The snow is here, more on the way!

We got 3 inches of snow overnight and it's still snowing lightly - some forecasts say another 3 inches by morning.

Big storm headed this way for Weds./Thurs. If we get the foot or more predicted we should be on sleds by next week. It looks like lake effect snow should keep coming after the storm, through the weekend.

We have 75% of the trails to sweep for deadfall from spring/summer/fall so it will take a while to open everything up again. We put most of our efforts into fixing the "gorge" this summer/early fall.

For the most accurate weather forecasts for our region, check out www.johndee.com

Don't forget to get your Sweetwater Challenge entries in - there's a deadline for chosing your t-shirt size. www.michigandogdrivers.org

Dec. 3rd Update

My how time flies!

We have some folks coming this weekend (the Adopt-A-Husky group from the Chicago area.) The forecast looks likely for some snow. Currently various reports predict 6 - 12 inches for our general area.

The ground is not frozen so there won't be much of a packed trail yet. Plan on running small teams with a sled and bringing along a snub line to tie off to trees. A snowhook won't be very useful except for snagging trees (remember a strap to keep it on the tree.)

If we get enough snow to run the snomo, we will scope out the east trail first, then the trail to the west, for downed trees.

I'll post again tomorrow with an update on how this system is moving through our area.

Gorge Photos - The Grass is Up!

The first photo shows where the trail changes from old to new, with grass growing through the straw mulch. A huge thanks to all who helped with this rehabilitation of this damaged area of the local forest. It has gone from an ugly, gouged out trench back to a trail that is level with the rest of the surrounding forest floor. 20 different people worked on this project over 13 days with funds from the Forest Service. Mission Accomplished! You should be proud of the work you did! Scroll down for "before" photos of the area.

Eureka Race Mix (Medford) Order Time

Hi, all,

If you are interested in ordering frozen meat from Medford Fur Foods in Wisconsin, now is the time - in the next couple of days they will be done taking orders for the fall shipment.

You can call Tony at 715-748-2255 to place your order.

It will arrive sometime in the next few weeks at Traverse Cold Storage in Traverse City, MI., Cass Rd. You will need to set up an account with them. They charge $12.50 a month per pallet. They also charge a one time fee per order (not pallet) of $12.50. They have a website too. I'll post their phone number later.

Eureka Race Mix (chicken, turkey, beef, egg, oils, vit./min. etc.) is still going for 35 cents a pound in 50# blocks. There's also a Eureka High Protein Race Mix (more beef) for 42.5 cents a pound in 50# blocks. Transportation costs are added to these figures - Tony calls you with the final amount once all of the orders are received and the truck is commissioned. They also sell all other kinds of frozen meat products. The Eureka mixes are fully balanced diets by themselves.

There will not be another shipment until April or May 2010.

Photos from Gorge Rehab or "Trench Filling 101"

I think these two comparison photos show what we were trying to accomplish better than any others that we took. We filled in the entire area under the pole that laid on the bank of the trench on either side - in the after shot, with just the quad parked there, the trench is completely filled in with logs and sand - level with the forest floor again. I took the after photo from a different angle as the sun was directly at the lens otherwise. The quad is parked on top of where the pole had been the day before.

What's under the sand? Here's a couple of photos showing the dead red pine logs that we hauled out of the woods and placed in the trench, then the skid steer placing sand over the top of them.







Here is a before shot as the trench was being filled with debris and an after shot of the same mid section trench with sand, shredded wood and top soil all in place.






Here is a shot of the piles of sand, mulch and topsoil at the west end of the project:



Here's a photo of one of the neat landmarks along this trail, before we filled in the area next to it:



Couldn't resist this photo of Foxy, our nine year old Border mutt, mother of our 8 Quarter Borders:


Many thank yous to give out - many people worked very hard on this project. Ed Setterington gets extra "attaboys" for staying over Monday, Tuesday and Weds. to work on the west end of the gorge. We had over a dozen workers on Saturday, including Kathy Bietau from the Forest Service, who also got us the DNR grant to do this work. We had 9 people on Sunday, working until 3 p.m. Per usual, anyone who wanted to, brought dogs and got in a couple of runs with their teams too. Our nephew Scott came over for two days of abuse, Monday and Tuesday.

