Snow Shoe'in in the Great White North- January 2009

With just a few days to get away and all ready in Minnesota, it seemed only natural to go north and check out some of the great winter time areas of Northern Minnesota. I found an out of the way cabin in the North Woods near Grand Marais Minnesota. I have never seen so much snow!

The accommodations were a single room cabin, no electricity, no running water, no indoor plumbing, no phone, no internet and just a pot belly stove for heat.

It was very cold heading for the outhouse at night with temps at -10 degrees

Bring in the bags on a sled

Beautiful Lake Superior and the frozen harbor of Grand Marais

The days would start with snow until 12:30 pm and then the clouds would part and the sun would shine.

If you wanted to heat the cabin then there was wood to chop.

The snow shoeing was done on the Superior Hiking Trail (SHT). We were the first to hike on the trail this season as we broke trail for 7 or 8 miles on the trail (15-16 miles round trip)

The trails were narrow through the trees and spectacular with the snow clinging to the trees

The mornings were beautiful

But the evenings were even more spectacular!

The nights had millions of stars and the Milky Way was very prominent.

Spending time on the trail was the main event

The masked participants enjoying the weather... -5 but having fun

buried waist deep in the drifts of snow

Had to cross a frozen lake with beautiful views

Right out in front of our cabin a bird feeder where we watched birds and squirrels getting something to eat in the cold

summing up the weekend in the North Woods

Recommended Restaurants in the Grand Marais area:

• Gunflint Tavern
• Crooked Spoon
• The Landing Restaurant at Devils Track Lodge

Drink of the weekend:

• StrongBow Hard Cider (Britian)

New Years Day Motorbike Ride- January 2009

Yes, I have a motorcycle. I had been getting offers to come ride with my dealer friends for quite some time in South Dakota and Minnesota. I had thought that I would finally learn how to ride, so I took the MSF riders course and got my license. But I thought in order to practice I really need a bike!.... sounds like mid-life crisis to me... ;-)

Well I have been riding for a couple of months around the backroads near my house, but since today was January 1, 2009, I decided to start my quest to ride my bike to every state park in Missouri.

Today was a beautiful, but cold day, 28 degrees. I rode to Washington State Park (90 miles) and enjoyed the view. The roads had some nice twists and turns along the way

The Bike, an '04 Suzuki DL-1000 "V-Strom" looks great in front of the view

There was a nice pavilion to rest and a very lovely view, I was the only person in the park!

On the way back I bagged Babler State Park as well (20 miles from my house)

180 miles round trip- nice day

Trail Crew Volunteer- GSMNP October 2008

Day 1 and 2-
Christine's current project was the restoration of the trail out on Andrew's Bald. A 1.7 mile hike from Clingman's Dome parking lot (uphill in both directions). The trail has seen a lot of use and is in rough shape out on the bald. I broke rock, rolled rock and dug dirt, but it started to look better















Hard to complain about the view out your office window with this job!


What was big rocks blocking the trail end up being knocked down and smoothed over to make a new trail

We packed in all the tools needed

Ate lunch together

The work is incredibly hard, but some how the views make it worth while

Day 3

Today was a different story. A front moved in with 70 mph winds on Andrew's Bald. Could not work there so we went in search of downed trees on the trails.

Hiked about 10 miles in the rain and cold. Had to just eat where we could.

I am sure I had more fun than C or KJ or Preston who have to do this all the time, but even in the rain it was a pleasure to be in the woods.

Close Encounter with an Elk

A large Elk cow right in the parking lot before our Cataloochee loop hike