NorthernDestinations.com

Monday 8-26-2019

Greetings and welcome!

Labor Day weekend is just a few days away. My week ahead is insanely busy so I am getting a head start tonight.

First up is the weather. Right now the NWS forecast is nearly perfect with high temperatures in the low 70s and lows in the mid to upper 40s. There is no mention of rain after Thursday afternoon. In my research I found a similar forecast with high pressure dominating our weather. I did see a small chance of rain Saturday and Monday, but right now the GFS shows it as very minimal.

We have been seeing some cool nights, but we have not had a frost yet. I have had to run the heater for a little while a couple of recent mornings. Be ready for some cool nights and the normal bugs.

There are a lot of events this weekend. One that I don’t have verified yet is a Fireman’s Breakfast in Crooked Lake Saturday morning. I remember seeing a sign but I want to verify it.

Suring Labor Day Celebration Aug. 30, 2019 – Sept. 2, 2019
	Labor Day celebration! – More Information

Annual Red Arrow Snowmobile ATV Club Corn Roast Aug. 31, 2019
	More Information

Riverview Fire Department Corn Roast Aug. 31, 2019
	Free corn all day! – More Information

Lakewood Firefighter’s 34th Annual Picnic Sept. 1, 2019 @ 12:00 pm – 8:00 pm
	Support your local heroes! – More Information

I have not seen much for fall color yet.

The whitewater rafting will continue to be good this weekend. We hit about zero on the Peshtigo bridge gauge today but it did not stay there long. The rain today was about 3/4″ right here, but the upper watershed saw less. There is another wave of rain coming as I type this. At any rate I would expect rafting and tubing to be ok this weekend.

That is about it for tonight. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Thursday August 22, 2019

Greetings and welcome!

This isn’t what I am supposed to be doing right now but I am not missing two weeks in a row.

First up is the weather. I just LOVE weather like this. Today’s high is supposed to be about 67. Over the weekend we are looking at highs in the low to mid-70s. I am not a fan of 90s and humid and I rejoice when we get weather where I can work outside without sweating just from the hot or humid day.

The hook in all of this is that at night it is definitely starting to feel like fall. Cutting the grass at sunset last night I went into a low area and it was downright cold. The low tonight is expected to be 42. Friday and Saturday nights are a little milder at 45 and 49 respectively.

In the wonderful world of whitewater the Peshtigo River continues to amaze me. Most years it is too low to run in August. This year is very different. People last weekend saw +4” water levels, and right now it is at about a +3”, well into the fun zone.

To the best of my knowledge we did not go below zero this summer at all. If we did it was very brief and just below the mark, and then it rained right away bouncing it back up. I have watched this river for 30 years and have never seen a year like this. Rafting and tubing on the Peshtigo continue to be solid weekend options.

We have a lot going on this weekend.

Close to home it is the Rapids Resort anniversary party Saturday. They will be cooking out and having live music.

Right down the road the Rustic Inn is opening with new owners this weekend. I have not met them yet but the word on the street is that I know them. Stop in and say hi.

In Mountain the Chute Pond snowmobile club is having Mountain Motor Madness- A Car, Truck, Tractor, Bike & ATV Show. (Link)

The Marinette County Fair is in Wausaukee this weekend. They actually get started this afternoon. They really have a lot going on with every thing from rides and animals to music and modified truck and tractor pulls. Here is a (Link).

There is a motorcycle ride at the Pour House in Lakewood Saturday that benefits the Wabeno/Laona school athletic programs. I don’t have a link, but it starts late morning Saturday at the Pour House and goes about 100 miles.

ATV riders will like this.

OCONTO COUNTY ATV TRAILS WILL OPEN THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2019.

Please be advised that as of August 29, 2019 all ATV trails funded by Oconto County will

be open for travel. The attached map shows the location of Oconto County trails that will

be open for travel (Depicted in color BLUE).

Here is a link to the PDF that shows which roads and trails will be open. Trail Opening Aug. 29, 2019 Press Release

The fall colors have not show up yet. I have seen two splashes of color so far, both in cottonwood trees. Since they are not usually the first color I guessed that they were damaged by wind cutting the branch off from the rest of the tree. I have not seen the maples change color yet and they are usually first. It is not unusual to see the first ones showing a little color in mid and late August.

