it was some great riding
to boot! That to me was pure torture and I want to make sure I never
have to do it again!
At any rate, we had
fun playing in the fields, doing some jumping, climbing some hills and
of course getting
stuck. The KSE season is actually reaching the home stretch.
We usually stop booking tours at the middle of March. We still have
tons of snow down up here, but it gets hard to count on what most folks
would expect when riding on one of our tours because the amount of fresh
snow can start to become more limited. We usually have a pretty big
storm sometime during the last 2 weeks of March, but booking a few weeks
in advance of that time is really risky business. Besides the guides
like to have that second half of March free to play and this year we are
all heading out to Wyoming to play. They have not had the best season
out there, but we never were going out for the powder (we have plenty of
that right here in our own backyards!), we were heading out for the terrain
and scenery.
We only had one KSE
tour booked yesterday, so most of the guides and I took a drive up to Matt's
and did some goofing
around in his "back yard", actually where that shot was taken was either
his or his uncles back yard. That was me doing some sidehilling through
the trees. The photo does not really do justice as to how steep it
was, but at that moment if I had not been hanging off the right hand running
boards the sled probably would have taken a roll. If you look at
where the trees intersect the snow, you can get a better idea of how steep
it was there. We did get back down into more level terrain and played
on some logging roads up by Matt's and eventually made it up to Lac La
Belle so that some of the guys could partake in the races they had going
on, while others (with slow sleds like mine!) could enjoy a nice lunch!
There is still a ton of snow down up here and it gets deeper the further
north you head. For those of you wondering just how deep here
is your answer. There was about 4 1/2 - 5 feet of snow on top
of that poor shed. It's always neat to come across something like
that while riding. It really shows how much snow you are riding on
top of.
Of course everytime
we get a significant number of our "crew" together for a ride, you can
almost expect to see some mishaps and yesterday was no exception.
Matt took us to a spot where there was a multi tiered hill climb and it
has been untouched the whole season. It did not take long for there
to be tracks on about every square inch of it and in the course of things,
BJ managed to find a stump and that did some remodeling
to his trailing arm. Brian also developed a leak in his coolant
system sometime during yesterday's ride, but they were both able to get
the sleds back to home base and I am sure both will be back to 100% in
a day or two.
I sure plan to get
some riding in this week. With all the fresh snow looking to be on
the way I can't pass up the opportunity! Matt has a tour tomorrow,
but then we are talking about heading out Tue or Wed or maybe I can twist
his arm to do both if the snow is sweet enough. The big powder days
are limited as we head through March and I think we need to take full advantage
of them when they come. I will be sure to bring the cam along and
share some of my exploits with you.
Good night from the Keweenaw..
-JD
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Feb 21-
Mmmmm....It's
getting pretty nice out there! Snows have returned to the Keweenaw
and it may not be bottomless powder, but you do have to look pretty hard
to find the bottom! I have been a lucky guy getting lots of saddle
time lately. The only problem is that I have also been battling a
cold since early last week. Not a bad cold, but enough of one to
wear me down. I did take a full day of rest on Sunday and today's
ride was a nice relaxing 1/2 day KSE trip and I feel pretty good right
now and thing I am on the road to recovery.
In my last writing
I talked about how we had been skunked by the LES during the middle to
end of last week. Well, we did end up with around 4" Friday night
and then another inch or so on Saturday, then Sunday we got hit with about
7-8" of snow and it snowed lightly all day today with another 1/2" or so
of snow. So with last weeks couple of inches and the foot plus we
picked up since Friday evening things are starting to get really nice out
there again. The forecast looks pretty good too, so I better hurry
up and get feeling better so I can get some serious play time in.
It was all I could do to not overdo it today coming across some fields
filled with a foot to 15" of untouched powder. I did get a bit of
carving in, but took it easy.
Saturday's riding was
round two of the video shoot. Last time Rick was up the snow was
settling and the carving was not so hot, so he was hoping to come back
up and get some more footage of us carving once we had some decent snow.
Too bad we could not have done the shooting today as it was almost perfect,
another 4-6" of snow on top of the base created by the thaw at the end
of January and it would have been just perfect. The snow we got Friday
night really saved my hide as I would have felt really bad about having
Rick and the crew come up all the way from Chicago and not have the conditions
I was forecasting! They have a good time riding with us anyway, but
it is about getting a job accomplished and not just goofing around in the
back country. The snow Saturday was deep enough to do some carving
as Brian illustrates
in this shot and Ted
shows in this one. I could not believe how tired I would get
doing some carving. We each took a few runs coming up the field.
The field was probably about 300 yards long and we could make about 5 nice
sweeping carves up and by the time I reached the end of the field I was
about ready to pass out! That head cold really was zapping my energy.
Some of the other footage
Rick got was to attach the helmet cam on someone and then let us just do
our thing going down a logging road or other clearing through the road.
