Laurie Bashaw does quite a bit of hiking and/or walking on the North Country Trail, with a goal to Hike 100 miles each year. Part of the North Country Trail goes through Marquette and surrounding area, like today’s photos from the Marquette City Multi Use Path. Laurie was recently on this part of the trail and came upon a number of snow people built on top the posts along the trail. She said it made her smile and then she wondered if the “Coasties” created these trail snow people, since it’s right by the Coast Guard Station there. How fun for whoever made these snow people, knowing that they’re brightening many folks day when they encounter them all along the way, making them smile like they did for Laurie!

Squeaky Snow! In case you don’t know what Squeaky Snow is, we have an explanation and demonstration from the Woodsy Introverts. Cold temperatures are required to make the snow squeak. We’re actually in a warm up mode here in the Keweenaw right now, with temps in the mid 30’s, but last week was a different story, the snow was quite squeaky!

Now how cool are those lil' people? How awesome to
come across that!

The Squeaky Snow vid is awesome! I love their
vids...

Interesting pix! Looks like someone has
too much time on their hands.
The video reminds me of when I was
working and I would leave for work
at 5:00am on a cold winter morning
…I heard the same sound.
I wish I could hear it again.

The multi use path in Marquette is a great place to walk. It’s a bonus that it’s part if the North Country Scenic Trail. My husband and I have the goal to complete the 100 Mile Challenge on the Trail, which we have done the last two years. He is currently at 200+ miles walked and I am approaching 400 miles walked/hiked.

We have hiked the Trail in the McCormick Tract, Porcupine Mountains, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, north of Marquette by Echo Lake, by Muskellunge State Park, Mackinac Bridge. It’s a great trail and we are thankful to live close. Next year, I would like to check it out the trail in the other states that it goes through.

Very cool pictures. I was never
one to enjoy squeaky snow. That
meant it was awfully cold and I'm
not a fan of the cold. That's what
I like about winters UP here
compared to winters in MN. It's a
lot warmer UP here. I don't even
mind shoveling here. You freeze
your hind end off in Minnesota.

I remember seeing 'fans' doing this at football games when it was snowing hard and the attendance was sparse. They had whole rows of little bitty pretty ones!

I'm a fan of squeaky snow IF it's calm. The wind is what gets to me.

In case you haven't heard, the U.P. was voted #1 in the USA Today, Top 10 Best Snow Destinations for 2024. You can see the others in the top 10 here:
Top 10 Best Snow Destinations

Another "in case you didn't know"...with all the drone talk in the news, TV6 reported that the 148th Fighter Wing will be conducting night flying practice flights with F-16 planes from this Monday until Thursday, near the Duluth International
Airport, in Northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula. You can read more about it here:

F-16 Flights at night

One more...
Audubon's 125th Christmas Bird Count will be held from Dec 14, 2024 to January 5, 2025!
If you're interested in participating, you can sign up on The Audubon page here:
Christmas Bird Count Sign-up Information

I always love the squeaky snow, reminds me of wonderful times in the Keweenaw. We occasionally get squeaky down here. We're often colder, much colder, but then we usually lack enough hard-packed snow to make the combination complete.

Great news on the "Best Snow Destinations".