NorthernDestinations.com

Thursday 6-22-2017

Greetings and welcome!

It has been a really crazy week so I only have one update this week.

Saturday was a nice day once the overnight rain cleared out. The whitewater rafting was outstanding and people were loving it.

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday it rained off and on as small cloudbursts were interspersed with blue skies and sun. It was hard to do anything because you would get started and the skies would open up with a heavy downpour.

It was common to see a rainbow in conditions like that and people were seeing a lot of them. Sunday evening I drove by Waubee Lake and saw the most perfect, super bright, lake-wide rainbow. I was in a huge hurry and couldn’t stop to enjoy it, but the quick look was a blessing in itself. Later I saw another rainbow north of Townsend, though not as brilliant.

The rain is expected to continue Thursday and Friday as a small system moves through. At the moment it looks like the heaviest rain will be just south of us, but a 50-100 mile shift in the storm path could mean the difference between 3/4” and 3” of expected rainfall.

Friday looks nice once the rain clears out in the morning. Saturday there is a 30% chance of rain, but the idea now is that it would be an afternoon storm that brews up from the heat of the day, not anything organized. Sunday looks nice.

The storm Thursday will bring in a cold front, meaning a very comfortable weekend with cool temperatures and fairly low humidity. Friday’s high temp is forecast at 74, Saturday and Sunday 68. Look for low temperatures around 50.

It will be another epic weekend on the river for whitewater rafting. Right now the river is still running at spring levels, an amazing +23”. Normally we would be at about a +4 or +6” level this weekend on a good year.

The storm Thursday holds the key to how weekend rafting goes. If it stays south and the river drops enough, people might be able to take 2-4 person rafts and funyaks. If we get even a little more rain we will be back up to the spring rafts with 4-6+ people.

Whatever the case, the abnormally wet year has the whitewater rafting outstanding. The rivers are way above normal and trips are a blast.

I was shooting the breeze with another long time river veteran last weekend. I told him that as full as the watershed is even if it completely stopped raining we would have good water levels the rest of the year, and any rain would spike it. Neither of us had ever seen a year like this. I guess it was a good year to return to doing rafting pictures!

Last weekend I spotted the first monarch butterflies of the year. It took me about 10 minutes to get this picture but it was worth it.

I have not had a chance to gather up events for this weekend. I have been seeing a lot of events for next weekend and I am on that. I did see a flyer that the Bear Point Yacht Club will be doing tube floats down the Menominee River east of Wausaukee every weekend in July.

The 4th of July is on a Tuesday this year, making Saturday the 1st the focus of events. I will gather details, but I know of events in Wausaukee, Crivitz, Crooked Lake, Mountain, and usually Townsend has fireworks too. I have seen a flyer for the Twin Bridge Water Ski Team having a big show and fireworks.

Right now I am just completely overwhelmed with work. That is good because the end of the quarter is here, and the bills are rolling in too. It’s time for me to dive back in. Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Thursday 6-15-17

Greetings and welcome!
Yesterday evening I took a ride down to Crooked Lake. I have some friends down there I needed to check places for. On the way down LaFave Rd There wasn’t much before the curve where the snowmobile/ATV/Pipeline trail crosses it.

The next few miles I started seeing the occasional tree down. About where the paved road starts a couple of miles north of town there were a lot more trees down. I only went about 1/2way through town, but there were a couple of big trees down and a guy’s awning/carport tent got trashed.

That is about it for storm reports for today.

I offer to check on people’s places because I know how it is. Before I moved here I drove the locals nuts when heavy weather came through and I was stuck downstate. Don’t hesitate to ask.

I got a call from Climber’s Anonymous Tree Service yesterday afternoon. They are doing just a ton of storm cleanups, but are still taking work. He said that Friday he is bringing in a 130 foot crane for some big cleanups. It will be near Waubee Lake, then to C & F where a giant tree fell on a cabin, and then down to Parkway & X where they got hit the hardest. If you have big work for the crane or need cleanup, call them.

I also do a web site for Panske Trim-A-Tree Tree Service in Marinette. If you have tree damage from 141 east to the lake give them a call.

Some friends that visit the area had a place down in Pulaski where a real tornado hit. I saw pictures and it is ugly down there.

Anyway, hopefully we are about done with severe weather for this week. It was a heck of a week with areas getting tree damage and in some spots 3+ inches of rain. Highways washed out on and on. I am glad that it is done.

The weekend forecast hasn’t changed much. There is a 20% chance of rain Friday and 30% Friday night. Those are just scattered instability storms that happen in summer.

Saturday the chances go up to 50% as the day progresses. There is a fairly weak area of low pressure that will pass over the area Saturday night. There could be a shower or storm in advance of it Saturday afternoon with the daytime heating.

Saturday night the low gets here and there is a good chance of rain or storms 70%. Once it moves out early Sunday morning chances will go down as the day progresses.

Today looks like the hottest day, a scorcher with 87 & some humidity. The hi/low temperatures for the weekend are Friday 85/60, Saturday 82/60, and Sunday 73/53.

When I ran to the post office this morning I saw that the white daisies are making a big show along roadsides. There were long patches of them in the ditch for much of my ride. There are yellow ones too, and something that looks like wild mustard is in bloom in the fields.