It will be interesting to see how that all turned out. We did not
have time to review the raw footage from Saturday's shoot, but I have a
feeling it will be pretty cool. In one instance Dave was wearing
the helmet cam and I was riding on one side with Teddy on the other.
All of the sudden Ted catches some big air and Dave was looking at him
and riding along side the whole time. Some of the areas we were going
is like a snowcross track, only with smaller jumps. So you just cruise
down this trail and catch air about every 2-4 seconds and there was 6 of
us doing it all right next to each other. I wish there was a way
to rig up my still camera to take shots remotely, I'm sure you all would
be pretty entertained by what goes on when our crew gets together.
There were some more
"relaxed" moments on Saturday's ride, like when we came along a
logging road that was yet to be touched in the past week or so.
That is until we got to it and put
a few tracks on it. That was just Matt's, Brian's and my tracks.
The other 10 sleds had not been through yet, they were wondering where
Al had gone missing. Turns out he was stuck in a swampy area after
taking a wrong turn and noone had seen him do that. Of course as
nice as that untouched logging road looked, there can be hidden surprises
waiting for you. Some of these roads just dead end, others head off
in the wrong direction and some have what we like to call "sippy
holes". That was Rick's RS Vector doing it's submarine imitation.
Any deeper and we would have had to break out the mask and snorkel to find
it. We tied a few ropes to the front suspension and it took about
5-6 guys pulling to get it out. As Nora and I were looking at the
pics for this journal entry she commented on how he was lucky to not have
any of his equipment in a saddle bag! He has two cameras and they
are each worth several thousand dollars, maybe even 10 thousand.
When we were pulling it out I never even thought about that, but it was
a very good thing they were not kept on the back of his sled. He
actually keeps them in a special backpack he wears.
As I mentioned earlier,
yesterday we had a pretty good snow storm up here. I think the lake
helped us out because we got a whole lot more than we were suppose to.
I did not take a close look at things prior to the storm hitting, but I
know the local forecast from the NWS was for around 2-3" and we ended up
with 7. Here is a shot taken yesterday early evening, with about
7"
of fresh on my street. Could have almost done some powder riding
down it yesterday. It's a rare occasion that they plow the side streets
in town in the evening. They will, but it has to be a really big
storm. They do plow in the morning, almost like clockwork.
The plow will come rolling down my street right around 6:15. I did
manage to clear my driveway yesterday evening, but had to get back out
there and take care of the 2 foot plow banks that were deposited this morning.
I can say it sure feels good to be using the snowthrower again! That's
one thing I don't mind doing at all. It means we are getting good
snow and that means good snow play.
One the KSE ride today,
there were more than a few times I was glad to have been riding a long
track. The snow was not super deep, but bumper
deep is enough to get most short tracks stuck. I have learned
that as long as I park on flat ground there really is no snow that it too
deep to get the RMK stuck. Now, if I were to park it going up hill,
that is a different story! But I have parked my sled, got off it
and sank up to my chest in snow. It is quite difficult to get back
on the sled when your are eye level with the running boards, but once on
the sled and giving it some throttle the track digs, hooks up and moves
the sled before it can get stuck. Really a nice feeling after getting
stuck about a thousand times on the old Pol-Cat on flat ground! The
ride went well, no real serious stucks, lots of fresh snow to play in and
the scenery was
not too bad either. That's why we call it a scenic ride.
I think that one deserved a full
sized version.
Well, I guess that
just about does it for this one. I would like to remind you all that
you can hear me interviewed on Sled
Head Radio. Right now my interview is the current one, but will
also be available on Nick's archives once he makes this weeks new show
available. Check it out, it's pretty cool and I really hope his concept
takes off. So now I am all out of things to say. With the forecast
looking good I am going to get a good nights sleep and kick my little head
cold in the rear end, so I can go out and have tons of fun and share my
experiences with you. Stay tuned!
-JD
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Feb 18-
Wow...something
really stinks around here. I wonder if something is rotting in the
garbage, nope. Maybe I have something stuck to the bottom of my boot,
nope. Oh, I know what it is- It was my snowfall forecast for
the Keweenaw in the past 2 days! Yep, quite the stink bomb!
Oh well, what's a guy to do? Lake effect forecasting is the hardest
thing there is and it's not the first time, nor will it be the last time
that a lake effect snow forecast will go down the wrong path. I guess
that I can take some comfort that I was not alone in my missed call.
Just about every forecast I read for the region was along the same lines
as me and I even had less snow forecasted than others. I really should
have learned by now that when a LES event does not start well at all, then
chances are it's not going to finish well either. That has happened
so many times I can't even count them all. There was a burst Wed
night that seemed like the forecast was on the right track and I think
that was the head fake that got me to bite. There were some areas
that have picked up more than I have and are much closer to the 8-15" that
should have fallen by now. In fact reports of up to 9" new from the
Twin Lakes area and up in northern Keweenaw County too. I have picked
up about 5" so far. There is another burst coming tonight and tomorrow
and it does look like we could even see some LES fall tomorrow night and
early Sunday, so all hope has not been lost yet.
