The Lake-Effect Snow Kept Coming!

When I left you last time I was heading out to squeeze in a ski ahead of darkness last Saturday. I met up with our friends Lisa, Christian, and Kristin at the Marinette Street Trailhead to the Chassell Trails. As there were some binding issues with some rented skis, Lisa took a pass on the ski. Christian, Kristin, and I would ski 5k on the upper portion of the trails above the 2k cutoff. The snow had continued to fall during the day, so there was some minor accumulation on what we had groomed earlier in the day.

Making the herringbone climb into Dean’s woods

During the course of our ski we would meet up with two people from Wisconsin who were up for the races at Michigan Tech. It is always interesting to engage with those I meet on the trail as it helps me better understand those who embrace winter and to potentially find remote workers I have not met yet.

With a planned snowshoe hike on the North Country Trail to Tibbets Falls called off due to poor weather conditions, we met up on Sunday afternoon with our friend Sue at the Swedetown Ski Trails.

Julie and Sue skied together and I headed out my own to ski Ed’s Loop, Pine Ridge, Relentless, and then back on the Valley Trail. With the heavy snow it was just a beautiful afternoon to be out in forest.

My phone battery froze up during the course of my ski, so I only picked up 4.5 miles on Strava in the course of skiing about 10k. You can see my GoPro video from the ski at this link to the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel:

A good part of my last week was spent pulling together tax documents but I was able to attend a special meeting of the Chassell Township Board where approval was provided for the bid submitted by DP Construction for the renovation of the Centennial Park restrooms that will be covered by the MDNR Spark Grant and additional funding from the Chassell Lions Club.

While Julie went to an acupuncture appointment, I would get in a ski at Churning Rapids from the Christiansen Road Trailhead on M-203. It was a brisk 3 degrees with a wind chill of -13 when I started out.

I would ski all the way up to and around the tower. The conditions were slow due to the overnight snow, but I could roughly make out the tracks as I made the over 400 foot climb before making a much faster return trip to the trailhead.

I spared my fingers the wicked exposure to cold by not taking too many photographs, but you can see my GoPro video from the ski at this link to the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel:

Beyond doing more tax work on Tuesday, Steve Spahn and I would spend almost three hours grooming the Chassell Trails. The snow that had fallen since Saturday ended up being a lot trickier to groom than we expected. We buried the Gator once and the Polaris at least three times, but no photos due to the cold conditions. I would get home in enough time to shower, slam down dinner, and get up to the Chalet at the Houghton County Fairgrounds for the Hancock Trails Club board meeting.

After missing our Monday swim, Julie and I made it over to MTU on Wednesday morning. I would put in 2,500 yards before getting back to my tax work. I would get an interesting Facebook message in response to one that I had sent to the Muskegon County Genealogical Society back when we were working on the Chassell Historic Trail. I had reached out to them because my great-grandfather Fred Barringer’s older brother William had worked as an engineer in the mills there before moving on to Marinette, Wisconsin, and then to the Worcester Mill in Chassell. My great-grandfather came to Chassell Township in the 1910s. I don’t know if he worked in the mill as well, but he farmed along the Upper Pike River Road to the southwest of Chassell. Fred and William’s father Jacob Henry Barringer worked in the mills in Muskegon and died sometime in the late 1880s, but I have never been able to find a record of his death. Getting back to the message, their organization’s president helped with some connections that may be valuable as we work to populate the Keweenaw Time Traveler behind our interpretive signs and she referred my genealogical question to a volunteer.

Thursday the UPword article would appear online that I was interviewed for recently. It provides some really nice coverage for the Remote Workforce Keweenaw initiative. You can check it out at this link: Returning home: Recruiting former U.P. residents

I would spend 2 1/2 hours on Thursday morning working on the Chassell Trails. The previous afternoon I discussed the experience Steve and I had while grooming on Tuesday. Jim Tervo suggested that we drag the high banks along the trail. The snow had gotten so deep that any time we got off the hard center of the trail we would risk burying the Polaris in the deep snow along the trail. The drag is a simple rectangular device that hitches to the back of the Polaris. It worked very well to compress the snowbanks along the trail. I just had to be careful not to get too close to the edge. After picking the drag up from Jim’s, I would make two complete laps around the trail system knocking down each side of the trail.

Steve would join me afterwards to run the Gator pulling the five-foot Ginzu and I would trail with the Polaris with the three-foot Ginzu and setting tracks.

By the time we were finished, the skies would clear and there would be bright, warm sunshine for the first time in longer than either of us could recall.

The afternoon would be very busy as it would start with Steve, Mat Moore, and I meeting with DP Construction to discuss a renovation project we are looking at doing with the old shop classroom in the basement of the Chassell Heritage Center to create more exhibit space. I would go home and spend an hour and a half shoveling the roof for the fourth time this winter (which ties the most times I have done it in the ten winters we have been living here). I would then attend a Chassell Recreation Committee meeting where we would receive a presentation from Brett Palosaari about mountain biking skills trails proposed for the north end of the township’s property uphill from town, but more about that at another time!

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, follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RemoteWorkforceKeweenaw, or come UP for a workcation! Learn how at Visit Keweenaw at https://www.visitkeweenaw.com/plan/trip-ideas-itineraries/workcations/