Right now, we're waiting for the roads to be cleared of snow. Until the plows come through, they'd be pretty rough driving. The nearest town is 15 miles away, though there's a sort of general store and gas station a mile or two down the road I could get to on snowshoes.
But we don't want to go anywhere. We are here on purpose, warm and content. We wanted to experience an Upper Peninsula blizzard, where the snow comes roaring off of Lake Superior and covers everything.
Well, the blizzard that was predicted never did arrive. But we did get a nice respectable 8 inch dump of new snow outside our Roadtrek here in the Lower Falls campground of the Tahquamenon Falls State Park. That's on top of the near two feet of snow that was here before.
We came to the Upper Peninsula last Wednesday for our annual Roadtreking Winter Campout here at the Falls. It ended Sunday and instead of heading back with the 40 other campers, we decided to stay to enjoy the peace and beauty of the woods with no one else around. We knew the storm was coming and we wanted to experience it and see just how comfortable we could be in our Roadtrek.
Tahquamenon Falls State Park is one of the few campgrounds open all winter up here. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources does an amazing job plowing out the spots. And while water is not available, electric hooks are on each spot. Except for Carolyn and Dan Wilson, the camp hosts from Florida who annually volunteer a couple months of their time to stay here each winter, we're the only ones here.
We almost gave up waiting for the storm to arrive. At 1Pm Monday, with no snow falling, we were ready to pack it in and head home. So we put away the power cord and headed out, stopping in Paradise, the Lake Superior town 15 miles away, to grab some lunch.
But when we finished and left the restaurant, the snow had began. We turned around and headed back to the park.
We went to the Upper Falls to get some photos in the snow. By the time we hiked there and back to the Roadtrek in the Upper Falls parking lot, two inches had fallen. The drive back to the Lower Falls campground on Highway 123 was snow covered and slippery. The fresh snow lay atop icy patches and I used the 4 x 4 on our 2017 Roadtrek CS Adventurous XL to keep us from sliding.
Bo spent most of yesterday outside. We took him on three hikes and he exhausted himself chasing the little pine squirrels that were busy scurrying around looking for food as the storm gathered strength. Each chase invariably ended unsuccessfully, with Bo looking plaintively up a tree at a gloating squirrel.
The snow was falling at over an inch an hour for most of the evening. We bundled up and went for a walk, then came back to the Roadtrek, where I did my weekly NBC-TV tech report and Jennifer and I recorded tomorrow's RV Podcast.
Outside, it dropped to the low 20's overnight. Inside, it was a toasty 72.
How we appreciated the heated floors from our Alde radiant heat system. We made dinner, read and turned on the porch light and watched it snow for a long time.
We went to sleep about 11PM and awoke thus morning to find it still snowing. Everything is white. The tree branches are loaded heavily and everything looks clean and wild and beautiful. Bo is ready for more squirrel hunting and is anxious for me to take him out.
Soon, the DNR will be through, plowing the campground. The county crews were up before dawn and the main roads will also be open. They know how to deal with snow here in the UP.
And we'll start for home, with Robert Frost's poem echoing in our brains.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep.
Here's some more photos…
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