Holy Winter!

Good grief this has been a LONG winter.  I know I posted in December last year about crossing our fingers for good snows...someone did more than cross just their fingers I think. We ended up with 183.1 inches of snow through 4/6.  The Petoskey record from 1970-71 is 183.9 inches.  I REALLY thought we were going to have it beat from the weekend...we had a few inches of new snow fly but it obviously didn't quite get us there.  With temperatures looking to pretty much stay above freezing druing the daylight hours...I'm wondering if we can squeeze out another 8/10 of an inch to at least TIE the record.  As we speak the snow is still well over knee deep in many spots up in our neck of the woods...mainly in the higher elevations. 

The snow nearing the record was bittersweet this year.  I had an insanely busy winter, and with all of the snow falling it really didn't leave a whole lot of time for fun.  The cleanup was quite tedious throughout the winter months.  Add to that the fact that we had, I believe, a record number of sub zero days this winter...it was just too cold to do ANYTHING.  With that record cold came record ice coverage on the Great Lakes.  At one point that lakes were nearly covered!  I had asked around about the crucifix viewing in the Little Traverse Bay and it had been canceled due to there being nearly five feet of ice to dig through.  From what I've heard that is not, it is awfully close to, the thickest ice we've seen in my lifetime.  Hopefully that will keep the temps down a bit this summer and help to stop the evaporation from the lakes that we've seen over the past number of years.

One thing we did do was partake in our now annual winter camping event.  We spent two nights out in the woods.  It was pretty laid back due to the weather...setting up camp was the biggest challenge.  There was a lot of snow and digging down far enough for the tent to sit in was, although done by others, a tedious task.  Bringing in the wood for a camp fire was miserable too...but once everything was in we were styling for the weekend.  I bought a new sleeping back that would make a cold blooded beast sweat.  It is a Chinook Alaskan 9.5...rated for -50F.  I stayed VERY warm (too warm at times) the entire trip...with lows in the single digits at night.  A big improvement over having to sleep in my running truck the prior year!  In addition to the great new sleeping bag...I brought along a Mr. Heater Big Buddy...if nothing else it took the night chill out of the air in a tent designed for 3 season camping.  It kept the boots from freezing solid too!  The first night we were out there was a pretty good snow storm...we got what I remember as about 10 inches of snow.  Top it off with wind gusts reportedly of up to 50 MPH through the weekend.  Fun fun!  We did have a blast though...and are already working to plan the dates for next year...Winter Camp 3.

I know there is plenty more to talk about through the winter...but I think it is time to get rolling for now.  Hang tight...spring is just around the corner!

Derek