Porkies ski adventures!

Attempted anyway. Saturday was supposed to be nearly 40 and sunny, and we thought it could be our last chance to get a ski in this season at the Porkies.  Back country skiing looked iffy, so we headed to the groomed trail.

Do you know how good it feels to roll on hard packed snow?
We both did that!

They scouted out where we could go.
The skiing was not that good on this old snow.

But the 2-leggeds found skiing to be marginal, with the thin,
icy base so we turned back about 1 mile in.

We did get to meet some friendly people  back at the parking lot!

 

On the way home, we stopped at the Green Park
to check out the shove ice.

Snow was pretty hard and crunchy, since it was still in the 20's.

Hey! There sure isn't much ice this year.

Puppies do have to worry about falling in ya know.

It was pretty calm, and breeze from the south so it was quiet.

I hope we get back to the Porkies soon!

Sunday afternoon Pilgrim River Watershed Trails romp.

On February 23rd, a year since our big blizzard that buried everything, we had a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon to romp at the Pilgrim river watershed trails.  Gee, what a change in the weather!
Gromit stayed home and watched the house, since she was recovering from our adventure to the Hermit's the day before.

Ya the sun has been more intense lately.

We've seen the sun more this February than we can  remember
in the past. Very little lake snow!

There was some fresh snow on the packed tracks
 which was rather sticky.

Still good depth on the picnic table!

They said I didn't pack the trail down much...

The 2-leggeds said the grip was great thanks to warm temps.

I found a perch on which to survey my kingdom.
You can see each snow fall here

We took a little break here, and basked in the sun.

Lotsa old critter tracks were still visible under the new snow.

We had such a nice romp today.

Saturday's snow adventure to the Ont!

On Saturday, we knew adventure was brewing when Arly loaded the Boss onto the trailer and us into the dog truck. Turns out, we finally were going to explore some trails near the Middle Branch of the Ontonagon River! These are forest roads in the Ottawa NF and a few miles north of Bruce Crossing MI. Our friend had said there was an interesting cabin to see out there and knew its owner, known to locals as "The Hermit".

We checked the Boss on the trailer when we stopped at Twin Lakes
state park to take care of other business.  Good snow here!

The Boss comes off the trailer at the parking area.

The hermit's rustic sled remains here.

I smelled a BIG dog!
Wolf tracks and scat was seen everywhere during this trip.

We packed gear and wait for our buddy Dean.

He made it! He sledded right from his house near Mass City.  

And we head out to meet the other fellows.

Here they are!

We are always glad to meet new people.

Oh ya, and they are real friendly.

We got to the cabin and found it was quite rustic.
Beautiful spot though, right on the river and at the base of the hill.

Door was open and power on. This is off the grid,
and the solar panels are still functioning.

Interesting stop and Dean says it's been a
 "work in progress" for nearly 30 years.

Old, poor looking vehicles parked everywhere.

Now we head back up the steep curving road.

No problem for the Boss.

We had such a nice romp with Dean and his friends!
We were so glad for their help today.

Dean, I hope you come visit us when we camp this summer.
Ya, we do do love you!

Lake Ste Kathryn visit and ski!

On Saturday, Arly had the day off from grooming, so the pack hopped into the dog truck to head down to Lake Ste Kathryn, to ski the Deer Marsh Trail.

Surprisingly good snow down here.  They don't get lake snow here,
 and we seen the temps fall as we got further away from the lake.

Oh ya, we've been here many times before.

We started by the kiosk on the south end and headed east
and north.
The older mutt had trouble in the deep snow and got put
back in the truck.

We saw and sniffed many critter tracks today.

Let's go!

The snow was quite sugary. Slow going for someone with tiny paws.

We noted more than a dozen down spruce across the trail.
We'll get them off this spring, no problem.

Round the bend we go.

The cold breeze didn't let us dawdle long.

The viewing platform off Marten Lake rd.  In this post from this summer
you'll see us and Diana at this same platform. 
We wouldn't got it cleared without her help!
 You'll also see many of the same locations on that old post.

Made it to the kiosk on Marten Lake Road!

And then the platform overlooking the head waters of
the East Branch of the Ontonagon.

After lunch in the truck, we romped around the camp ground.
Why didn't we bring the camper?