We still need to seed the whole area, lay down straw and put in posts at the road to keep ORVs out but as of the end of today, the majority of the work is DONE. We have permission to open up this stretch of trail for winter use by sled dog teams. Rick has a nifty plan for a swinging gate as part of the post closure. THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO PITCHED IN WITH THIS CRAZY PROJECT!

Annual MiDD Meeting and Work Weekend - 9/12

Just a brief note to remind everyone that our Annual Meeting is this Saturday at noon. This will be a lunch meeting. MiDD will be providing sloppy joes (turkey or beef, your choice) and a side dish, dessert, coffee/pop for lunch.

We will be working on the trail repair project beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday, break for the lunch meeting, then back on the trail project. We will be placing "woody debris" in the "gorge", filling it with sand, wood chips, top soil - leveling all that out and then seeding the trail repair with perennial rye grass seed. We have a rented skid steer to move materials around where we need them.

Shovels, rakes, gloves will all be useful. We will be working on this project starting Saturday and on into next week too. Free camping for all volunteers. Bring the dogs and get in a run early or late on our private trails.

This project is being funded by a grant MiDD received via the USDA/Forest Service with funding from the DNR.

For last minute info, please call me at 231-745-3614.

Photos from the Aug. 22/23 Work Weekend

Here are some photos from our work weekend - repairing ORV damage to our main trail from our property to the west trails on Federal land. We put in a grant application last summer and received the go-ahead on the project this spring. Kathy Bietau from the Forest Service helped put the grant together. The funds are out of the DNR ORV repair fund. We are putting brush/small trees in the center of the trail and hauling in and placing sand in the trail to raise the trail to the rest of the forest floor.

Rick loaded and hauled the sand from the piles of sand dropped along our "driveway" for the project, through our property and down the trail to the project site. He had to get the truck through the deep sand on every pass in order to dump and turn around and go back for more. Our old equipment functioned better than expected and we used up all the sand on that end of the trail by the end of day on Saturday.

The dump truck worked pretty well for human transport too. The kids got a kick out of riding in the back of a dump truck.

Here you can see the trees/brush under the sand. Tad Brake was on hand to help out on Saturday. He has lots of farm and equipment experience to share along with a super positive, sunny disposition.

Once the sand was dumped it had to be raked out so Rick could drive over it with the next load.

There was also time to run some dog teams once the work was done on Saturday (and again Sunday morning.) The weather was much cooler than the previous weekend, notice the sweatshirts and jackets. The previous weekend we were in shorts and tank tops and ended the day with a swim in the Pere Marquette River - very cool running water.

Mike Monarch was on hand to help out too. He enjoys watching everyone hook up and run dogs - his sled dogs are all retired now.

Always time for a little relaxation after a hard day's work. This is a nice string of mostly Seppala Siberians in the background. Nicholas, the little blond on top of the truck, turned out to be a hard worker too and always good for a laugh.

Our big week long work session is coming up beginning Saturday, September 12th through the next weekend. We are renting an all terrain skid steer and moving sand on the far west end of the project (where more piles of sand are sitting.) We are also putting a layer of shredded wood and top soil on the sand and then seeding the whole project. This will allow us to use this section of trail for incoming and outgoing teams and also to use the trail in light snow conditions and with wheeled rigs which is was not possible with all the exposed roots across the trail. We should be able to groom a 6ft. wide trail this coming season.

We have a few openings for Mushing Boot Camp the first weekend (Thurs. at 4 p.m. to Sunday at noon) of October. Check it out at www.mushingbootcamp.com