I don't know how I got to these but I was trying to find some old emails and clicked on these beauties. A bunch of old journals
What year did you sign-up on the John's Site?
- Thread starter lofsfire
- Start date
Following up from my earlier post. That date at the bottom of the sign-on page states 1998-2024, all rights reserved. John may have put a copyright on his work before moving to the U.P. He spent a year in D.C. with the weather service before all of this developed. I know he was sensitive to not having his work posted on other sites without permission. I guess we can assume the wheels were turning prior to the turn of the century and by 01 the Journals were coming fast and furious.
600_RMK_144
Active member
600_RMK_144
Active member
Screen name came from the FIRST EVER SLED that I finally bought in July of that same year. Traveled all they way up to Duluth, MN for that one. Prior to that, my father-in-law always made sure I had a Polaris to ride (typically an Indy 500). Those first few years kinda sucked, so broke I could hardly afford the sled. Didn't even have a trailer. Had to drive it up ramps into my truck. Loading / unloading was such a pain, I vowed that one day I would have one of them fancy trailers with a drop down door / ramp. Blessed to now have what I consider the absolute best 2-place configuration enclosed trailer (Triton TC167).
I think it was 2002? I remember reading in a Journal about John messing up his leg pretty bad trying to jump the Polecat off a snowbank.
I'm still a regular visitor to the site but haven't posted in years. Like the trail reports and miss the forecasts. Thank you to everyone that contributes. And RIP JD!
I'm still a regular visitor to the site but haven't posted in years. Like the trail reports and miss the forecasts. Thank you to everyone that contributes. And RIP JD!
jakester23
Member
I believe it was when John was in Lake Linden. Stories of the pole cat. I remember sharing things with Indy when he was a kid. Then something happened with the site and had to sign up again. I have been going up to the U.P. for many ,many years. Got to know Sandy and Richard Krupp well. I still have some letters from Sandy when I was going through a tough time, she was a very special lady. By the way in the late 80"s"s early 90's did anyone here ever go to Delaware Days at the end of the season's at the Delaware mine? Also does anyone remember going to Jake's Bar just south of Krupp's on trail 3? Long time ago .but great times.
We went to Delaware Days, It was a blast. I think we were there for the last one. We never passed Jake's, loved that old bar. I looked at the bar sign for years after it closed wanting it in my shop. I see it's an Airbnb now.
Never made Delaware Days, however, we occasioned the bar many, many times. Kathe and I got to be very good friends with Sandy, and Richard. Especially after one night being caught in heavy rain on our way back to Bruce Crossing from Copper Harbor. We were as drowned rats, and Sandy saved the day, or I should say night! In our many visits, I can well remember her mentioning you. You had two very good friends for sure. She was a very special person!
Only thing I remember south of Krupps was the Golden Harp. They had the hotest chile I ever tasted.
Yep on the chili! Had a few pizza's there when too late for Krupp's store being open. Jake's bar was a mile, or two further west same side of the road.
- JD -
December 11, 2000-
It is amazing how relative things can be. Today I turned on the WGN noon news to see their coverage of the snow storm and it was nothing short of a media circus! Team coverage, with reporters at the airport, city hall, the loop, the city neighborhoods, you name it, they had someone there. Across the bottom of the picture, they had a custom banner that blurted out "BLIZZARD WARNING". It as if the world was coming to an end and they were there to cover it! I say it is amazing how all things are relative, as they have received about 9 inches thus far and look to get about 12-15. We awoke to 8" yesterday morning, and it was like a dusting had fallen. People just went about their business clearing their driveways and walks, just like they do everyday. No one even mentioned the snow in the stores or anything. Just another day in snow paradise. Of course if we had some things happen up here that are more common in the big cities like murders or other big city ills, then our media would make a circus out of it, to be sure. So I do not mean to poke fun at the good folks in Chicago, and I am sure Milwaukee and Detroit and Grand Rapids and Lansing and so on and so on. It really is a big deal, and deserves the attention it is getting. You all are not a bunch of wimps or anything, it is just amazing to see how different things are up here, that is all.