It does seem like the
snow we got Monday and then Wed and yesterday has been enough to get the
conditions on the trails in better shape. At least the snow it not
sugar anymore. I have not been on the trail a ton, but did do some
riding Monday, Wednesday and again yesterday and all the trails I was on
those days were OK. It's going to be a busy weekend though, with
other areas hurting for snow and it also being a holiday weekend for some
this place will be hopping. I just pray that it will be a safe one
for everyone.
I will be doing some
riding this weekend as well. Rick Dobson and crew are on their way
up to shoot some more video. The plan was to come up and get some
good powder riding shots in and that might be a bit more of a challenge
than it was suppose to if we don't get another 6" of fresh by tomorrow
midday. There is already about 5-8" of fresh out there and another
6" would be plenty. If not, I am sure that the guys will be able
to provide Rick with usable footage. I'm just looking forward to
getting out with the guys again. Seems like the only time we get
together as a group is when we are doing a video shoot! KSE has really
been busy this year and it seems like everyone in our pack is going their
own way with a group of smiling tourists behind them every weekend.
Things will be slowing up in March so I'm sure we will be doing some more
group rides then, plus we have the Wyoming trip at the end of March.
Three days of mountain riding! Speaking of which, I was glad to see
them get back into a snowier pattern earlier this week. They look
to get some more fresh snow this weekend then it looks to quiet down some
for next week. I am not worried about having powder for our trip.
We booked things so late in March that it was never an important thing.
We get quite a bit of powder riding in up here! Of course you can
never have too much powder riding! My hope is that there is still
plenty of stable snow for us to go wherever we want. Only time will
tell.
Well, as mentioned
I have been doing some riding the past few days. Monday I took my
first solo KSE ride of the season. Just a half day and I was glad
for the fresh snow. Just 4", but it was enough to cover things up
and make for a smoother ride. Wednesday I hooked up with some guys
I have become friends with through the website. Jim F has helped
me design the site and is also a moderator on the General Discussions page.
He and his dad were up for a multi day saddlebag trip. Skylar (another
moderator on the General Discussions) and his brother were up for a few
days of riding, so we all hooked up at the gas station in Lake Linden and
I took them through the back country up into Keweenaw County. When
we left the sun was out and it really was suppose to be snowing.
Then as we traveled north and made it into Keweenaw County we did hit a
little bit of light snow and almost as quick as it started snowing, it
stopped again and the sun came out for another brief period. Then
as we were getting ready to head out of the bush and back into civilization
it really started to come down, so I stopped, hopped off my sled and snapped
a shot of the group
in a whiteout. We picked up an inch or so of snow in 15 minutes
and then it stopped again! We parted ways with Jim and his dad as
they were on their way to Copper Harbor to spend the night and Skylar,
his brother and I headed back to Lake Linden and had dinner at the Zone.
While having dinner it started to show pretty heavily again and seemed
to keep going longer than the burst we had experienced earlier. It
actually kept up for an hour or two and we picked up about 2-3", then it
backed off to just some lighter snow showers. We did get at least
one more burst of heavy snow because at midnight Baileys had to go out
and when I let her out it was another whiteout.
I awoke to about 3-4"
new on Thursday morning and then it tried to snow hard enough to accumulate
all day yesterday but really could not get fully going. Our two problems
yesterday were that the wind was out of the N/NW and that puts Isle Royal
in the airs path as it crosses Lake Superior. The isle not only takes
up some of the waters surface that would normally provide heat and moisture,
but it also disrupts the low level wind flow enough to impact the LES.
They way I figure it, if Isle Royal were not there, the Keweenaw would
probably see about 30 more inches of snow a season than we do already.
I'm all for keeping the island now that it's there, but sometimes wish
it were about 100 miles to the east!
Yesterday's riding
was with Skylar and his brother again and this time I went south of the
bridge to see what the back country riding down there is all about.
I have been down there in the backcountry in the summer and autumn, so
I do know that there is some great terrain, but was excited to see it from
a sled. We all met up at the Wildlife Refuge Cabins, the owners Dave
and Lori were kind enough to let me park my truck and trailer at their
place (it was a little quicker for me to drive down in the truck than to
ride by sled). From there we headed south and were heading off into
the bush. Skylar sure has learned his way around down there and it
was a ton of fun to be riding in a new area and just following the leader
rather than leading the pack. The conditions could not have been
much better. Between Monday's snow and the snow that had been falling
down there since Wed afternoon there was about 10" of fresh snow in the
woods and some spots had more as my bumper was pushing it at times.
There were plenty of opportunities for some great photos, but I have to
confess that we were having too much fun to stop and take too many shots.
