Valentine’s Day conjures up visions of romance and love and chocolates and Hallmark. This year, it also brought visions of a day when it wasn’t bitterly cold, nor rainy nor mixed precipping. Actually the forecast called for sunshine and temps near 50. The ideal kind of weather to get out of hibernation in the cabin and see what was up in the outdoors.
“…after feeling myself slide as I tried to establish the line, I followed them around.”
CORE (or a few of us anyway) headed for the hills. We went to check out Peters Mill, knowing that the rain and cooler temps would likely avail us of a little bit of ice.
We met in the standard location (Wendy’s in Park Ridge Centre) and headed out. Our crew was a bit light this particular morning.
On the ride were:
- Keith Holman, member, 01 BlaZeR2
- Paul Woscek and Mandibles, member and Wired Companion, 01 S-10 Crew
- We met up with guests Tim Dehaba and Krystal West at Edinburg in their 02 Wrangler Apex.
Topped off the tanks and grabbed sandwiches to go and we were off.
As expected, the shady spots particularly still had ice and the remains of a couple of snow storms but except for a few slippery moments, it provided little problem. We talked a bit about navigation and how going downhill on the ice would seem to dictate riding in the 4 Low just to be able to keep off the brakes. Tim reaffirmed that rather quickly for us as we left the first clearing.
We saw another group of the 3 4x4s on the trail and several ATVs but it was far from crowded. The big ledge had significant ice on and around it. Paul was able to get over, Tim and Krystal chose the bypass and after feeling myself slide as I tried to establish the line, I followed them around.
We stopped for lunch at the pond which was frozen over. Mandy provided mealtime entertainment with her “One Dog Hockey Game” and we told stories of playing on frozen ponds in the past. The ice was sufficiently thick to support the weight of a person so a bit of shoe sliding was in order. I took the more cautious approach of skipping stones. (Ice equalizes all stones, by the way.)
We went along afterwards rather uneventfully enjoying the scenery and the ride. Paul discovered the remains of a burned motorcycle. We debated hauling it out with us but decided the possibility that it was stolen warranted leaving it where we found it.
After we crossed the Cayenne Culvert Bridge, we bore left towards the ATV parking lot. As we made the turn at the powerlines, it was obvious that someone had been running the illegal right of way in some type of vehicle. We reached the parking lot to discover a Forest Service Ranger with ticket book in hand and an unhappy look on his face as he spoke to several ATV riders. We’re not sure if he had found the culprits from the powerlines or not.
Once again, a peaceful day in the outdoors with many pictures snapped.
Happy Trails and TreadLightly!
Trail report written by Keith Holman. Pictures courtesy of Keith Holman and Paul Woscek.