The bugs have been about normal for this year. A stop in the Nicolet to do this picture yesterday evening quickly found me swarmed by gators. Other than that some small flies that bite right through my socks hit me a few times while I was changing my water pump. Bring Repel. I use the Sportsman 40.

Back to the storm damage briefly..

While I was in the Nic I saw that North Fork Creek had really risen a lot, You can see that there is still grass under water, but more impressive is the grass laid down from when the water was a foot higher. It must have been a pretty good flash flood.

I also saw on Facebook yesterday that someone posted a picture from Dockside Bar showing the docks under water and like 20 feet from dry land.

Normally they have very tightly managed water level on the flowages. The Peshtigo River is abnormally high, so they had to release extra water from Caldron Falls Flowage.

Speaking of the Peshtigo River being abnormally high.. The whitewater rafting this weekend will be exceptional. The normal flow today is 472cfs, great fun in a raft or funyak. The most recent value is 1,910cfs, smashing the 19 year record of 1090cfs back in ’02.

It looks like the river peaked yesterday at about a +37 or +38″. Normally it would be at about +6″. Today we are at about a +30 and it should be about a +26 for the weekend.

That means that they will be running spring rafts with 6+ people and a guide in them.  It is very unusual to get water this high in summer, and a lot of years it doesn’t get this high in spring with the snow melt. If you want to see why the Peshtigo is world famous without walking through snow or dealing with cold air and water, here is a rare chance to do so. Call Kosir’s. 715-757-3431.

Yesterday I was at the Caldron Falls Bar taking pictures for a new web site. Dann had just taken a batch of ribs off of the smoker. Oh man they looked good. I haven’t even tasted them and they are fat guy approved. Those just have to be amazing.

Darn it now I am hungry. Gotta run.

Have a good weekend and thank you for visiting!

RJB

Wednesday 6-14-17

Greetings and welcome!

I went out and did some damage checks this morning. Most areas are fine. My route took me down Landing 11Rd to Caldron Falls Rd to Thunder Mountain Rd, the subdivision around the Thunder Mountain Valley Inn, east on Thunder Mt Rd, and north on Parkway to C and west back home.

Landing 11 had 3 trees or branches down between C and the town line, none threatening buildings. It was ok down to Thunder Mt Ranch. They had a couple of trees down just north of their main driveway and occasional trees down for the next mile or so going south.

There were a couple of branches down at Thunder Mt Rd & Caldron Falls Rd, no big deal. Two of the cabins right by Thunder Mountain Valley Inn took trees to the roof. One is right at the intersection of Huigen Rd and the bar, one is right across the parking lot from the bar.

There was one big branch down on Thunder Mt Rd a mile east of there.

Going north on Parkway there were a couple of trees down on either side of Kamps Rd, none threatening structures. We were pretty good up to Curve Inn (Trixie’s). From there to the boat landing there were a few more trees down. At the boat Landing there were more trees down, and the guy on the SW corner of Dahleen Ln and Parkway, his yard was messed all of the way up with a lot of trees down. There were a couple more trees down between there and X.

North of X there was a tree down by Tall Oaks, no big deal. The next damage that I saw was a couple of trees damaged in the big pines across from Thornton’s and north a little. From there up to Bunny Bay Rd had a few more trees down.

Highway X going across the bridge from Parkway going east was closed. I know that Popp’s took some damage, it was probably about cleaning that up.

Heading north on Parkway from Bunny Bay there was one tree down just into Silver Cliff on Parkway. There was a branch by the road across from The Red Pine BP, and that was it for damage as I made the run home on C.

The ride was not uneventful. There were a couple of turtles laying eggs by Landing 11 Rd, a tiny fawn by Thunder Mt Valley Inn, and a bear about a mile east of there.

Events-

This weekend is the Muscle Maniac’s Car Show in Lakewood, the Nicolet Plastics Run/Walk, and live local music at the candy shop in Lakewood. You can get details on those events here.. http://www.ocontocounty.org/events/

The Thunder Mountain Valley Inn is having a birthday bash with a motorcycle ride, pig roast, and live music Saturday.

The Hilltop Resort is having a Father’s Day buffet for $12 on Sunday.

On Saturday the Caldron Falls Bar is having a benefit ride/poker run, followed by live music at 4pm.

That is all that I have for events at the moment.

The weekend weather looks OK but not perfect. The NWS has a 50% chance of rain Saturday. The GFS forecast model is showing just scattered showers and less than 0.25” of precip.

There is a small low pressure area that will track through the area Saturday night with a decent chance of showers or storms. Once that clears out Sunday should be nice. Look for high temps of 84 Friday, 79 Saturday, and 74 Sunday.

That is all that I have for today. Have a good Wednesday and thank you for visiting!

RJB

6-13-17 Late Update

Greeting & Welcome!

I got my water pump in tonight. I will be checking places near Caldron Falls Bar and Thunder Mountain Valley Inn tomorrow.

My trip from Silver Cliff to Carter and back found minor damage in a couple of areas, most of it you wouldn’t know there was a storm. There were a few trees down by Waubee Lake, mostly small or rotten. There were about 5 or 6 down between the golf course and Wheeler Lake Ln. Going up 32 you wouldn’t know that there was a storm.

More to follow tomorrow..

RJB