Here is a shot of Skylar
(on the left) and his brother at a quick stop we made. Here is
a great example of what
we got to ride on all afternoon yesterday. Like I said, it does
not get much better than that!
Skylar found some hills
for us to all get stuck on and I even managed to rip the back of my belly
pan protector loose somehow. I did not even notice it until we made
a pit stop at Krupps. Thankfully Richard Krupp has a pole barn full
of tools and he let us pull
my sled in and get the skid plate riveted back into place. With
my repair taking up some time and me fighting a cold we decided to just
head back north and call it a day. We stopped off at the Mosquito
Inn and had a quick bite before heading up to South Range and my truck
and trailer. That was actually my first time in the Mosquito!
I've only been living here close to 6 years and never had been in there
until now. Of course most of the time I am going by the place I am
heading somewhere in the truck and not really wanting to stop, so I guess
it makes some sense. We had a great ride and I may have to see about
setting up Skylar with a branch office for KSE. I know one thing
and that is I hope to ride with him down there the next time he comes up!
Well, I am out of photos
and out of things to say. I will be bringing my camera along on the
video shoot tomorrow and Sunday if we do some shooting that day, so I am
sure that I will have some pictures and stories to share. Never a
dull moment when we get the whole gang together! So, until next time-
Good night from the Keweenaw..
-JD
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Feb 13-
Busy times!
It seems hard to believe that I last wrote on Tuesday and now here it is
Sunday already. I must have been having fun because time has just
flown by. I was actually hoping to get out a journal on Friday.
It was Michigan Tech's Winter Carnival this past week and Nora and I got
over to see the snow statues Friday evening. I did take lots of pictures
and was hoping to share that all with you on Friday, but we ended up getting
home too late and all I had energy to do was go to sleep! One of
the side effects of waking up at 4:30 in the morning every day.
This years winter carnival
theme was "A Frozen Commotion from the Depths of the Ocean". Every
year they come up with a different theme for the statues to be created
for and every year the statues never fail to amaze me. I keep thinking
that one of these years I will go to view them and just sort of think that
they were good, but nothing too special. That has yet to happen!
Before I get onto my photos of the statues, I have to apologize for their
quality. It was around 5:30-6 pm when Nora and I went to view them
and the sky had a heavy overcast, so there was not much light to illuminate
the statues. I did my best to retouch them in photoshop, but the
details are not as good as if it were sunny out when I took them.
At any rate, this was the
first statue that we came across. I do not remember the title
to it, but some pretty intricate forming going on there. Here is
another
shot of that one from a different angle. This next
one had the theme of a classroom. Perhaps a play on the word
"school" (fish and college). You could see a chalkboard with a math
formula on it. Here is one where a
giant squid is having it's way with some divers trying to get their
hands on a few treasure chests. The images I take from a distance
do not always show the level of detail that goes into these statues.
So I also like to zoom in on some of the details. Like the skeleton
and the treasures made of ice in the giant squid statue. Here
is a giant puffer
fish. Not sure what the title to this one was, but there was
a
person playing a grand piano, a globe and some folks waving in it!
No question about the theme behind this next one, meal
time! Not sure what an
oxen drawn cart has to do with the depths of the ocean, but I'm sure
it actually did fit in somehow! Here is one that is so
well done you might expect it to be made of something other than snow!
The 20,000 leagues
under the sea theme was used in one of the statues. If you look,
that one is actually close to 2 stories high.
Speaking of 2 stories
high, this one actually
was 2 stories high or even a bit more. That was actually just
the back of the statue, here
is the front. The theme to that one was Atlantis.
Not only was that statue massive in size, there was also quite a bit of
detail to it, like some horse
drawn chariots in the frieze work of the building, some fountains
flanking either side and even some bowls
of fruit at the market. Those were not glass bowls, they were
made of ice. Everything has to be made of snow/ice in these statues
and the only coloring that can be done to the snow/ice is on the letters
for the titles of the statues. One last shot to give you a better
idea of the size
of that one. Here is another
very well done statue whose title escapes me! Of course what
would an ocean theme statue building event be without a tribute to the
great Sponge Bob.
Here is another
of S.B.
That covers mine and
Nora's viewing of the statues this year. We did not get a chance
to tour all of them, but MTU has done a great job of capturing them with
a camera and making the images available at their
website.
The other event that
has kept me busy the past few days was some friends from Illinois and Wisconsin
came up to ride. One is a very good friend of mine (Mike) that I
went to high school with and did a lot of hanging around with. Most
of the time we had hockey sticks in our hands, be it at the rink or some
street or park playing street hockey. He brought his friend Gordy
who I have met before during their last visit up here. Here
they are (Mike is on the right) Saturday morning at the start of our
snowmobile adventure. I did not have any bottomless powder for them
to play in, but we did find some untracked
logging roads to ride in and with the snow being so firm, we could
also go anywhere we wanted to, and that included just
riding through the woods on no path at all. It's really neat
to have the snow so firm that you actually do not even need a road to follow.
