Lake-Effect Slam and Learning to Groom

We had an enjoyable Thanksgiving at our friends Mark and Kathy’s place where we shared dinner and excellent conversation with them and six other friends.

As noted in my last post, five to ten inches of snow were predicted and the flakes started flying right about 2:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day as expected. By the time we left Mark and Kathy’s that evening, the road conditions were starting to deteriorate. We awoke on Friday morning to this view on our back deck. Clearly beyond the initial expectation, we were seeing snowfall reports on social media from here on the shore reflecting as much as a foot of snow.

After enjoying our morning coffee, the first order of business would be to clear the snow from the driveway. My initial inclination was to fire up the snowblower that our daughter and son-in-law had gifted to us, but given how light and fluffy the snow was (and the need to burn off some calories from the previous evening’s dinner), I chose to go after it with the shovel.

That afternoon, Brian Waters, Steve Spahn, and I would meet with Jim Tervo to start going over the grooming equipment for the Chassell Ski Trails. As I have discussed previously, Jim recently stepped down from taking care of the trails after 43 years of volunteer service to the community. Our focus during this meeting was on getting to know the equipment and starting to learn the basics about their operation.

From left to right: Brian and Steve along with the John Deere Gator

Jim demonstrating the Polaris snowmobile and 3-foot Ginzu used to break trail and set tracks.

Brian would be out in the bush for the last day of the firearm deer season on Saturday, but Steve and I would be back on Saturday morning with Jim to start putting into practice what we had learned by rolling the trails with two passes with the Gator leading and the Polaris following with the roller.

Jim is a fountain of knowledge about ski trail grooming and we are very fortunate to be able to receive his guidance through this transition.

After spending two hours working on the Chassell Trails, I headed up to the Swedetown Trails in Calumet to get in a late afternoon ski. There had been more snow up that way and a number of the trails had been groomed and tracked.

I met up with Mark and we skied Pine Ridge together before he headed out.

I went on to ski Ed’s Loop which is one of my favorite trails at Swedetown.

Not wanting to over test my recovering foot, I called it good after putting in 4.29 miles. Even though it was snowing hard, it was absolutely beautiful to be out on the trails! You can see my GoPro video from the ski at this link to the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel:

This morning Steve and I would be back out on the Chassell Trails to receive more guidance from Jim. Our focus today would be on learning how to set tracks by towing the three-foot Ginzu behind the Polaris.

Unfortunately, the underlying ground was still too warm to allow for good track setting. With that being the case our focus would be on rolling the trails and learning how to tow the Ginzu. The Chassell Trails are easily the narrowest ski trails in this part of the Keweenaw. This is in large part due to the fact that it is a classic ski trail only with no skate lane. The narrow trails provide an intimate experience with the forest, but this also makes for challenging towing around bends. Steve and I would become very handy at unhitching and re-hitching the Ginzu. We would also learn a lot about how to operate the Polaris to pull off the necessary turns.

After putting in a couple more hours of learning along with rolling the trails, we started looking at the weather forecast which is promising some colder nights in the teens this coming week. Along with another expected five to ten inches of snow, we are looking forward to the trail setting up well to receive tracks in the next couple of days.

Julie and I would then drive down to Nisula to have lunch at Red Hen. They had an awesome potato and ham casserole as well as an excellent apple crisp on the menu.

As I have noted previously, this place is a must stop if you are heading west out of Baraga on M-38!

We would then meet up with our hiking group for a snowshoe to the west off of Forest Highway 16 to the southeast of Bob Lake. Once we were off of M-38, the road was snow-packed, but the surrounding snow-covered forest was absolutely beautiful.

Tune in next time for a review of this snowshoe hike deep in the Ottawa National Forest!

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 a 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.