Despite being fully warned, winter’s arrival always takes us by surprise. Maybe your hose is still out in the yard, frozen into a green stick fifty feet long, or there may be a garden gnome or two looking out from under a hat of snow, wishing he was in the garage with the other garden things.
Hopefully, you had your snow shovels ready to go and the brush and scraper already packed in the car, or you might have been in trouble with the snow and sudden cold temperatures.
Snow and ice will make roads slippery, and there is always a learning curve in the late fall as people rediscover how vehicles handle in winter conditions. Give yourself and your fellow traveler’s plenty of space to make mistakes and correct them. I read recently what was called a Minnesota proverb for winter driving: ‘It is better to be slow and wish you were going faster than to be fast and wish you were going slower.’
Snow is being made at downhill ski areas, and they may open soon, but our winter cross country ski trails aren’t ready for skiing quite yet. Keep an eye on the Superior’s website for links to ski conditions. If you are a fat tire biker, you’ll also have to wait for more snow.
Skiing or biking when the trails aren’t ready can seriously damage your equipment as well as your body. It can also destroy the creation of that base layer of packed snow which makes for good trails all winter…so, patience, you know the snow will come soon.
Lake ice isn’t ready either. Snowfall has cooled the lakes a lot, and while many of them are now frozen over, the ice is not thick enough to trust. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources recommends to stay off all ice under 4 inches thick, and that no ice is 100 percent safe. It may be time to clean the tackle box or put new line on the reel, but it isn’t time to get out on the ice just yet.
This weekend is the end of the firearm deer season in northeast Minnesota, but people should hang on to their orange hats because the muzzleloader deer season runs from November 24 to December 9. There also could still be grouse hunters out there, so make yourself visible.
If you’re headed out the road, you’ll run into truck traffic on the Tofte District on the Frank Lake Road, Trappers Lake Road, Dumbell River Road, Wanless Road, Lake County 7, Cook County 3, the 4 Mile Grade, and The Grade. The Gunflint District will have hauling on the Caribou Trail, the Murmur Creek Road, Greenwood Road, Firebox Road, South Brule Road, Lima Grade, and the Otter Trail. A good rule of thumb is if a back road is plowed in the winter, there is probably going to be log hauling on it.
Enjoy the week, and get out and rescue that poor garden gnome before he vanishes into the drifts.
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