We did spend most of our time on a logging road or other path through the
woods, but did manage to get off the beaten path as well.
With the snow so firm,
they could climb the hills through the trees pretty easily as well.
They may have thought it was not that easy, but I am hoping they can make
it up again this year when there is lots of fresh powder down to see what
climbing the hills is like with no bottom to the snow! On Saturday
we managed to make it as far north as Phoenix and then back to Lake Linden
before dark. They had to leave by about midday today, but we still
took in some of the sights to be seen here in the Traprock Valley. This
is what happens when you do not shovel your roof!
Speaking of shoveling
the roof, mine is currently free of all snow, but I would not be surprised
that I find myself having to clear it off in a few weeks. Looks like
we could be getting into quite a snowy period for at least the next 10
days, maybe the rest of the month. We sure do need some fresh snow.
We did not ride the trails too much this weekend, but actually came across
the groomer in the 3-4 miles of trail we did ride and the snow is so sugary
that it really did not make much of a difference. With the snow so
sugary the bumps cannot get too large either, but they do form almost immediately.
It looks like we could get anywhere from 4-6" of wet and heavy snow tonight
and tomorrow, then get into the lake effect for the rest of the week and
weekend. If the conditions permit we may even have round two of video
taping up here. I know Rick was hoping to get back up here if we
got hit hard and it sure looks like we will be hit hard. If not,
I am sure that the crew will be riding this weekend! I will be riding
this week as well and will be sure to take some shots of my adventures.
I have one last item
to cover before I sign off. There is a person that has started an
internet broadcasting service. He produces a weekly "podcast" as
it is called. This morning I spent about 30 minutes doing an interview
with him that will be available for free download this coming Wednesday
evening. You can go to sledheadradio.com
to listen to my interview and also listen to the shows he has already done
this season. It's a really neat idea and I hope it takes off for
him.
I think that about
covers it for this one. If all plays out as it is suppose to in the
weather, my next journal should have some shots of fresh snow up here.
Perhaps lots of it!
Good night from the Keweenaw..
-JD
-
Feb 8-
Well, it started
snowing soon after I finished my last journal and has been snowing pretty
much straight through since. There have been a few momentary lulls
in the action, but all in all we seem to have settled back into winter
around here. Not a ton of snow has fallen since Sunday afternoon,
about 3-4" at my house. Some areas have picked up considerably more.
Northern Keweenaw County seems to be the big winners so far and I would
not be surprised to hear that they are closing in on a foot of new snow
since Sunday afternoon. I know that spots up there picked up about
2" Sunday night and then picked up 7" last night and I did make a trip
up there this afternoon and it looks like a few more inches have fallen
since the 7" was reported this morning. I can say it looked like
full blown winter up there again, with the trees all flocked, snow falling
and most of the roads covered, even Hwy 41. Down here in northern
Houghton County the main roads are still clear of snow, the road traffic
and road crews have been seeing to that. However, the secondary roads
are all snow packed again and I am glad for that. No more carbides
on the pavement for me!
The main purpose of
this journal is to show you all the conditions of some of the trails up
here. This afternoon I took a drive down to Hancock and then doubled
back through Lake Linden up to Phoenix before returning home. I did
this all in the truck as I figured I could cover more ground in it than
in the sled. So all my shots were taken at the road crossings.
It is quiet enough up here that I was actually able to walk down the trail
50 or so feet and snap some of the shots, but the bottom line is that I
was not able to get deep into the woods to take the shots, nor was I able
to cover all the trails up here, but I think I have a pretty good representation
of things.
As mentioned, I shot
south to Hancock for my tour this afternoon. I actually drove the
truck down to where the trail crosses the Portage Lake Lift bridge.
One of my concerns was that the snow mat they put down there for the snowmobiles
to use was done away with in the warm temps we had last week and over the
weekend. It's
still there. It looks a little thinner than it was, but still
plenty deep enough to get a sled across and I saw some groomer tracks coming
off of it as well, so they are grooming under there too. So for those
not wanting to shoot the lake across, the trail going across the bridge
is still quite passable.
I then headed back
north on M 26 heading to Lake Linden. The trail follows the highway
for about 3-4 miles and sometimes that stretch of trail can be pretty thin
due to heavy sled volume, being exposed to the full sun and also somewhat
exposed to road treatments. There was also plenty of snow on the
trail in that section. I will say that the snow there was pretty
sugary and not the best to hold a grooming, but the depth of the snow on
the trail was still over a foot deep. By sugary I mean the snow is
more like a snow cone, or tiny ice pellets rather than crystals that can
be packed to stick to each other. In that shot you can see M 26 off
on the left hand side.
