Off to Big Snow country

I'm motivating to get saddled up to head for Big Snow country, the western part of Michigans Upper Peninsula and northeast Wisconsin. One final post of 2007. Cold northwest winds sweep across Lake Superior and pick up moisture from its unfrozen 32F water. When it hits the south shore, roughly from Ashland to the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula, the air and land mass are much colder than 32F water and the collected moisture drops as snow. Hundreds of inches per year. As you note in the picture of the 'snow pole' near Calumet, MI, average snowfall is somewhere between 4 meters and 10 meters (roughly 13 to 31 feet). This makes for great fun in the snow although driving can be a challenge. The top photo is of PodMan and I attempting to break out of CampO on the same snowstorm weekend in 1999, a storm where passengers in Detroit sued Northwest Airlines for false imprisonment after keeping them locked in aircraft on the tarmac for up to 10 hours. Another uglier memory of that weekend was listening to the Packers lose to San Fransisco in the playoffs on a last minute Terrell Owens (NOT my favorite guy!) TD pass as we struggled to get to the plowed roads.

The VOR and I will join many of our paddling friends on skinny skis, rather than in kayaks on Gitchee Gumee, for some good exercise, good food, hot sauna's, and general cameraderie. Happy New Year everyone, we'll see you in 2008.