Snow!
Greetings and welcome!
We have a cold front that passed over us last night, and on the way it left about 3″ of nice new snow. Townsend and Lakewood are reporting similar amounts. It was only supposed to be up to an inch, but we had a little lake enhancement, and it kept redeveloping.
I got word this morning that Iron Snowshoe opened trails south of C again. It will be thin in places that only have the 3″, but it is open.
I mentioned that the snow was the result of a passing cold front. That means that we are in for a chilly weekend. We are at 14 now, and there is a gusty wind. Tonight it could go to around zero, again with some wind, talking wind chills to the -20 range. Saturday gets a little better when temps go into the mid or upper teens, but with the wind picking up in the afternoon. Saturday night looks like about +5 with -15 wind chills. Sunday the NWS has us in the upper 20s, and still with some wind.
Between the snow and cold it is almost like a real winter again.
A word of warning, watch for slippery spots until the snow bonds to the ice under it. The places like roads and driveways that had some base survive are often icy from the sun and the freeze/thaw cycle. The fresh snow made those very slippery.
My travels yesterday took me up toward Highway 8 so I took the long way home and got a look at Dunbar, Goodman, and the trails that cross Hwy I (Parkway).
What I found was some really nice trails, and some sunburn too. A lot of the way along Hwy 8 the north bank of the roadside was bare. The sun is not our friend right now, and there were some bare spots where it was sunny, and treated roads were mostly burned off anywhere the sun could reach them.
Other than that I found very nice trails north of about Benson Lake Rd up toward 8, and good trails with increasing bare spots and I went south to about Brandywine or Wolfe Ln. There are still nice trails to the north if you put up with the sunny spots. That probably gets a little better to the north and west as usual where the sun has more base to battle through. It will be a lot more tolerable with the fresh snow.
This is one of the biggest weekends of the winter for events. Here is the list from Tuesday..
| Feb. 11 | Town of Stephenson Park on High Falls Flowage off of Boat Landing 3 Rd. |
High Falls Fish-O-Rama, Snowmobile Radar Run & Winter Fest Fishing contests, snowmobile races and games. Concessions will be served. Sponsored by the Twin Bridge Ski Team. Call 715-757-3511 for further information. |
| Feb. 11-12 | Townsend Town Hall | Red Arrow 38th Annual Family Fish-A-ReeFamily fun-Music-Food-Games-Meat Raffles both days-big raffle drawing Sunday afternoon. |
Sat Feb 11th- Live Music at Hilltop Resort with Paul Hanna of Annex
Feb 11th- Trump Lake Sat 50th Annual Fish-O-Ree
Sat Feb 11th- Chute Pond Snowmobile Ice Drags– Register 9-11:30, racing starts at noon. Heated tent with food/refreshments/meat spin wheel/booyah
Saturday Feb 11- Lake Mary Fire Tower- Slug Feast with the River Road Riders. Food and refreshments 12-3pm
Saturday Feb 11- Pickerel Fun Day-Pickerel Fun Day starts @ 8:00 am with the Pickerel-Pearson Lions Club Pancake and Sausage Breakfast @ Hill’s Still in Pearson. Jerry’s Schuh’s Polar Bear Jump in starts @ Noon with Jump in @ 1:00pm. This is @ Jerry’s bar on Pickerel Lake road. The snowmobile raffle will be @ 3:00pm at Jerry Schuhs.
Saturday Feb 11- 5th annual Bed Races on Townsend Flowage at Birch Hills Resort. Door prizes for best PJs, and Karaoke later.
We can also add Karakoe at Curve Inn to the list.
Hopefully we see a lot of people this weekend. The fresh snow and the nice trails to the north plus all of the events should make it a great one.
I haven’t talked to the folks at Rapids yet, but it is a pretty good bet that I will be bartending there from noon-5 tomorrow. If you are in the area stop in and say hello and get your group’s picture put up on the web.
Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!
RJB