My next stop up the
trail was at the good old Normand
Road Crossing. I say it that way because that is the spot that
is closest to our house and thus is a spot that I go to many times to check
the conditions of the trails. The trail there had less sugar snow
and more crystalline snow, but still enough sugar snow that a grooming
would not hold as long as it might normally. The trail in that area
did not have too many bumps on it, but was not as flat as a pool table
either.
Heading further north
I came to a spot where the trail crosses a road a little north of Copper
City and the Drift Inn. There are a few more twists and turns at
this part of the trail system. Plus it is the main corridor to get
to and from the mix of trails in Houghton County and those in Keweenaw
County. You can also head out to Gay and take the Gay to Lac La Belle
trail to get from Houghton to Keweenaw County, but for most folks that
looks to be too long of a route, especially when heading up to Copper Harbor.
So lots of folks take the trail that goes through Copper City and Mohawk
up to Phoenix. As a result of the traffic and turns, that section
of trail ends up being one of the bumpiest sections up here. With
all that I saw on my adventures today, that
title held true. The bumps were not that big, about 6-8", but
still bumps. A bit further up the trail is a spot that I also like
to go to in order to find any bare spots. There is a section of trail
that forms an "S" curve right where the old Gay-Mohawk trail used to come
in that ends up getting worn down faster than any other section of trail
that I know about. So I go there to see how any bare spots might
be developing. Well, the
"S" curve was not bare, but lots of sugar snow and a few bumps.
After that I got onto
41, drove through Mohawk and then up to Phoenix. The one thing I
noticed when I was going through Mohawk was that they received more snow
than we did down here. Looked to be around 4-5" fresh, maybe more.
It was also snowing heavier on my trip than I had experienced all afternoon.
So heavy that Hwy
41 was covered with snow. The trees had a heavier flocking as
well. I eventually reached the location where
the trail crosses Hwy 41 south of the Cliff View and Vansville (fsv)
and finally found a section of trail where there was not too much sugar
snow. This was a section that did walk down about 50 feet, just to
see how packed the snow was a little away from the road crossing.
The snow was a little loose, but mainly because of sled traffic.
With a grooming it would pack down pretty nicely. You can also see
how flocked the trees were at that point as well as how heavily it was
snowing when I was there. Some sleds came down the trail as I was
turning around and they looked to be coming at a pretty decent speed and
the headlights were not dancing around too much, so the trail was in at
least OK shape.
I hope that helps you
all out on the conditions up here. Not the worst, but not the best.
We could still use about another 4-5" of snow to make all perfect by the
weekend. I doubt that we will get it, but it does look like a little
bit more will fall in the next 36 hours, maybe even half that 4-5" amount.
I have been checking the models during the day and some still say not much
of a warm up this weekend, while others that I trust more are calling for
temps to rise above freezing this weekend. They all are still calling
for a slug of arctic air to visit next week, which could give us a pretty
good hammering of LES. So I never like to tell someone "If it's worth
coming up" because what might be worth it for you may not be worth it for
me, or vise versa. Hopefully the pictures will allow you all to make
up your own minds. I guess that covers it for this one.
-JD
-
Feb 6-
Man, it seems
like weeks ago since I last wrote and months since our last snow.
Neither is true, only 72 hours ago I was writing my last journal and 7
days ago we had out last flakes of snow fall. In my last journal
I talked at great length about how my mood had not been impacted by the
lack of new snow and more importantly the thaw that was underway.
I think I will stay off that subject now. Not that my mood has changed
dramatically. I am not what you would call a happy camper, but seeing
as though we went from awesome late January conditions to more like early
April conditions in less than a week, plus the forecast does not look to
bring us a ton of new snow- I am in fairly good spirits. The reason
why I am going to avoid the subject (for the most part) is that the powers
that be seem to take it as a challenge to bring my mood down. Last
April I wrote about how good I was handling the thaw and how good my spirits
were and then my world was turned upside down by almost losing Baileys
to her bout with pancreatitis. I talked last Thursday about how my
mood was amazingly good and then the forecast changes and takes out the
monster storm for this week and replaces it with just some light snows
from time to time. If memory serves me correctly I have also commented
on my good fortune or mood only to be presented with something that makes
it very challenging to find the bright side of life for a while.
So I'm hanging in there, but would sure love a foot of new snow!
I really am amazed
at how warm it got across the Northwoods these past few days. 45
was the max temp at Houghton County Airport, but I hit 48 on Friday.
If that was not impressive enough northern WI rose into the low 50's and
even the "Icebox of the Nation" International Falls hit 49 degrees!
Forgive me Embarrass, I know you are actually colder than the falls most
times, but that title of icebox of the nation has been hard for the falls
to lose!
