Out like a lion

That is how march decided to end here in the Hayward WI area. Starting sometime after 2am Saturday the snow started to come down hard. Saturday morning by 10am when it had all but stopped snowing I measured a solid 10 inches. I checked 3 different spots and they all showed 10 inches or a little more. Just last week I had thoughts of getting my Yamaha XT250 out, the snow was mostly gone and the roads were ok just watch for sandy spots. I quess it will be a couple of more weeks until that happens.

On Thursday march 29 the snow was going fast. The deer were finding it easier to get at the accorns that had fallen last fall.
On Friday the 30th we got a little prelim of what was to come. Just a dusting of about an inch.

The snow was light and big snowflakes.
Saturday morning at 6:30am this was the view.

The deer were having a harder time finding those accorns.
Snow piled on the deck railing.

Looking out our front door.
I did a few snow depth measurements. We got 10+ inches.

It took me about 2 hours to get everything cleaned up and then the sun came out and finished the job.

After snowblowing and hand shoveling before the sun came out.

The sun is high enough now that it does a nice job of drying things up.

The deer decided to come by for a snack.

The weathermen are saying more snow Monday or Tuesday, up to 6 inches. Also no warm up in sight. Looks like maybe a late spring. Stay tuned.

Last Ride.

Ok, so today Sunday March 11, I really believe that I did go for my last snowmobile ride of the year. It was a nice day though we had an overcast sky. I met my friends Gib and Jean out on the lake in front of their house on Upper Twin Lake. We headed over to our friend Joanne's house for lunch. We met my wife Wendie there and had chili for lunch and strawberry pie for desert. After visiting for a while we jumped back on our machines and backtracked a couple of miles to intersection 71 and turned left instead of right and took a different way home. Total miles for this lunch ride 40 miles. The trails that we took today had some really bald spots and gravel. I'm sure that I wore my carbides down a little. That's why they are replaceable.

My friends Gib and Jean.

View of the Chippewa River from Joanne's house.

Riding Time; Snowmobile/Fat Tire

Today, Saturday the 10th of March I feel lucky to say that the trails are in good shape for the most part. I was able to get in a 32 mile ride this morning. It entailed about 22 miles of winding my way through the forests and about 10 miles of lake running. The lakes are interesting. Early in the year they were very smooth with a nice snow cover and running fast (80-90mph) was no issue. Now that the ice is very thick it seems to have developed pressure waves or something. Like a roller coaster. You need to pay a lot closer attention before you go and pin the throttle, as you may get thrown off if you hit one wrong. No it hasn't happened to me, yet. A few trail pics.

Out on trail 14 on the Tiger Cat Flowage.

Trail shots from trail 77. The snow we had last monday night really helped to prolong the riding season. It's amazing what 6-9 inches of snow can do.
The route I chose today, mainly trail 77, crosses the American Birkebeiner trail in a couple of places.
Today they were running the Fat Tire Birkie. Your choice 21K or 47K. I believe that the riders I saw were on the longer course.

Here I am parked at one of the crossings on trail 77. Stopped to take pics of some of the riders.

A couple riders coming by on a perfect day to be out doing anything.

A snowmobile crosses the junction after a full stop. Skiers/fat bikes have the right of way.

A few more riders.

OH Boy Another (Workout)

I say that because overnight monday into tuesday we recieved between 6-7 inches of fresh snow. It took Wendie and I about an hour to get things cleaned up, using a snowblower and shovels. In the afternoon we bowled on our tuesday league. My first game was great, a 213. After that it was all down hill, a 172 and a 154, but I did cover my average which is 166. On weds, Gib and Jean plus myself got in a nice ride in the morning. We made a 50 mile circle. I hadn't been on some of the trails we traversed which was great. We only made one stop. I need to take more pics on the trail, hard to do unless you are leading.
My plan is to get one more ride in tommorrow morning and then clean the sled up and summerize it. They are talking 30's and 40's next week, and no snow. That's a trail killer.
Just a couple of pics to post.

Wendie helping with late winter snow management.

Only pic from weds ride.

Dinner guests on weds. We had our normal 5 show up. We can tell them apart from body marks. If you count the deer in this picture there are 6. This was taken just before 8 more deer came up the trail from the north along the lakeshore. This evolved into a fight in about 10 seconds over the food. Our 5 won the battle.

Posers headed for the hills.

And finally our sunset on weds, march 7.

Snowmobiling Last Ride?

Since returning from Arizona I have been able to get out snowmobiling twice. Both times I thought it would be the last ride of the season. Last Thursday I went for a ride with my friends Gib and his wife Jean. We ended up at the Pla-Mor bar on lake Namakagon for lunch. The usual  burger and coffee for me. I ended up with about 70 miles for the ride. A great  day out, good riding weather and the trails were still in fairly good shape with only a few bad spots. Last year at this time the snow was mostly gone and the riding season had ended by the 22nd of Feb in this area.
On saturday I again was able to go for another ride. This time with my neighbors Bob and his wife Elaine, and Jeff who has the resort at the end of our road.
We ended up back at lake Namakagon, but took a different route to get there. This time we went to Lakewoods Resort for the Worlds Longest Weenie Roast, whatever that means. It was a good time and well attended.

Here I am ready to head out.

HHHMMMM, not sure how they laid claim to this.

Lotsa sleds.

Some nice vintage machines showed up also.

They had 4 abreast, heads up racing on the snow. It looked to be about 100-150 yard straight. Run what you brung and beat your buddy type racing. Fun to watch.

Also set up was a 1000 foot drag strip on the bare ice. Studs required. 118mph was the top speed I heard while there. We didn't stay for the whole event.

What a good time we had.

Saw this machine on the ride back home. He's ready to chop his way out if need be, he also had a come-along strapped to his machine. Saturdays ride was about 60 miles.
They have been predicting snow and we finally got it. I woke up to about 6-7 inches of fresh snow. Looks like I will be getting in at least 1 more ride.

Fresh snow all cleaned up.