Wintery Spring at Boggy’s

Late March is an opportunity for a unique visit to our camp. The snow is still deep, the snowmobile season is winding down, and there is plenty of daylight. The challenge is the five mile distance between where we can park on plowed CR 407 and the camp. The Luce County Road Commission does not plow the gravel roads we use in the summer

The snow was gone in Traverse City, but we hoped for a good base in the UP after a big snow year. Laura and I, along with Julia and Jeff, left early Friday on the 2nd day of Spring to drive up to the UP. After breakfast at the M-28 Grill in Newberry, we drove up to a parking area along CR 407. We grabbed our backpacks and two dogs and started skiing east along 7 Mile Fire Lane.

After about 2 hours skiing on slushy warm snow, we arrived at the camp. We skied in on deep snow, but are always surprised to find the how much snow is at the cabin. We used to be a little concerned with whether the cabin roof would still be holding its own. A new metal roof a few years ago has allayed that concern some. The steel roof collects snow as long as it stays cold, and then dumps it when it warms up. We were surprised by the volume of snow that had slid off. The hand pump was completely covered with snow. We first dug out the front door to get in and start a fire, we then dug out the pump, propane tank, and the slammer.

We warmed up the cabin, played some games, read, and napped. The next day was colder, and we could mostly walk on top of the snow, making just a few post holes. We walked over to the big lake to find the beach somewhat void of snow, but still a hundred meters of ice piled up along the lakeshore. The north wind was blowing, and the waves slamming against the ice as we approached the lake sounded like a jet engine.

We enjoyed the rest of the day, eating, reading, napping, cards and a sauna. Laura and I slept in the bunk room in the new double bed we built last summer, converting one of the bunk beds (thanks to UP neighbors Sally and Paul for the mattress). It was a comfy night in our warm sleeping bags, but snow we brought in on the floor was still there in the morning!

On Sunday morning we saw a red fox trot through our yard, right next to the cabin. We watched it move along the top of the river bank, and then drop down to the river, and enter the low area with the river meander west of the camp. After breakfast we tracked the fox through the meander and back up to the campground. An inch of fresh snow helped. It is so nice to walk through swampy, wet areas in the winter with a thick, smooth layer of hard pack snow.

We had a nice ski out on faster snow with much less food weight in our packs. After lunch at Timber Charlie’s in Newberry, we returned to Traverse City, and spring.