By John Matonich
Almost time to take the tree down and put the decorations away. This isn’t a bad thing because up here it usually means the weather has been wintery enough to let the games begin. Nope, I don’t mean the Winter Olympics which are on their way, but all the winter outdoor activities that are just about ready to be in full swing.
Our ski hills are open. The snowmobile trails are being groomed as I write, and I have seen a few ice shacks out on the lake. Winter recreation has begun, for sure. 
We wait for it all year up here.
I worked at one of our local ski hills a very long time ago and enjoyed getting to meet folks who saved for an entire year to take their family to a resort and ski for a week. The hills around this area are some of the best in the Midwest and attract folks from all over. When I was still in school, skiing was the king outdoor activity, that is until snowmobiles got popular.
Today, depending on snow conditions we may have a couple of thousand snowmobiles in the area at any one time. It isn’t unusual for my bride and I to see 500 machines in a day travel past our place on the ice on the lake. Lake Gogebic is a pretty big ice rink when frozen and can handle a lot of machines zipping back and forth enjoying the day. The trail system in and around the Upper Peninsula and the northern Lower Peninsula is very well done and provides a great opportunity to see the area from a different perspective. I know a number of folks who have traveled around the complete interior of the U.P. and never had to put their machine on a trailer – only at the place the journey began and ended.
When I was a kid, my dad and I liked to hunt snowshoe rabbits this time of year. It usually required us wearing snowshoes which did a lot to help you move around in deep snow but wasn’t a big advantage when it came to the hunt. I spent a lot of time face deep in snow, but no matter how we did on the hunt, it was a great time to be in the woods.
I never had the opportunity to ice fish very much growing up, but I am really hoping to change that this year. Living on a lake that attracts a number of ice fishermen, I think it would be foolish to not saddle up alongside one of my ice shack buddies and see if I can’t get a few pointers. It may cost a couple of 30 packs of Busch Lite, but it would be money well spent and what could be better than a cold beer on a cold day sitting in a warm ice shack waiting for a walleye or two. Looks like Old Man Winter is here and certainly not too soon.
And that’s the situation as I survey it …
After a 35-year career downstate livin’ amongst da trolls, during which he built a successful engineering and surveying business, John Matonich is back home in da U.P. His column will appear here occasionally, don’tcha know. His book “Surveyin’ Da Situation” is available on Amazon.com.
Image credit: lariliikala
Love your tales of life in the U.P. A very different life than we have downstate. Keep them coming.
Thank you, Judith… glad you like them …
A friend a few houses down from me rebuilt his old 1984 Ski Doo Blizzard snowmobile in November. It runs great now and he has been playing with it in the last few weeks. He wants to load it on his trailer and head to the U.P. so he can enjoy the “big snow”. This old girl sat in his father’s barn for 20+ years under a cover. He rebuilt the engine, rebuilt the drive and put a new track on. It starts within 3 pulls (no electric start) and runs great. He is like a teen ager again with his old toy.
Wow… sounds like a real beauty… he should have lots of fun with it. They are having vintage snowmobile races this weekend in Ironwood…. some real cool machines there….
If you wear your ice beard with pride while surfing the frigid waves of Lake Superior in sub-zero temperatures on Christmas Day….you’re probably a Yooper.
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/12/michigans_surfer_dan_loves_his.html
Good stuff, for sure…
My nephew is on the Soo Fire Dept and has a part in icing the trail for the 500 in his off time. Altho he is originally from the Lower, he has been there for over 20 years and loves it. Anything outdoors, snowmobiling, fishing, that’s his thing. I know he really understands what you’re talking about. I think that he may be a Yooper now.
Sounds like a Yooper to me…
I am 60 now but around five my father built our first snowmobile. Then at 8 he bought me a carbon from wards. Then at 10 I got a ski do Nordic 640. Then at 13 a Yamaha twin cylinder . I loved them all. My mom and dad had snowmobiles also. Every weekend we headed to the u.p. to ride. I loved it. They were the finest weekend ever. About 30 of us stopping in the woods a fire to heat hot dogs on. Believe me that fire was welcome.lol. now I miss those days
Great memories and still time to relive them…
My sister goes to the sled dog race in Marquette every year. They love it! Usually super cold or snowing like crazy which she says just adds to the fun! I use to do all the winter stuff but where we live no one will allow you to hunt anymore and the snow is to unpredictable to own a snowmobile. Plus same problem with that people don’t want you trespassing. I am sure if I lived in an area like you do I would enjoy the winter again. I kinda miss it at times.
It sure has it’s advantages living here but not so much if I want to go to Meijers…
Ya but I could certainly live without meijers.😀
I just realized that Michigan is not unlike Korea. Korea is a peninsula. It has a North and a South, very much like Michigan. So.. Not so fast with your praise of our Upper Peninsula, John! Korea’s Upper Peninsula has nukes and artillery pointed at their south. Do you Michigan Upper Peninsula people have such things, pointed at us, in the south? Sometimes, I worry.
We are prepared to repel your nukes and your snowmobiles. We will fight to the last Troll. Do not try anything nuclear. I warn you.
You have brought up a very good point, Tom. We do have many weapons here in Da UP, but they aren’t trained on those living in the southern region. At a moments notice though, they will be aimed at the Big Mac bridge. We have no interest in overtaking the lower, but may want to stop the influx of “trolls” at some point and doing away with the bridge is at the heart of that plan, I believe…