It has been snowing up here for over 7 days straight now. Well, we have had a few 2-4 hour periods when it was not snowing, but I do believe that it has not gone more than 4 hours without snow falling since December 3rd. I wonder if this place might just be the snowiest place in the lower 48 when you measure by hours with snow reported to be falling, not total seasonal snowfall. It is really not that uncommon for this area to go for a week at a time with snow falling, it may not be falling too hard, but still flakes are falling. One thing is for sure, the snow sure stays fresh looking!
Now onto the events of the day. No riding, I have some throttle cable problems which need attending to and besides, I have gone enough in the past two days anyway. Took the hounds for a ski. One of the reasons why I rode where I did yesterday was that I wanted to pack down one of my local ski trails. It worked perfectly, the trail was nice and firm and worked out really well for skiing. Of course, the hounds still jumped off trail and into the deep snow. Here is a shot of Burt trying to pull himself back up onto the trail. I wonder how much longer they will keep doing that. The snow is starting to go over their backs when they jump off the trail.
The ski trail took us to the field that we played in on the sleds yesterday. I took some pictures, not knowing if the tracks made yesterday would show up. They did sort of, plus the 3" new overnight has already begun to fill them up. Another 4-6" and a little bit of wind will fill them all right back up and I'll have to get back out there! Here is a shot of the hounds following one of the tracks. To get an idea of how big the field was, I took this shot standing at one end and looking towards the other end.
The day was just about perfect for a ski also. It was about 10 degrees, which makes for a chilly start, well, maybe downright cold start, but by the time I was about 10 minutes into it, the blood was pumping and I was nice and toast. Having it that cold keeps me from breaking into a total sweat. Usually when I am done, if the temps are 20 or above, I am soaking wet and need to change out of my cloths and take a shower. Not today.
The ski back to the truck was very beautiful, following my tracks back through the frosted pines. I hope you were able to feel the chill and briefly be transported up to this special place.
Good night from the Keweenaw.
December 11, 2000-
It is amazing how relative things can be. Today I turned on the WGN noon news to see their coverage of the snow storm and it was nothing short of a media circus! Team coverage, with reporters at the airport, city hall, the loop, the city neighborhoods, you name it, they had someone there. Across the bottom of the picture, they had a custom banner that blurted out "BLIZZARD WARNING". It as if the world was coming to an end and they were there to cover it! I say it is amazing how all things are relative, as they have received about 9 inches thus far and look to get about 12-15. We awoke to 8" yesterday morning, and it was like a dusting had fallen. People just went about their business clearing their driveways and walks, just like they do everyday. No one even mentioned the snow in the stores or anything. Just another day in snow paradise. Of course if we had some things happen up here that are more common in the big cities like murders or other big city ills, then our media would make a circus out of it, to be sure. So I do not mean to poke fun at the good folks in Chicago, and I am sure Milwaukee and Detroit and Grand Rapids and Lansing and so on and so on. It really is a big deal, and deserves the attention it is getting. You all are not a bunch of wimps or anything, it is just amazing to see how different things are up here, that is all.
It has been snowing up here for over 7 days straight now. Well, we have had a few 2-4 hour periods when it was not snowing, but I do believe that it has not gone more than 4 hours without snow falling since December 3rd. I wonder if this place might just be the snowiest place in the lower 48 when you measure by hours with snow reported to be falling, not total seasonal snowfall. It is really not that uncommon for this area to go for a week at a time with snow falling, it may not be falling too hard, but still flakes are falling. One thing is for sure, the snow sure stays fresh looking!
Now onto the events of the day. No riding, I have some throttle cable problems which need attending to and besides, I have gone enough in the past two days anyway. Took the hounds for a ski. One of the reasons why I rode where I did yesterday was that I wanted to pack down one of my local ski trails. It worked perfectly, the trail was nice and firm and worked out really well for skiing. Of course, the hounds still jumped off trail and into the deep snow. Here is a shot of Burt trying to pull himself back up onto the trail. I wonder how much longer they will keep doing that. The snow is starting to go over their backs when they jump off the trail.
