Cabin, December 1995

I have recently scanned in these old pictures. I have reproduced the discussion as I had written it at the time. I have added a few comments (in square brackets).

The voyagers on the trip were Jon, Amelia, Vittoria, Jon S., James, Mike, and me.

Our first winter trip up to e the cabin was fraught with problems but it was still a phenomenal time. When we arrived at the cabin by snowmobile (a good 1/2 hour trip) we had to dig our way in. There was 2-3 feet of snow on the ground. To aid with the transportation of our gear (of which there was way too much) we had a sled attached to one of the snowmobiles (as you can see near the back of the cabin, to the right of the STOP sign [that tree has since fallen]). To get the fireplace going we had to unplug the chimney. This involved (Jon) climbing on the roof with a broom and water. We left the broom on the roof.

We only dug out the back door that lead to the kitchen. We also dug a path to the outhouse on the left. The front door was impassable and we didn't bother to dig it out.

One day we went back to Grand Marais (a long trip with only 2 snowmobiles) and went cross country skiing in near Pictured Rocks. Even in the middle of no where in the UP we were affected by the government shutdown. This was evident when we tried to climb down to see some falls [Sable Falls]. Amelia (making a fashion statement), Jon, and Mike enjoyed climbing down the frozen, icy, snowy stairs, particularly in cross country ski boots.

The view was worth it though. The upper and lower parts of the falls can be seen. The middle part is frozen over and covered with snow and ice.

We spent some time looking at the falls and caught a quick break before moving on to explore more of the area.

On part of the trip we came up to sand dunes on Lake Superior. The dunes were fun to try to ski over. Both Mike and I did some pretty crazy things but didn't suffer any damage. From the dunes we got a good view of the area including Lake Superior.

We skied around the dunes for awhile before heading back. On the way back we skied across a frozen lake [Grand Sable lake].

Besides being good exercise, this picture shows why I love cross country skiing. Coming along the trail we had to crouch under some overhanging branches to get to this beautiful stand of pine trees laden down with snow.

As I said, we had a lot of problems on the trip. In particular both of the snowmobiles had major problems. One wouldn't start and the other we rode pretty hard and was losing power. Jon S., Amelia, and I went out to the cabin. We only made it part way before the snowmobile decided it didn't want to carry 3 people [it was a 1 person snowmobile] so Amelia and I walked the rest of the way. It became pretty clear that we weren't going to get everybody out to the cabin or all of our stuff back with the snowmobiles not working, so Vittoria flagged down someone who loaned us his snowmobile with a large sled (he was part of the snowmobile patrol). You had to wear gloves since the heated handles got so hot. Here it is shown with Jon and Amelia next to Mike's super-Metro that made the trip there and back with no problems. I think the snowmobile was worth more than Mike's car. The person we borrowed it from wasn't even home when we returned it. Then again, everyone in town knew whose snowmobile it was.

Despite all the problems we began planning our next trip up even before we left! [As you can see, we have continued going up and are slowly getting better at it.]

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