Trails rolled today!

It light of the screaming wind we had today, we rolled everything in hopes of hanging onto this snow.   We'll be out there early New Years Day to work it over again and theoretically set tracks.

Oh ya, this is just a file photo.

Most tracks of the season, set today.

With this recent snow and cooler temps,  we've been rolling it down and dragged the trails smoother.  Plus we've added corduroy to some perpetually wet spots.  Today tracks were set on the city side, the old trail to Churning Rapids, the Vista trail plus everything in Churning Rapids we can get through.

Because of low snow conditions, the light weight drag setup was used.

Here we go!

The descent down to the gorge off of the Pine loop was dragged.

That's looking better

This is in Churning Rapids

Hope you can get out and enjoy them!

The Candle luminary ski.

On Saturday evening, KNSC hosted a fun for all event, the Holiday Candle Luminary. Kids of all ages came out to ski or snowshoe the luminary lit trails. Lots of friendly 4-leggeds were also in attendance.

Dogs and kids just go together.

Don't these polite dogs deserve that hot dog??

Josie is going to see how it all works out.

  

Jeanne (behind the counter) was once again the hostess with the mostest.

She made sure all the skiers were well fed with holiday treats!

Our hot dog roaster.  Candle luminaries can bee seen in the back.

Who's outside?

It's us!

A hot dog headed to the bon fire

Plenty of kids in attendance!

 

This fella had a satisfied customer, first rubbing the front side...

...and then the back!

Everyone had such a good time.

Grooming report for Saturday, December 27th

With a dusting of fresh snow, all the trails which are groom-able at this time were dragged.  Plus tracks were set on the city side of Swedetown gorge.

The new river trail is still quite rough but looking better.

The same as above.

The drag smoothed them up some.

This is what we like to see.

Now in Churning Rapids.

Who might this be?  It's Gromit the trail mutt!

In Churning Rapids, the trees were a challenge.

 

On the city side, we used our shallow snow setup and
tracks looked reasonably good.

KNSC recommended links

Click HERE to go to KNSC's web page

Keweenaw Trails web page - info on area events and trail conditions
Keweenaw Trails Listserve - keweenawtrails-l@mtu.edu
Skinny Ski - web page dedicated to cross country skiing in the midwest, includes news, trail reports, general info on trails 

Would you like a link added? Email SandyAronsonPT@gmail.com

Pine Loop descent to Swedetown creek reopened.

Some of you may recall the descent off the Pine loop (trail 5) which was groomed, maybe 10 years ago.  Many people still used it as a BC ski or
snowshoe trail down to the creek as an alternative route to Tomasi RD. 
With the loggers still using that road, we thought it was time to clear this
old route and and create a turn-around at the bottom, so we could then get our narrow implements down and smooth it up some.  This would make it a much
safer descent and we have no plans to ever track it.

The narrow old descent getting brushed.

A turn-around was cleared and is being tested here.

Then around with the largest tow machine we have.  It made it.

Looking towards the creek, you can see the pedestrian bridge skiers use.

Then we took the smallest drag we have to check its width.

It's rather narrow but should suffice.

Not looking too bad.

At the end of the day, Sam is grooming back up for the last time.

Now he pulls back onto the Pine loop.

Back at the ranch.  We need more snow!