A couple of personal side notes.. One is that I wrecked another smart phone. At that point my number is dead until early next week when my new one comes.

Item two is a hat tip to Dama Plumbing. I was looking for an impossible to find shower faucet stem from a modular home. None of the local hardware stores or home improvement stores had anything close. Even though he wouldn’t make money on it, Mike Dama put me onto a company that stocks them in less than 5 minutes. That is the third time that they helped me on unusual stuff. The other two times they had my part on the shelf. That deserves a hat tip. Thanks Mike!

That is it for me today. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Wednesday August 7, 2019

Greetings and welcome!

The top items tonight are the Silver Cliff Picnic and Parade Saturday and some heavy rain today.

The day started out pretty humid and it got warm. There was a moderate risk for severe weather as a cold front was expected to cross the state. You could see the first massive cloud moving in and you knew that it was going to storm. I was on my way back from Crivitz about 2:30 when the first wave hit. From the road that the Marco dump is on all of the way to Hwy C I was in really heavy rain and occasional hail. It was really coming down and flooding the road. I got home and the hill on the driveway showed a little erosion from the fast heavy rain.

I barely got the groceries inside and the next wave hit. Thunder, lightning, and a heavy downpour, and the rest of the afternoon had a few more waves like it. The storm did not get severe around here other than heavy rain and hail, and a couple of gusts. It was impressive with all of the red and orange on the radar. That line of storms did cause damage in Green Bay and farther south in the state. At my house a pretty badly eroded driveway was the extent of the damage.

The heavy rain really did a smack dab bullseye on the Peshtigo River watershed. This will be an excellent weekend to go rafting. The Peshtigo is going to be a blast Saturday. Here is a map that I made from the NWS radar rainfall estimates, with a really rough approximation of the Peshtigo watershed, and also showing the heavy rain around Crivitz and Wausaukee. The rainfall couldn’t be more perfectly located for the Peshtigo River to benefit from it.

Here is the hook… The Peshtigo was already doing great from last Friday’s rain and a wet year. It was running at about 400cfs, about a +4 or +5″. That is a great level for August, and well into the fun zone. This rain came fast and heavy, so there will be some fast heavy runoff. We should see a nice spike in levels tomorrow. I fully expect it to go above +12, maybe by a lot by Saturday. A +14 or +16 wouldn’t surprise me. With the river rising that hard it will be pushy and quite fun.

The rafting will not be the only fun this weekend. This Saturday is the Silver Cliff Picnic and Parade. The parade starts at 10am at Boat Landing 11 Rd and Hwy C and goes east to the picnic grounds just west of Hwy C & Hwy I, Parkway Rd north. The picnic starts at 11am and goes until 5pm. The parade is always great and the picnic is a great chance to see weekend friends and locals alike. They have all sorts of activities like horseshoes, kids activities, Silver Cliff gear, and good eats too.

Lately we have had typical hot weather. At night we have seen temperatures drop close to the dew point and really put down a good layer of dew. This is soak your tennis shoes in 50 feet kind of dew. This is one of those little feelings that I get sometimes. It just seemed like September was already here with the big temperature swings and dew. It was kind of a heads up that I need to pounce on firewood, house repairs and other fall work anytime that it isn’t 90 and humid. December is 4 months away and we have already lost quite a bit of daylight.

That is what I know for now. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Tuesday 7-30-19 Storm Damage Help & ATV Trail Info

Greetings and welcome!

Here is some more storm Damage Info and ATV trail stuff.

There is a “Oconto County “one stop shop” storm recovery resource event at the Mountain Community Center Today Tue and Wednesday from noon till 6pm.”  Information and agencies will be available including the American Red Cross, Oconto County Department of Public Health, Christian Food Pantry, and many more resources for crisis counseling, economic support and development, and animal assistance.” Link

All Oconto County ATV trails are closed because of the storm damage.

