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Saturday, February 14, 2009

Playtime at Big M

 


Today was the day for our monthly trail club hike. Every February we meet at Big M ski area. Everyone goes out skiing or snowshoeing on the trails at whatever level of skill they are comfortable with. Then we return to the wonderful warming shelter and feast on chili made by one of our members, and heated on the wood stove. Today there were nine of us. We weren't sure how the snow would be because of the recent rain. But there is still about a foot of base in the woods and last night the sky gently dropped a couple of inches of new snow on top to make the conditions pretty good.

A couple of other people brought dessert so we were definitely well-fed! There was also a Boy Scout troop camping there, and we enjoyed interacting with them. We suspect that they mostly just thought we were old, but we didn't care. We swapped stories of camping and hiking in such diverse places as Whitefish Bay, the Boundary Waters, Adirondacks and on our local trails. John showed off his new GPS toy, and we collectively made at least as much noise as the kids.



Soon a recreation club from Miami of Ohio University appeared. These older teens also probably thought we were old, but they too chatted with us. We were impressed that they had driven eight hours for a weekend of play in the north woods.

A great day! (Update on my hand and mouth. The redness and heat are all gone from the hand and arm. The finger is still a little sausage, but it's not quite so fat. The antibiotics are kickin' little germy butts, and I just need to be good and take all the pills, and all should be well. My mouth is better too. None of the teeth are screaming angry any more. I'm not up to chewing well yet, but I managed the chili and a brownie by being careful.)

See Polar Bears in Manistee for more about the Scouts
See Big M Ski Area
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6 comments:

nosolutions said...

thank you your finger looks great, for now.

Lin said...

That looks like a ton of fun! Oh, and my son used to do Klondike--where they would camp out for the weekend in the snow and below zero temps. Joe would go with and they would only last a night. They were so proud of themselves, though! I think Joe wanted to do it more than the kids! :)

Rick (Ratty) said...

You're a lot tougher than I am. I've had just a minor cold and it stopped me from doing most of outdoor things.

Sharkbytes said...

Josh- welcome to blogville... and thanks for visiting my blogs.

Lin- great to hear about some other winter campers. Good stuff to get the youngsters out there.

Ratty- I wasn't totally miserable, so having something fun to do was better than grousing around at home. Kept my mind off it for the most part. Today the swelling is almost all gone, even in the finger.

Anonymous said...

Am sorry to hear about your finger infection, am glad to hear they are better now and not as swollen anymore. And glad you were able to manage the chili and brownie.

Sharkbytes (TM) said...

Thank you, betchai! It's really very much better. I just need to continue the antibiotics and get the actual wound healed.