The ski trail took us to the field that we played in on the sleds yesterday. I took some pictures, not knowing if the tracks made yesterday would show up. They did sort of, plus the 3" new overnight has already begun to fill them up. Another 4-6" and a little bit of wind will fill them all right back up and I'll have to get back out there! Here is a shot of the hounds following one of the tracks. To get an idea of how big the field was, I took this shot standing at one end and looking towards the other end.
The day was just about perfect for a ski also. It was about 10 degrees, which makes for a chilly start, well, maybe downright cold start, but by the time I was about 10 minutes into it, the blood was pumping and I was nice and toast. Having it that cold keeps me from breaking into a total sweat. Usually when I am done, if the temps are 20 or above, I am soaking wet and need to change out of my cloths and take a shower. Not today.
The ski back to the truck was very beautiful, following my tracks back through the frosted pines. I hope you were able to feel the chill and briefly be transported up to this special place.
Good night from the Keweenaw.
JD -
December 12, 2000-
Day 8, more snow.
It reads kind of like a poor snowbound sole huh? Well, I am no poor snowbound sole. I have been getting out and playing in it every day, having a blast! I don't know how I would deal with being truly snowbound in the woods, but something tells me as long as I had my two buddies with me we would do just fine.
Today we headed north into the land of even deeper snow, Keweenaw County. Westerly winds have been bringing them heavier snow than the the rest of the area as well as the UP. There is about 2 feet on the ground there, nearly 6" more than in my neck of the woods. One reason was to play in the woods (ski) and another was to shoot my pictures for my Christmas card. Both were a success and we were treated to some beautiful sights. I took the Christmas pictures with a 35 mm camera and need to get the prints developed. Once that is done, I will be sure to post it here and formally wish everyone a joyous holiday season
The trail we went down was actually one of the bush trails Chris, Marlo and I took on our ride Saturday, so there was a packed base underneath the foot of fresh powder. Perfect for a ski and perfect for the hounds to run on. The snow off the trail was about 2-3 feet deep, as I sunk up past my knees when I walked off of it without my skis on.
If the pictures look peaceful, trust me, it was very peaceful. There is nothing as quiet as the northwoods flocked in 2-3 feet of snow. Any sounds that do try and get across are absorbed by the snow and my ears were ringing just to try and hear anything, anything at all. We even were treated to some fairly decent snow squalls.
The trail breaks out into a clearing and there is a small lake there. The trail also ends at that point so it was time to turn around. The previous pic was taken during a lull in the snow, it was still snowing, but only lightly, with the visibility at about a mile or so. I decided to wait until a squall came by to show you the difference. There was a squall on the horizon and it was headed towards us so I decided to wait, and the hounds waited, and we waited and waited and got tired of waiting in the cold (the wind was coming off the lake and it went right through my jacket), so we turned around and headed back. As luck would have it, the squall kicked in when we were about 3/4's of the way back to the car, but I was able to shoot a pic when we got back to the car, just to show you what "heavy" snow looks like. This was actually beyond heavy snow, it could be called "choking snow", as in: if you breathe in too hard, you will choke on the flakes. There is actually truth to that statement. In snow that heavy, you can actually choke on the the flakes. In about 10 minutes we picked about an inch. That is 6 inch/hour snow. It does not come down much harder than that. I have only seen it snow harder than that twice. Both last year and both up here. One was about a year ago when our first "big" storm hit and a squall came and it snowed so hard you could barely see my house 50 feet away. In that squall, it was coming down at the rate of an inch every 5-6 minutes. It only snowed that hard for about 5-6 minutes, but it was almost frightening! The other time was at night, when it snowed so hard it set off my motion detector on the back yard lights. The light came on and you could see nothing but white, and I mean that. A white moving mass, but nothing else! Trust me when I say this place is unique.
My drive by about 3 different trail crossings indicated things to be in "mint" condition. Not a bump on them and plenty of snow. I got my sled back today. It was not the throttle cable, but actually a frozen carb. I need to be not in such a hurry when I fill it up and take the time to add some isopropyl alcohol. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of ... So maybe I will take a spin on the DNR trails. After all, they are a lot of fun themselves. I just have been riding them for the past 11 years and like to see new things is all. If you feel the same way, be sure to check out Keweenaw Snow Expeditions. Sorry for the shameless plug!