There is some talk that the Oconto Co trails may stay closed for the rest of the season and they hope to get the trails done in time for snowmobile season. There was something like 450 square miles of storm damage, and that is a lot of down and twisted trees. Right now the priority is on roads and helping people and animals, so the ATV trails, while important, are not the top priority. They ARE working on it.

You can ride north of the Carter Casino into Forest County, and northern Marinette Co on the Dun-Good Trails. There is nothing on the Iron Snowshoe Trails website about trail closures so you can ride those too. Dusty Trails is closed.

Here is a picture from the Forest Co ATV Association of someone who couldn’t take a hint. (Facebook Link) They took down the trail closed sign, cut the snow fence, and forced the gate open. How stupid.

This gate was about 1/2 mile south of the Carter Casino. The people didn’t get far. There was a mass of twisted trees just a little ways up. Was it entitled ATV riders? ATV haters trying to close the trail? Who knows? The ATV community around there and the Sheriff’s Dept would love some info on who did it.

Here are more storm damage stories that I found this week.

Antigo Times- Storm closes C-NNF campgrounds, rec sites (Link)

Washington Post- Here’s how two derechos slammed Wisconsin, ravaging an area five times bigger than Washington, D.C., with 100 mph winds (Link)

Weather.com- Wisconsin Macroburst Downed So Many Trees the Damage Can Be Seen From Space (Link)

WBAY TV2 out of Green Bay- Mountain residents cleaning up extensive storm damage (Link)

When I was in Crooked Lake this week the place was pretty wrecked. Almost every yard had at least one tree down, and there were several that would have blocked the road on Hwy W. From what the locals said Hwy W from Crooked Lake to Mountain was really wrecked with trees down everywhere. Power has been restored to most people. My memory is fuzzy but I think I heard that something like 400,000 people lost power from this storm, some for 5 days or more. Hats off to the line crews that restored so much damage so fast.

Marinette Co ATV/UTV Road Trail Closures-

There has been considerable discussion about Marinette County closing the county road trails for 30 days and possibly permanently due to misbehavior. No one wants to see that. There is a meeting today with stakeholders and the county that should shed some light on the subject. There have also been some people working on an effort to print up flyers to give out at trail stops to educate riders.

From what I have seen and heard there are a couple of main issues.

1. Riding on roads not authorized for ATVs- County roads that allow ATVs are well marked. There is a process where the sheriff’s Dept evaluates safety issues and submits the road for approval. Once approved the road needs to be posted with signs before it can open. Riding on roads that are not open is the subject of a lot of the complaints. I heard that opening the section between McCaslin Mountain Campground and Chickadee Lane was put on hold because people are riding it anyway, and the same goes for a stretch of Parkway Rd by Homestead Lake Rd. I also see a lot of people violate on HWY C between Rustic and Jungle Jims.
2. Riding the county roads at night- This is a no-no for safety reasons and another source of complaints.
3.  Kids on ATVs on the roads- There are a variety of rules that apply here- Helmets, safety course certificates, adult supervision. I am not going to post the rule book, but this is another source of issues.

Whatever the case there should be more information coming after the conference. I will update as I get it. This is a big deal. It took a lot to get those county roads opened to the wheelers and it is important to riders, businesses, tourism in general, and people with weekend places up here that they stay open. Those road trails are some critical links in our trail system, and no one wants them closed.

Now onto the regular stuff..

We finally are going to see a break in the hot n humid summer weather this week. Today we are expecting a high of about 75 with moderate humidity. The sun will still be hot but at least it isn’t in the upper 80s with dreadful humidity. I am not looking forward to this month’s electric bill.

Our Sunday rains hit the Peshtigo River watershed with a moderate amount of rain. The Pesh is running at about 400cfs, about a +3″. That is a great level for tubing and a fun level for rafting. I consider anything about 300 the fun zone, and we are well into it. The Menominee River is doing the typical summer up and down as the dam opens and closes. Levels there are between 1,000-2,000cfs, still a good ride. Call Kosirs for both lazy river tubing and whitewater rafting.

Events this weekend include the Lakewood Arts & Crafts Festival and the Wabeno Area Music and Arts Festival. I am sure that there are more, but that is what I know about this morning.

I am out of time for today. have a good week and thank you for visiting!

RJB