January at Camp Chicken

Well, we hadn't been to camp since deer season. Winter came really early to the UP this year and every weekend it has either stormed or been well below zero. We were very concerned about the amount of snow that could be on the trailers and our new shed. Several years ago we had put up a 12 x 16 metal storage building but a heavy February snowfall collapsed it when we couldn't get into camp to shovel it off.

So, last Sunday Arlene, Mary Sue and I decided that the weather might permit us to get into camp. A call to Dana Galer, who normally plows the road in to camp confirmed that we could get as far as the corner, as people were logging up in the woods but the camp road hadn't been plowed in 2 weeks.

We made it to the camp gate but it was a little deep in spots. My new car, "Little Red" is pretty good in deep snow. We put on our snowshoes and trudged in. Arlene and I took turns breaking the trail. Wow, we decided that we were pretty out of shape. The snow on the trailer must have been four feet deep.






First we had to dig out a spot in front of the shed to get the door open so that we could get out the ladders. Mary volunteered to tackle shoveling off the shed roof and I started on the trailer roof. I didn't want Arlene to help me much as she was still sick with the terrible flu bug that everyone is so ill with up here. But after shoveling off about a 1/4 of the trailer roof, I knew I would need her help.



Mary amazed me by managing to shovel off the 12 x 12 shed in almost the same time it took us to clear off the trailer.



As we were finishing up, Arlene started to get really sick again. She had terrible stomach cramps and kept doubling over. I was really worried as we are back in the woods with a very snowy and difficult road to negotiate to get out of there. The hill that we have to climb to get back to the plowed road is always bad anytime there is snow or ice. But "Little Red" climbed right up it with little trouble. whew!

On our way back to the Soo, we bucked high winds and blowing and drifting snow. We ran into snow squalls bout nine miles out and most of the time couldn't see a thing. It was nerve wracking but we made it back safely.

Unless we get alot of snow in the next month, camp should be safe until spring. I can't wait until spring. It started to snow here the first part of November and just hasn't stopped and the cold has been deep and brutal. The coldest January ever I thought the weatherman said.

Well, that's all from the Frozen North for now. I'll post a Deer Season recap next week. I just didn't seem to get time to do it after November with the holidays and other stuff.