Well, I hope all in IA, northern IL, southern WI and areas of IN and MI that got hammered yesterday are having fun in the snow. I am happy for you and with all the snow up here am not even one bit jealous. We are almost in mid winter form, some roofs have even begun to get cleared off up here. That did not happen until mid January last year. Mine can wait until we get about another 30-40", then will need clearing. Question is, will that happen before Christmas? I hope so!
Good night from the Keweenaw.
December 12, 2000-
Day 8, more snow.
It reads kind of like a poor snowbound sole huh? Well, I am no poor snowbound sole. I have been getting out and playing in it every day, having a blast! I don't know how I would deal with being truly snowbound in the woods, but something tells me as long as I had my two buddies with me we would do just fine.
Today we headed north into the land of even deeper snow, Keweenaw County. Westerly winds have been bringing them heavier snow than the the rest of the area as well as the UP. There is about 2 feet on the ground there, nearly 6" more than in my neck of the woods. One reason was to play in the woods (ski) and another was to shoot my pictures for my Christmas card. Both were a success and we were treated to some beautiful sights. I took the Christmas pictures with a 35 mm camera and need to get the prints developed. Once that is done, I will be sure to post it here and formally wish everyone a joyous holiday season
The trail we went down was actually one of the bush trails Chris, Marlo and I took on our ride Saturday, so there was a packed base underneath the foot of fresh powder. Perfect for a ski and perfect for the hounds to run on. The snow off the trail was about 2-3 feet deep, as I sunk up past my knees when I walked off of it without my skis on.
If the pictures look peaceful, trust me, it was very peaceful. There is nothing as quiet as the northwoods flocked in 2-3 feet of snow. Any sounds that do try and get across are absorbed by the snow and my ears were ringing just to try and hear anything, anything at all. We even were treated to some fairly decent snow squalls.
The trail breaks out into a clearing and there is a small lake there. The trail also ends at that point so it was time to turn around. The previous pic was taken during a lull in the snow, it was still snowing, but only lightly, with the visibility at about a mile or so. I decided to wait until a squall came by to show you the difference. There was a squall on the horizon and it was headed towards us so I decided to wait, and the hounds waited, and we waited and waited and got tired of waiting in the cold (the wind was coming off the lake and it went right through my jacket), so we turned around and headed back. As luck would have it, the squall kicked in when we were about 3/4's of the way back to the car, but I was able to shoot a pic when we got back to the car, just to show you what "heavy" snow looks like. This was actually beyond heavy snow, it could be called "choking snow", as in: if you breathe in too hard, you will choke on the flakes. There is actually truth to that statement. In snow that heavy, you can actually choke on the the flakes. In about 10 minutes we picked about an inch. That is 6 inch/hour snow. It does not come down much harder than that. I have only seen it snow harder than that twice. Both last year and both up here. One was about a year ago when our first "big" storm hit and a squall came and it snowed so hard you could barely see my house 50 feet away. In that squall, it was coming down at the rate of an inch every 5-6 minutes. It only snowed that hard for about 5-6 minutes, but it was almost frightening! The other time was at night, when it snowed so hard it set off my motion detector on the back yard lights. The light came on and you could see nothing but white, and I mean that. A white moving mass, but nothing else! Trust me when I say this place is unique.
My drive by about 3 different trail crossings indicated things to be in "mint" condition. Not a bump on them and plenty of snow. I got my sled back today. It was not the throttle cable, but actually a frozen carb. I need to be not in such a hurry when I fill it up and take the time to add some isopropyl alcohol. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of ... So maybe I will take a spin on the DNR trails. After all, they are a lot of fun themselves. I just have been riding them for the past 11 years and like to see new things is all. If you feel the same way, be sure to check out Keweenaw Snow Expeditions. Sorry for the shameless plug!
Well, I hope all in IA, northern IL, southern WI and areas of IN and MI that got hammered yesterday are having fun in the snow. I am happy for you and with all the snow up here am not even one bit jealous. We are almost in mid winter form, some roofs have even begun to get cleared off up here. That did not happen until mid January last year. Mine can wait until we get about another 30-40", then will need clearing. Question is, will that happen before Christmas? I hope so!
Good night from the Keweenaw.