Mud Season Adventures and Chassell Welcomes Tactical Taco
The last couple of weeks have been focused on getting our cabin and yard ready for the Airbnb season. Last year I was cutting grass by the third week of April and this year I was still trying to rake the yard at roughly the same time as the snow slowly melted away from the back yard. The first grass cutting this year will be sometime in May.
Bringing the cabin out of hibernation in the spring brings the occasional surprise. This year the toilet would present issues just ahead of our first guests. After a bit of a scramble, I was thankfully able to find the part I needed at the hardware store at Festival Foods to resolve a mechanical issue with this old fixture.
Michigan Tech’s spring graduation seemed to fall a bit earlier this year which bumped us up against this year’s longer winter, but we were willing to take on that challenge for the increased business.
A significant rain finally hastened the melting of the snowpack here in Chassell which had the dual impact of raising the Sturgeon River from the south and the creeks that course through the ravines from the west of downtown. Unfortunately, a culvert bent by the Houghton County Road Commission did not allow for adequate flow for the water coming down from the ski trails past the shed where we store the grooming equipment. This caused us to take on about 16 inches of water. We will need to take some additional steps with the post-season maintenance to make sure we do not incur any equipment issues.
I received a go ahead from the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation in response to our letter of interest that I submitted with regard to our proposed splash pad project at Centennial Park. As we have delved into the details associated with installing such a project, we learned that the water requirements would place significant pressure on our community’s water system. The only way we can make this project work is if we can draw water from the lake and then return to the lake. I have reached out the state’s Environment Great Lakes & Energy (EGLE) agency to see what is permittable. I hope to learn something early this coming week to determine if we can move forward.
After MTU’s graduation, the pool closed for the week. Not being able to swim provided me the opportunity to focus on getting back to running after my hiatus which started with the fracture/infection that I incurred in my foot in September of last year. As a prelude to running, in mid-April I got out with the walkers who meet up with the Keweenaw Running Group and had the opportunity to catch up with our friend G. While mulling over my return to running and discussing the sciatica issues my previous core workout seemed to create, G suggested a core workout he uses which includes a variety of lunges, half-squats, push-ups, planks, wall-sits, etc. I immediately adopted this as a regular routine.
A week later I started running again with distances of 2.4 and 3 miles on the rail-trail with easy going paces as fast as 8:39/mile. I then ran this past week with the KRG. I only went 4 miles instead of 5.2 like everyone else, but this got me back on the road with some significant elevation gain. Even though I have been pretty good about getting in three 3,000-yard swims per week which requires a lot of stamina, it is curious how swimming does not directly prepare you for the shift over to the weight bearing requirement of running. That said, I am not running into any issues so far with my foot.
Mud season can be an interesting time in the Keweenaw when it comes to hiking. In many areas we still have a considerable amount of snow in the woods, particularly at higher elevations; as a result, deciding where to go hiking can be challenging with the big question being do you bring snowshoes or not. One of our recent mud season adventures was a hike on the Baraga Plains. Our hiking group would hike a segment between Big Lake and the east/west leg of the Baraga Plains Road. Since there is less forest and more swamps in this area, we were fortunate to not need our snowshoes.
You can see my GoPro video from this hike on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel at this link:
Staying away from the spine of the Keweenaw Peninsula can also be a good strategy for keeping out of the snow. On another hiking adventure, we would drop down to just north of Bruce Crossing to hike the North Country Trail from US 45 to O Kun de Kun Falls. Julie and our friends Jennifer and Sue maintain this part of the trail. We would drive down ahead of our hiking group to spend time doing trail maintenance.
The waterfalls here were well charged by the spring runoff and there was substantially less snow here than what we had seen in Painesdale on our drive down where there was easily almost a foot of snow to be seen in the woods. While lopping my way toward the falls I had a nice conversation with a remote worker in the aerospace industry who lives in Iowa but frequently comes to our region for workcations.
The Baltimore River tumbles over sandstone shelves in the river at two primary locations at O Kun de Kun Falls with some lesser drops farther downstream. The first falls, which you will hear referred to as the Upper Falls, Peanut Butter Falls, and Konteka Falls, is broad and about ten feet in height.
The main waterfall is between twenty and thirty feet overall, but the waterfall is much narrower where it plunges over the sandstone cliff.
By the time we reached the falls our hiking group caught up with us and we would hike out with them from there.
You can check out my GoPro video from the hike on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel at this link:
If that wasn’t enough, Julie and I got out there a few days later to hike it again to look for a saw that had fallen out of my pack. You can see that take with different perspectives which reflects a lower runoff flow at this link:
Some really big news since my last issue was the opening of Tactical Taco in Chassell. Bruce and Leighann Kibbett are operating in the former location of Lacy’s Curbside Bistro and serve really awesome tacos and breakfast burritos (the two things I have tried out so far). You will definitely want to try them out if you are in Chassell!
Julie and I also made it out onto the Nara and MTU Trails this afternoon to pick up branches that had fallen on the single-track trails of Hillside and Gonzo. I am sorry I did not have my fly rod packed in the truck as the Pilgrim River was quite inviting!
The warmer weather also had the garter snakes active as we saw one in pursuit of another in the warm sunshine!
We have an awesome seven-day weather forecast with a lot of sunshine and warmer temperatures, so I expect there will be plenty to report on in the days ahead!
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! Learn more by visiting 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.