Winter Snapshots - Part 1

Our winter season has drawn to a close for 2011. Not only did we enjoy a great snow year - we enjoyed the most productive winter in seven years! Thank you to all who came to visit. We enjoyed your company and appreciate your faithful patronage.

During the 'in-between' season, I often find it quite challenging to figure out 'what' to talk about. Not that I'm not busy - but usually I am busy with other projects - ones which seem less newsworthy. So I thought I'd use the next two posts to share a few snapshots of our lives at Elk Lake during the winter season.

As many of you know, the trip in and out of Elk Lake is a little more exciting in the summer than in the winter. Everything - and I do mean everything comes in via snowmobile. This means the food we serve, the clothes we wear, the paper products and laundry soap and even the DOGS! (much to Bo's chagrin)

While many of you know that is how we travel in the winter, few of you have seen the process. Thus I thought you might enjoy seeing how its done.

While this converted ATV trailer receives the most use during the winter - hauling in all the food and supplies we need to keep everyone well fed and comfortable in the winter - when it comes to our trips in and out, this trailer goes to the dogs!

Yep, the dogs get chauffered in and out. You'd think they'd consider themselves privileged. However, Bo absolutely HATES the experience. You'd think he was looking down the barrel of a gun. His face is that expressive of his dislike.

Everything else - from the food we're bringing in to all our personal gear, takes a ride in the passenger hauler. As you can see, we've learned to fill every crook and cranny - and then some! Thankfully both of these trailers are extremely stable and ride over the snow with ease. Thus our journey is much easier now than in year's past.

Once we're into the lodge, we settle in to enjoy the winter.

Some years its windy. Some years its snowy. Some years its sunny. Some years it's a combination - but it always seems one element predominates. This winter, however, has definitely been the winter of the snow and blow. Wind. Snow. Wind. Snow. Sunshine. Snow. Wind. Sunshine. So the winter passed. As you can see in the photo above, the picnic table by cabin 4 was well exposed in late December.

However, by the first of March, even though the snow is now packed, the picnic table is almost lost in the drift. What GREAT snow we have enjoyed.

In the end this winter resulted in a lot of snow - quite frankly, it is still sharing its bounty with us. The snow marker down near Ashton Hill has reached nearly six feet! And while the snow at the lodge did not reach such depths, we still ended up walking 'down' a few feet to get into the lodge. While we know all this 'white stuff' makes some people grimace and others thank their lucky stars they live somewhere else - well, quite frankly, we feel extremely blessed to live in what we consider 'God's country' any time of the year!

Lady of the Lake