By Caretaker Joe Crain
Mother Nature continues to run a month ahead in the weather department here in the North Woods of Wisconsin. Although it did look like things were going to return to normal, with the first week of the month’s temperatures reaching near normal temps of the low-40s, that ended abruptly on the 7th, when the high temperature dropped below freezing and we were greeted with a snow storm that deposited eight inches of snow. After the storm passed we found ourselves smack in the middle of December with temperatures stuck in the middle-twenties for highs, and teens and single digits for lows! It wasn’t until the 14ththat we had a brief return to November-like temps with three days in the mid to lower 30’s. After that brief visit back to what the calendar claimed was November, the bottom dropped out again and we saw only one 40-degree reading the rest of the month, and only three days that made it above freezing!! Oddly enough, even with all of this December-like weather throughout the month, it did manage to rain a bit the day after Thanksgiving, (the last 40 degree day of the month!) which promptly froze over the next day as the temps dropped back below freezing. The brief encounters with normal temps and the splash of rain dented our snow cover some, but didn’t melt it off completely, and with a couple of days of lake-effect snow thrown in at the end, we finished up with about three crusty inches of snow on the ground, and lots of slippery sidewalks. As I’m writing this on the morning of
the 28thof November the temperature outside is 3 degrees, making me wonder if Mother Nature is going to run ahead again through December.
Although my roller skiing of the roads around Lake Nebagamon had to end with the first big snow on the 7th, there was enough snow to cover the roots and rocks on the trails through Camp and I have been able to ski them on four occasions already! My first two tours happened the week of the 11th, just before the brief warm up, and with another bit of snow the weekend of the 17th, things were thin but good enough again that I was able to shuffle and glide around Camp for another couple days before the Holiday break. Unfortunately the rain the day after Turkey Day left the snow too thin and crusty to ski Camp, as well the roads have been left too icy and snow covered to roller ski, so the only option left for my pre-ski season training is the elliptical in my basement. Not nearly as inspiring as gliding through the woods on the back side of the Upper Diamond, nor as picturesque as rolling past the lake on County Road B, but if this fall continues as it has been I’ll be back on the CNST (Camp Nebagamon Ski Trail) any day now.
As you can imagine, the December like weather has had a negative impact on the two big fall chores we do each November: leaf blowing and wood splitting. Strangely this is the second year in a row that these two annual chores have been negatively impacted by early-winter-like weather! Last year, you may recall, we were stopped midway through leaf blowing with a 10-inch snow storm that hit even earlier than this year’s seven-incher! Last year’s fall-chore-stopper storm was deeper, but short lived, as the temperatures returned to normal and both the leaf blowing and wood splitting were completed after the snow had melted off by mid-November. This year the snow stopped us one day from completing the leaf blowing, with only the tennis courts not getting cleared. But with no warm up and a lot of snow left on the wood pile, we have not been able to split a single log! The first time in my 24 years at camp that those two chores have not been completed! I guess I know what we will be busy with as soon as the snow melts next spring, but who knows maybe December will end up being like a November and we will get it done before the start of 2019.
Hoping you all have a great Holiday Season with friends and family, it’s Caretaker Joe At Camp.