Freezin' in Wisconsin Weekend

“must have been some sort of terrible accident on 39/90/94 just south of madison. it was closed and the police dumped the interstate off into madison! i drove us to 14 and took that through and back to 39/90 but it added 30 minutes onto the drive home. sure hope everyone made it home safe and sound.

(URL added on edit)

http://wcco.com/wisconsinwire/22.0.html?type=local&state=WI&category=n&filename=WI--WisconsinPileup.xml
last edited: 1/06/08 4:52:13 PM”

“The cross country ski trail was a little slick today. Otherwise, skiing was great. Jimmy did quite well skiing, out distancing me on Saturday on the Wildcat loop, but he left a huge divot in the snow at the bottom of a large high hill. I had never seen a cross country ski divot that big before without blood in it.

A lot of good comradery around the warm campfires Friday and Saturday night.”

“that was my one and ONLY crash on the trails over the weekend... but it was a whopper! laughed my a** off as i lay in the snow.

i fell on my butt trying to ski down that hill from the shelter to get to the trail. in full view of everyone. it seems i can cruise once i get into those groomed tracks but footprints, sled grooves, and other nuisances are like boulders to me. hey, i am no poser and i told everyone up-front that my XC skiing experience was 10 laps around a soccer field the week before this trip. I HAD A BLAST! this is for sure a sport that will have a huge draw for me. frankly i enjoyed myself far more than downhill skiing, esp wizzing down those hills with my pack on... woo hoo!”

“What a great trip! Perfect weather, great skiing, and good friends. 9 people out of 12 showed up which is darn good for a TT trip.
Jimmy san
11:07:48 AM
1/06/08

prosecuter, simer, mountainrunner, me (honeybunches), mata, lizs, dryfoot, croft, the lorax, isolo, jimmy san..... hmmmm... seems to me that is 11...

ah well, after a couple days freezing the brain, I probably can't count straight either. :)

Had a great time meeting you all!”

“hey, even better!”

“damn it, she's posting as me again!!!”

“Well, I made it home!

Wow, I just missed Madison's freeway pile-up earlier today! I passed the interchange just north of there. I knew something bad was going down when all the squad cars were racing past me. I can't believe how stupid people drive in bad weather! I couldn't see past 100 ft at times, and cars were blasting past me doing about 75 mph!

Anyway, I sure had a good time this weekend. I'd like, again, to thank those who helped plan this outing, and for putting up with my nonsense. Great job, Jimmy!

I enjoyed meeting all the new folks and thank those who've taken pictures.

Lorax, you really missed out not trying the coffee pancakes this morning-- they were awesome!!


~LG”

“C'mon, you KNOW you want to peek! I labeled the photos with a little bit of pertinent info, but you'll never know about the girl-on-girl sled action unless you click to read the captions! LOL!


last edited: 1/06/08 9:28:50 PM”

“I saw photos from that accident on the news tonight. When I heard where it was, I was sure hoping you guys who live to the southeast had missed it! That fog sure was nasty.”

“Man, I couldn't get the coffee flapjacks off my mind, so I had to make a stop at Paul Bunyan's! Unfortunately, the ol' cook shanty was closed for the winter (... probably not a bad thing).

Umm, is that blood on his axe?...

”

“Great pics, everyone!

Simer190, I love the image of Forest in the den.

Lizs, nice action sled shots!

With all the time I spent setting up camp, it appears I missed most of the fun! I was quite the straggler this weekend.”

“Thanks all for a great weekend. It's always great to get out with everyone and meet a few new people.

A few regrets:
I didn't get back to the hotel in town in time for the "special shower".

I didn't have 20 bucks on Honeybunches in the second downhill sled race.

I didn't try the coffee pancakes, must be a Wisconsin thing.

I'm glad everyone had a safe trip back home. I hope to see you all soon.!”

“sounds like a great time, sorry i couldn't be there. but with sundays fog i was glad i didn't have a 4 hour drive home. thank goodness there was no packer game to add to the traffic mayhem.

it was gorgeous out fri night, saturday night was a little drippy tho', maybe i should have put up a tent, lol.

glad y'all made it home safe.”

“Lizs and simer, you both got some great pics! So sorry I missed coffee pancakes? Hmmm... not sure about that. But a nice warm breakfast that wasn't the McDonalds drive thru woulda been nice! But the weekend was a blast anyway.”

“I was just south of the 90/94 split when I saw lots of brake lights ahead and careening headlights crossing the median strip. If I had left Black River 30 seconds earlier, I would have been in the pile-up. Much too close for comfort.

Put my backpacking stove and remaining fuel to good use making coffee and tea for the truckers and others that were stuck there with me for 3 hours before they finally got us turned around and onto the 12/18 off-ramp a half mile back. Ten miles further south the fog totally lifted.

A very sobering way to end an awesome weekend.

I'm impressed not only with all the photos everyone took but that they got posted so quickly! Thanks for all the stories and laughter. Made for a great weekend!”

“I'm so glad you missed that crash, croft but it sounds to me that you were way too close as it is...

here are my pictures:

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/562041449DupZsB

our intrepid trip planner:

”

“Wow, croft, thank god! And how thoughtful to help out.

Mata, yeah, you got the flat-on-his-back spill. LOL!”

“Nonconformist and I had been eyeballing this trip. Too bad it wasn't in the cards for us. Perhaps next time...

Looks like y'all had fun! Thanks for the pics so soon after the trip.”

“Good photography work MataHariHiker.”

“the fog going home was thick but it only added 25 minutes onto our normal 4 hour drive home. the accident near madison was tragic.

i am so stoked someone got a photo of me crashed out! that is hilarious!”

