KLT Winter Solstice and Maasto Hiihto/Churning Rapids Skis

Last week wrapped up with MJO completing the waterfront boardwalk at Centennial Park in Chassell. This roughly $300,000 project was funded by the $495,000 Michigan Department of Natural Resources Spark Grant that I wrote for Chassell Township. This is the largest deliverable in the grant program and follows the completion in September of the ADA accessible sidewalk between the pavilion and the lakefront by DP Construction. On Saturday morning I stopped by to walk the new boardwalk. See it here at this link to the Chassell Township Facebook page: https://fb.watch/wHSFtJTCBg/

Wanting to take advantage of the grooming work that Steve and I had completed on Friday morning, I squeezed in a Saturday afternoon ski on the Chassell Trails. You can see my GoPro video from the ski at this link to the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel:

Saturday evening Julie and I would attend the Keweenaw Land Trust’s winter solstice celebration at the Lily Creek Nature Sanctuary. The KLT is a non-profit organization here in the Keweenaw that employs strategies to protect and restore natural areas, watersheds, heritage lands, traditional farms, forests, and family lands that enhance quality of life and foster personal connections to the Keweenaw for generations to come. You can learn more about the KLT through its website at: https://keweenawlandtrust.org.

The event involved a beautiful walk through the woods down to a site along the creek.

Our friend Carolyn who works for the KLT was the first to greet us.

I had a really nice conversation with the incoming Executive Director, B Lauer. I also met remote worker Lee Lathrup and learned about two other remote workers that I was not aware of previously. We saw many of our friends who are also members of the KLT before making the trek back through the dark on the lighted trail.

Sunday our hiking group would go for a 6.86-mile ski at Maasto Hiihto and Churning Rapids. The conditions were outstanding! While we barely picked up a trace of snow in Chassell going into Friday, a few inches had fallen on top of the hill in Hancock which allowed for some outstanding grooming.

We would start our ski from the Tomasi Trailhead which is located next to the Hancock DPW Garage. We would ski the Tomasi Loop down to Trail 17 where we would enjoy a super run down to Swedetown Creek. From there we would ski upstream and then along the Ruby Marsh until we reached the tower. We would ski Thoroughfare, taking in its long sloping downhill run from east to west and then coming back by way of Spring Creek. The glide was amazing throughout the ski!

You can see my GoPro video from the ski at this link to the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel:

My GoPro’s battery died as we headed southward from the triangle, so I caught a photo of the birch and aspen stands along the trail as we made our way back to Tomasi Road.

Back at Tomasi Road we decided to ski down to the Pedestrian Bridge.

After making the tricky crossing over the narrow Pedestrian Bridge we ran into John Pekkala who was out grooming the trails in the Wolverine along with his wife Tami.

Monday would be spent assembling new shelves for our garage and kitchen as well as making some important contacts on township business related to the preliminary engineering study for the park and project status checks.

Christmas Eve would be very laid back for us. Jim Tervo had reached out to me suggesting that we run the 5-foot Ginzu over the trail for a couple laps behind the Gator and then reset the tracks. Steve and I met at 11 to get ready to go out and, while Jim was explaining some features on the Polaris, a skier came up from the trail to talk to us. The skier turned out to be a visitor from the Twin Cities who told us our trails were better than anything back in his area of Minnesota. He was having a great ski and recommended that we not do anything to the trails.

I thought about going out to ski the Chassell Trails myself, but decided instead to take advantage of the more recent snow that had fallen at Maasto Hiihto. I would start from the Tomasi Trailhead and ski the Swedetown Creek Gorge. The conditions were a lot faster than they were on Sunday, but I would have an outstanding 4-mile ski! The gorge had been out of commission after the Fathers Day flood in 2018 which wiped out all of the bridges. They were eventually replaced through a FEMA project which brought the Gorge back online last season, but of course we had that extraordinarily low snow amount last season which didn’t allow us to get out to ski it much. It was a treat enjoying it again with the Trail 17 entry!

You can see my GoPro video from the ski at this link to the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel:

Reflecting back on some of my favorite skis at Maasto Hiihto, I put together this YouTube short from a ski Julie and I took there in February of 2018: https://youtube.com/shorts/wPibb7Pzorg?si=0cjilDiD96l9TJIm

A quick note to my followers who are here in the Keweenaw, be sure to come out to the Four Seasons Chalet at the Houghton County Fairgrounds on Thursday, December 26th to participate in the Hancock Trails Club’s Luminary Ski from 6 to 8 p.m. to ski, snowshoe, or snowbike!

We would wrap our day with a sauna down by the lake!

Do you embrace winter and have the ability to work remotely? Consider locating in the Keweenaw where you will find ubiquitous natural beauty, no congestion, and lower crime! Not sure? Come UP for a workcation to check it out! Learn how at Visit Keweenaw at https://www.visitkeweenaw.com/plan/trip-ideas-itineraries/workcations/ Visit Remote Workforce Keweenaw at https://remoteworkforcekeweenaw.com. Learn about those making the decision to locate here by following the Remote Workforce Keweenaw Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RemoteWorkforceKeweenaw.