Off Trail Skiing, i.e. Genuine Cross Country Skiing

David harnessing Kalevi...


Savu wants to go badly too.


They're off!


And running!


Savu pulls almost as well as Kalevi, even though he's twenty pounds lighter.


Carl and I skied out to the big hemlocks to see if they were still there.


Fortunately they still were. Whoever owns the land had had it logged right up to this grove but saved the hemlocks. Hemlock is very slow growing and often hollow, making it "undesireable" in a commercial forest. Some foresters even go as far to call it a "weed species". I was pleased to see that the landowner had a soul and could appreciate the value of these majestic trees. Money is not the measure of all things.


Carl fiddling with the controls on his camera after mounting it on ski poles with his gorillapod. By the time he had it figured out and had taken a bunch of pictures, we were both getting cold.


One of the challenges of real cross country skiing is crossing small creeks like this one without taking off your skis.


A big white pine that has survived logging.

Like I said, the landowner has a soul.

Skiing to Wolf Point

The weatherman forcasted south wind and unseasonably warm temperatures. Too nice a day to spend at work, so we headed out for our yearly ski to Wolf Point.


The skiing conditions weren't the best. The lakeshore apparently has had below average snowfall, and the snow that was there was crusted and very uneven. Since our skis hardly sank in at all, they were prone to slide sideways as easily as forward.


Still the worst day at the beach is better than the best day at work, and we savored the warm sunshine.


Like I said, skiing conditions weren't optimal. We had to portage a couple of times.


Klister, the nasty goo that gives you kick on crust and on melting snow. It is similar to roofing tar in this, that it inevitably gets on your hands and on your clothes and cannot be removed without solvent. Still, it is amazing stuff.


Shore ice at Wolf Point.


Lake ice, i.e. floating ice, begins where the ice bank ends. The ice banks had a lot of sand on them this year, even here.


This would look inviting to a polar bear.


The temperature climbed to near 50 near the shore I would guess. At home it reached 60.

We stopped for lunch here and enjoyed Marja's homemade pasties, with honey-soaked toast and cookies for dessert.

An ice volcano. I am not sure exactly how these form, but I speculate that they begin as weak points in floating ice as is is thickening to become shore ice, which reaches to the bottom. However they begin, there is no mystery to how they grow. Waves hitting the ice bank undercut the bank more deeply at some points and the water is forced upward through the hole and sprays out the top like a volcano. The water freezes on the surface and the cone grows higher and higher.

We often swim at this very spot in the summer.

February Sunshine

They say that all sunshine makes a desert, but there is little danger of that in the Copper Country.


The older I get the more I like the Swedetown ski trails. The terrain is relatively flat and you don't have to stop at the top of a hill to let your heart catch up with you.

A nicely groomed track.

Black is a good color to have on your back on a winter day - it absorbs solar energy. The temperature was around 20, but the sun felt warm.

Pretty as a postcard.

Lake Superior in the backround.

January Cold

Siberian huskies are built for cold weather.


A Saturday morning sunrise. I spend a lot of time sitting at the kitchen table looking out the window. I doubt you'll ever find it prescribed in books like Seven Habits of Effective People, but it enriches life. Our culture enshrines the industrial values of productivity, efficiency, effectiveness and time management; and it is difficult for many people to loaf and look out the window. The sad truth is that I am actually quite effective when I get moving, but it isn't something I take great pride in. I always have suspected that people who strive to be "effective" are in some way like addicts who need to continually validate themselves through accomplishments. Sorry, you hyperachievers, I think you have a problem. I ponder things like this when I'm loafing, but also while I'm working. For instance how can you measure the effectiveness of time spent rocking a baby, or visiting an elderly person? You can measure a pile of rocks if you are into piling rocks, but how many piles of rocks do we really need?

As you can see, I am hopelessly conflicted by the whole subject.


Talking with Sam in Virginia.


Sunshine at this time of year is a luxury that needs to be savored. I find it hard to find anything more worthwhile doing at moments like this.


The dogs agree, I'm sure.




This looked like the start of a perfect day- clear, calm and cold.




But of course, we knew better. Lake effect snow was brewing up to the north and about to overtake us.


A sun dog. These form on either side of the low winter sun during cold weather when there are ice crystals in the air.



Cold snow is powdery like fine dust.


All good things must end. Eventually I got out and shovelled off the roof and contributed several hours of labor to the common weal.


Fortunately, evening puts an end to my effectiveness and allows for more loafing by the kitchen window, this time by the light of candles. The candle in the middle is burning in a large piece of vesicular basalt taken from Rockhouse Point.


A cold, but full moon.