Seeing as how we have
been in the 40's for the past 4 days and had lots of sunshine for 3 of
them, the snowpack up here has managed to hang on pretty good. I
have lost about 7-8" in my backyard since it all started about 6 days ago
and I would say that most areas up here did the same. I went for
a ride Friday afternoon and it was actually pretty fun. It felt very
much like a spring ride in April. Temps in the mid to upper 40's,
lots of sun and soft snow. All I wore was a pair of fleece pants
and then my bibs, a fleece sweatshirt and my Klim jacket, my open face
helmet and a pair of sunglasses. I did wear gloves, but really could
have done without them. As mentioned, the snow was soft, but ride
able. Having it soft allows for it to hit the heat exchangers and
keep the machine cool. I am a bit worried about when things freeze
back up tonight, if we do not get much new snow, the trips may be punctuated
by many stops to let the sled cool down. On my way back Friday I
took the groomed trail from around Mohawk back down to Lake Linden and
actually came across the groomer heading south towards Lake Linden.
The groomer was not using the blades of the drag, just the back portion
to help flatten and then pack down the snow. It was doing a pretty
decent job, but the snow was so soft that the grooming was not going to
hold that long. I understand that they did go out Friday night and
talked to some folks that rode Saturday and they said the trails Sat morning
were actually very good (at least the ones they rode on).
I also have heard from
some folks that encountered some bare spots, so all is not a bed of roses
on the trails up here, but I think it is important that they were at least
out trying to make any improvements to the conditions they can. I
think that any reasonable person will be just happy to see the groomers
out trying their best rather than complain about how things are.
And if you are one of those folks that feel the need to complain about
conditions when the temps are in the 40's and the sun is shinning- Well...
you have obviously mistaken the rest of us for persons that care about
your opinion!!!
It will be interesting
to see what kind of conditions things get in once we cool off. The
cold air is on it's way as I type. The temp has dropped about 7 degrees
in the past 2 1/2 hours and places off to our west are actually in the
teens and 20's. It even looks to me that snow is falling on the Mercer
NCN cam. I can't see the flakes, but the trees off in the distance
have a lighter shade to them, which could only be caused by fog or snow.
We actually have some light rain falling, but after all we have been through,
the little bit of rain in the next hour or two is not going to mean anything
to conditions. I just hope we can pick up some snow tonight and tomorrow
and freshen things up a little. The snow by the roads is that nasty
brown that we get in the spring and the roads in my neighborhood are a
mix of asphalt and patches of ice/slush/snow. That actually has to
be one of the worst things for me personally. I am not used to hearing
my carbides rub along the pavement. I can usually get at least 3-4
seasons out of a set and have yet to have to change a set of hyfax for
my rear suspension since moving up here.
It really is strange
how much it feels like April right now. In fact it is very hard for
me to even picture winter returning. I know it will, it is only early
February and we have at least 4-6 weeks of true winter weather left and
could have as much as 8 left in the system. However, we have been
having early April weather for 4 days now and it just seems to have brainwashed
me! I suppose when we get some new snow and the temps are back in
the teens and 20's then the brainwashing will wear off, but for now it
seems like Spring.
Nora, the hounds and
I did take a trip to the north shore yesterday for our afternoon walk.
About a week ago I was very interested to see how much ice might be on
the big lake and was pleased when I saw that little to none existed.
There is a bit of ice packed in right along the shoreline and the big lake
with its big waves have been busy forming ice
castles, but the rest of the lake is wide open for business as soon
as Canada decides she is ready to share some of her cold with us.
On the way home we passed by the
Laurium Glacier. It did not look as large as I had thought it
would. Granted it's still early in the season and it will likely
grow in size, but up until a week ago we really did have a large amount
of snow on the ground and there has also been quite a bit of wind to help
form the gigantic drift. I'll try and keep you all posted on it's
growth until it's time to start guessing in a month or so.
My last order of business
is a plug for the store. You know, I have been told that the number
of orders for Feb has been very slow so far and I wonder if there might
be a connection to that fact and the weather we have been having since
Feb 1st. I'm not going to try and scare you all into purchasing your
ThinkSnow/JohnDee.com merchandise, but up
here we are all wearing our stuff in hopes that it will change this
weather around. If you haven't ordered your merchandise yet, there
is no better time than the present. You wouldn't want to be personally
responsible for a poor rest of the winter would you? All you need
to do is click on the link in the menu to the left or follow this
link. Keep in mind that all of my profits from the store go to
the Copper Country Humane Society to help them build their new and much
needed shelter.
Good night from the Keweenaw..
-JD
-
Feb 3-
I am getting a very
early start on this because at 5:30 this evening, the crew is coming over
to view the raw footage shot this weekend and Monday. I have a feeling
it will take a few hours to watching everything (we usually replay the
best parts over a few times), so I would surely be out of steam to write
after watching the footage. Then tomorrow I plan to do some riding
in the afternoon and may not get back until later in the day, so here I
am, Thursday afternoon!