“Love the pics Mata!

Here are a few good memories from my first official TT trip:

Falling in the snow twice immediately after dry foot tipped his sled.

Racing croft down the hill and attempting to take out The Lorax's tent.

Jimmy San falling on his keester twice on the way down the hill before he even hit the trail.

And last but not least, iSolo giggling uncontrollably in his sleep Saturday night. I don't wanna know what he was doing in that tent!”

“great photos all. i finally got a chance go to through the albums this morning and this evening between flights. they let us all see parts of the trip that we didn't see... in my case the sled race!”

“love the fall picture! :D”

“Looks like you all had fun, sorry we missed it!


How did you hammock sleepers stay warm?


Loved the fog pics!”

“Both Jimmy san and I had no trouble staying warm...it was above freezing! I had my Exped Downmat 7 and a Feathered Friends -20 bag...cold? HA! not a chance...I didn't even bother to close up the weather shield or wear my nose cozy...I do love my Clark Hammock...”

“Slept warm. I used the HH winter setup with a down underquilt and a down quilt inside. I slept on a ridge where it was windy so some noise from the fly but the rocking og the hammock in the wind knocked me out... Too comfy... And I woke up at 7am. I dozed in and out of sleep before I wanted coffee and reluctantly got up and packed up.”

“honeybunches,

I had downloaded about 10 volumes of the blues musician, Lightnin' Hopkins onto my iPod and was listening to it for the first time Saturday night.

His lyrics are so funny, with songs like:

"I Forgot to Pull My Shoes Off" (before sex)
"Let Me Play With Your Poodle"
"Big Mama Jump"
"I Can't Read-- Can't Even Wright My Name"

In another song he'd be complaining about his bald headed woman, and a few songs later, he'd be begging for her to come home.

The funniest thing about his songs though, is he's always finding himself stuck in various natural disasters; mudslides, earthquakes, and a dozen or so twisters. I was thinking, man, either bad luck follows this guy wherever he goes, or he's a tornado chaser!

This is great music though! I listened to ol' Lightnin' all night (until the battery died).”

“LOL iSolo! Nice try! Now tell me what you were really doing in there... :)”

“honeybunches,

Fun is where you find it, and Lightnin's music had nothing at all to do with the fact that I was sleeping naked.
last edited: 1/08/08 3:36:06 PM”

“LOL, I figured that'd shut her up! Nosey neighbors, sheeesh!!”

“Looks like a good trip in the snow!
We had 65 deg temps in the indy area.”

“It would take a LOT more than that to shut me up! Just ask mountainrunner :)”

“honeybunches,

It was a pleasure meeting both you and mountainrunner, and thanks for letting me camp with you guys both nights. It's too bad you missed breakfast Sunday.”

“It was nice to meet you as well... and the rest of the group. We will hopefully be joining a lot more trips this year!”

“... and Happy Birthday!!”

“Ppl up for anothe ski/snowshow trip this winter? Any suggestions on locations? Same place would work for me.”

“Central Wisconsin's Black River State Forest is an excellent central location to get to, but we got lucky with the snow depth there during the first week end in January 2008. For central Wisconsin around Black River State Forest, last January was the snowiest by far in the last five years. The other prior years there was only a trace of snow on the ground there. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan has the best snow with far northern Wisconsin as second best with usually reliable snow,
http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/snow_model/images/full/Northern_Great_Lakes/nsm_depth/200801/nsm_depth_2008010505_Northern_Great_Lakes.jpg


Next January's full moon is Sunday 1-11-09 during the second week end in January:
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/MoonPhase.php#y2009

The alternates would be Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore inside the park at Chapel Beach:
http://community.webshots.com/slideshow/119180868PUYArT?mediaPosition=119185505

or just outside in Beaver Lake Campground.
http://community.webshots.com/slideshow/288475684sXOcsG?mediaPosition=288526121

Or the Chequamegon National Forest near Lake Superior:
http://community.webshots.com/slideshow/557439709OYrnCT?mediaPosition=1

I would prefer the second week end in January to take advantage of the full moon.

If you want reliable snow, we need to go north. If you are okay with probable bare ground January camping, Black River State Forest is fine with me.”

“Lol!

2nd week of jan is good for me. We can see how the snow goes as the season progresses.

We did get very lucky last year! The snow was melting like crazy as we were leaving. It was as if it had snowed just for us!”

“Good morning Pros-Yogisan, long time since I have posted/seen you guys. I would be very interested in another winter trip. Hopefully it will be a little cooler than last year. Above freezing is not winter camping! The full moon weekend would be first choice for me. The place doesn't matter but BRSF seemed like a good central point. Hopefully there will be snow again this winter.”

“yeah, for sure... i named this trip "freezin in wisconsin" and then it wasn't freezin'!

i'll make a trip page for the event.”

“Trip page created... plz visit:

http://thebackpacker.com/trailtalk/thread/52207,1.php”

“i was looking over pictures of this trip trying to find photos of linda and realized the reason i couldn't find her was because the ones i was looking at where hers. :(”

“should we try to do this trip again this year? i would love to get one more ski trip up to wisconsin before i have to move to seattle in march.”

“Yes. :-) We have to roast your butt before you go! And when do you go??”

“prolly in march”

“Start a new thread, so people see it, when you decide something :)”

“imagine that. me, actually deciding something.

the XC skiing here in Chicagoland has been excellent. the snow quality these last few days has been killer.”

“We have over 20 inches of new snow from the last four days here at the cabin in far northwest Wisconsin. The skiing is excellent on the groomed trails, but there is too much snow to go long distances bushwhacking off trail in the woods.”