Yesterday was my first ride of the season, and it was a “deep” one!
We arrived in White Pine, MI at Porcupine Lodge around 3pm and got everything situated. We hit the trails around 5pm and man, what a ride! We rode trail 1 to Bergland which was full of fresh powder and in pretty excellent shape. Once we got to Bergland we had dinner at Antonio’s Restaurant. The food was good and so was the service! After our quick pit stop we hit the trail again and headed west on trail 8. This is when things got really good! We lucked out and the groomer had just groomed this trail. We were the first sleds on it! We ran trail 8 to trail 102 and guess what……yep, the groomer groomed that as well! About half way between trail 8 and trail 11 (on 102) we caught up to the groomer and passed them. 102 was still in pretty good shape even though it took a little abuse from the weekend warriors, but I’m sure the groomer took care of that.
When we finally reached trail 11 is when the real fun began!
There was at least 24-36 inches of fresh powder on the trail! Granted, I always thought of this as a dream, but at night it can be a major challenge! The powder kept piling up in front of the sled and blocking our headlights it was so deep!
We eventually ended up very close together with the front sleds light “blacked out” and the rear sled with its brights on. The next 18 miles were amazing! We got off the trail once and had the sled burried above the windshield!
We finally made it out of the park and on to a more “tame” trail.
If you get a chance to visit the U.P. be sure to check out the White Pine area, it is amazing!
What a way to start the season!
Off to Copper Harbor tomorrow!
Distance: 68 miles