We have been in a thaw
for a couple of days now. I think we actually stayed below freezing
until Tuesday, but yesterday touched 40 and today are at 40 right now.
I am actually quite surprised at my attitude through all of this.
I have not been down in the dumps one bit. I believe there are many
factors to this. For one we still have tons of snow down. The
roads are clearing up, even the side roads, but the trails and back country
still have lots of snow. So it's not like my ability to play in the
snow is being impacted all that much. Plus, I can see the light at
the end of the tunnel. Cooler air will be arriving by Sunday morning
and there is the potential for quite a storm early next week. Even
if that storm does not turn out to be a whopper, I think we will get enough
snow from later Sunday through next week to more than freshen things up.
So that is likely keeping my spirits boosted.
I have not been on
my sled since Monday, it has been in the garage thawing out. However,
looks like I will be riding tomorrow afternoon and again Saturday and if
we do get some decent snow next week, I am sure I will be going out then
too. I am very happy with my amount of riding so far this season.
Seems like I have gotten quite a bit of saddle time since the snows really
started to pile up in early December. I bet that has something to
do with my spirits not being too down with the current thaw. Don't
get me wrong, I am not ready to call it a season and I sure hope that we
have another 2 1/2 months of riding left, but I am more than satisfied
with the amount of riding that I have been able to get in so far this season.
I really need to thank my wonderful wife for that. She gives me Carte Blanche
when it comes to me riding my sled. Says I can go out anytime I want.
I am careful not to abuse her generosity and if we have something planned,
then I do not break my promises either, but I do know that she is being
more gracious than most wives might be in the same situation and it does
not go unnoticed. THANKS HONEY!!!!!
I have actually been
taking advantage of the thaw a little bit, getting some chores done that
the warmer temps have made easier to do. I compiled a little list
of them and I guess you could call it my "When given lemons, make lemonade"
list. For one I was able to get up on the roof and clear the ice
dams that were forming on the eves of the roof. They were not too
bad, but Feb and March can be months that allow that sort of thing to get
out of hand and now I am starting from square one when it comes to my eves.
The warm temps really loosened up the ice and all I had to do was persuade
the ice to come off the shingles a bit and did not have to hack away at
it while avoiding damaging the shingles like has to be done other times.
I also washed the truck. Not by hand, but still I was able to take
it to the car wash and get all the road grime off of it. Of course
I am not using it that much right now in an attempt to keep it clean, but
at least it is clean! I also serviced my sled. I hit all the
grease points on the suspension. The warmer temps allowed me to clear
the snow and ice from the rear suspension and made getting to the grease
zirts a whole lot easier. Plus I did not have to work in the bitter
cold either. On Sunday and Monday's ride I did not have to wear my
balaclava to keep my head and neck warm while riding. That's not
a huge deal, but it does make it easier to stop, take my helmet off and
then put it back on to get ready to ride. We actually do a lot of
that while filming the video. The last one on my list is that I got
a good look at the big lake today via the satellite imagery and there is
almost no ice on the whole thing. Chequamegon Bay north of Ashland
is ice covered as are most of Thunder Bay, Black Bay and Nipigon Bay north
of Isle Royal, but they always freeze over in every winter. The other
area of ice is Whitefish Bay, which also freezes over every year.
The rest of the lake is wide open and will do it's magic the next time
some cold air decides to travel over it. It was just 2 years ago
at this time that I was watching the lake slowly close in with ice and
watching the LES machine go bye-bye for the season. That was a major
bummer!
So in some respects
I am thankful for the thaw. Not happy about it, but there has been
a silver lining to it. The only picture I have to share with you
is of the trail up
by my house taken about 3 pm today. The trails are actually in
pretty decent shape in most areas. They are still grooming and traffic
has not been to bad this week. I cannot predict what will happen
to them this weekend other than to say that they should stay snow packed.
However, with the temps being mild Fri. and Sat, the grooming will not
hold too long, so I would imagine there will be some nice bumps.
So if you were wondering if you should come up this way, my answer is there
will be plenty of snow, but probably plenty of bumps too.
The snow has actually
been hanging on pretty good through all of this. In fact, I was very
surprised when I took the hounds for the morning short walk today that
the snow was crusty. Temps had been above freezing all night, even
in the mid to upper 30's, but yet the snow had found a way to re-freeze.
It was not calm out either, the winds were blowing strongly out of the
west at 15-20 mph, so I have no idea how that snow could have re-froze,
but it did! In all honesty, if (or I should more properly say when)
we get more snow, the snow down on the ground is so dense right now, it
will make for an awesome base. Bring some heavy snow in and it will
be like a dream come true up here. 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 foot base of hard
packed snow with a few feet of powder on top! Have not had that since
the season where I broke my leg and then had to sit it all out!
Well, I guess that
about does it for this one. I need to wrap things up and get ready
for the gang to come over.
Good night from the Keweenaw..
-JD
-
