Into the Taper!
The past week saw me enter into my taper for the Border to Border Ski. After peaking with my recent 60k (37.5 mile) ski at Swedetown, I started to ease up heading into my 440k odyssey just south of the Arctic Circle in Finland. I also picked up a key piece of my equipment as Chicken Tramper Ultralight Gear in Hancock finished producing this really cool custom-colored pack that I will wear throughout the journey! Austin had let me try his out and it performed like a champ on my 60k ski with no binding in the shoulders and plenty of flex across the chest.
I mentioned in my last post that I would share some photos from that beautiful ski I had taken at Maasto Hiihto and Churning Rapids a week ago Friday. This was that 13 mile ski on freshly rolled trails with no tracks. Speed was not my priority as I just put in the miles and enjoyed the beauty!
Saturday was the Chassell VFW Auxiliary Ice Fishing Tournament in Chassell.
I have to share my frustration with one of the elements in the scoring rubric set up for evaluating SPARK Grant proposals. Without any opportunity to state our case for park use, the MDNR is scoring 7 points out of 100 based on the number of people living within a half mile of the park. When you live in rural Michigan, particularly in the U.P., the catchment area for a popular park like Centennial Park in Chassell is substantial. When you can get here from as far away as Calumet in less than a half hour due to the lack of congestion, it feels like a bias has been created toward urban areas. As you can see in this photo above, the parking lot is packed and you are not even seeing the fact that the lot and available space to the south was also packed. Just something to think about.
While I love ice fishing and have actually taken 5th place and received a $100 award in the pike category in a past tournament, I stayed disciplined and got out for a 16.46 mile ski on the Nara and MTU Trails with over 1,400 feet of elevation gain. Unfortunately, the glide and kick were both extra challenging.
On Sunday, our hiking/skiing group went for a 4-mile snowshoe with a good portion of it on the North Country Trail to Plumbago Creek which is out to the west of Canyon Falls out to the south of L’Anse and west of Alberta. The weather was beautiful and around 18 of us enjoyed the hike which added miles toward this year’s #hike100NCT.
You can see my GoPro video from this snowshoe hike at this link to the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel:
Sunday evening I ran my skis over to my friend G who would be waxing them for my Border to Border adventure. G had just returned from skiing the Birkie so it was cool to hear about his experience and to get tips on how to approach both my taper as well as my upcoming ski.
After returning home I learned over social media that I had just missed quite an aurora! Even though it was past its peak, I enjoyed the glow in the northern sky over Portage Lake.
Monday I was back to the grind with a 40k ski split between the MTU Trails (15.1 miles) and Maasto Hiihto and Churning Rapids (10.66 miles). There was a stiff wind and I was on my touring skis, so no speed records on this day! I grabbed lunch from the Keweenaw Co-op on my way to the Tomasi Trailhead in Hancock. It was a cold re-start for well over a mile because of my sweat from the earlier ski. I ran into my friend Mark out on the Meadow Trail and needed to keep my conversation somewhat short due to the penetrating cold which dissipated by the time I reached Mud Lake.
I spent my Tuesday and Wednesday knocking out township business with a big focus on writing the EGLE permit application for our proposed waterfront boardwalk replacement and attached boardwalk linking up the trail along the north side of the the Chassell Bark Park (off-leash dog park) and our proposed adjustable boat launch dock. By Wednesday evening I was ready to get out in the snow for a 4.5 mile run at a 9:00/mile pace with the Keweenaw Running Group out and back on 7th in Houghton.
Do you embrace winter and have the ability to work remotely? Would you value living in a place with ubiquitous natural beauty that has NO congestion and lower crime? Consider locating in the Keweenaw where you will be surrounded by amazing places! Learn more by visiting Remote Workforce Keweenaw at https://remoteworkforcekeweenaw.com and follow our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/remoteworkforcekeweenaw.