It’s here!!! SNOW!!!  So far 13 inches and counting with more in the higher elevations around Lake Superior.  The North Shore trail is scheduled to be groomed Friday and Saturday night.  The GIA trails are being packed by the clubs and some are being groomed, most clubs are hoping to have their trails ready to go for New Year’s Day.

Can it get any worse?  Not really.  40 degree temps melted what little snow we had left and dumped a bunch of melt water into the swamps, lakes and streams and thinned out the ice, it looked as though we were doomed.  Luckily it got rally cold again to freeze things back up in the woods but the lake ice has suddenly become a little sketchy in places.  We need snow, and quite frankly we are getting sick of this same old story year after year.

We wish we had better news for you but things are looking pretty bleak.  There has not been any new snow and the temps are pushing 40, melting what little snow we have.  Word from the UP is that trails there are deteriorating rapidly with temps in the mid forties so there aren’t a lot of options unless you head down to North Carolina or Virginia where they recently got 18 inches of snow that they don’t want.  If you are like us we know you are going crazy seeing that on TV as we sit here snowless.  The news isn’t all bad though, the cold weather we had has allowed the clubs to get out and do some very effective trail clearing and maintenance and word from around the state is that the trails are in the best shape they have been in for years, all we need is snow.  So in an effort to get us some snow we have pulled out all the stops- we asked for Christmas snow from Santa at the Mall and we even asked the girl who played Mary at the local church Christmas program to put in a good word for us with the man upstairs!  So let’s all do those snow dances and bust out the snowman picture your kid made in second grade and put it on the fridge to try to get some good snow Karma going for us!

Charlotte working on the trail with her dad.  This is the future of our sport!  Thank you to Ryan from the Duluth Drift Toppers for this photo!