• President's Summer Message.
• Trail Cleanup Day May 30
• Summer Schedule Notes.
• Found Pair of x-c skis.
• Help the club prepare for the Best Hand Fun Ski now.

Summer Message:

The snow is melting away from the Fourth of July Winter Sports Area as April progresses. By mid-May the area will be ready for summer use. Yes, Fourth of July receives considerable summer use. It offers a signed trail system for hiking, mountain biking, and equestrian use.

Except for Forest Service Road 614 the area has an "A" designation in the Ranger District's travel plan. Motorized vehicles are prohibited except for administrative use. This means you can hike, mountain bike or ride your horse without the nuisance of meeting motorized traffic. Added benefits are the two warming huts, picnic and restroom facilities found along the trails.

When gasoline prices spiked last spring and summer, many hikers, mountain bikers, and horse riders found Fourth of July a cost saving alternative to more distant destinations, where motorized vehicles are prohibited. This use has increased in recent years, but the over twenty-five miles of trails spreads out the users.

There are also a diversity of trails ranging from essentially single track trails to forest roads. You can ride along side by side on the forest roads, if you wish. Once a summer my wife and I ride our mountain bikes into the Peaceful View shelter on a warm evening carrying our dinner with us. A fire is kindled in the fire ring and hot dogs are cooked on peeled window branches over the coals. We enjoy dinner and then the ride back to the truck as the sun sets on a long summer day.

I urge you to try the area in the summer. It is a completely different experience with wildlife viewing and the ever changing beauty of our North Idaho Forests.


Trail Cleanup Day

To make the area more useable this coming spring, summer and fall, we are conducting a cleanup day May 30th. Meet 10 AM at the Fourth of July Parking Lot.

We will be clearing trails of any obstructions and doing a little maintenance on the groomer shelter and Ian's Hut. The trails should be dry by then and the area at its best. Plan on coming out to help us with the work or just to enjoy the area. Have a great spring, summer and fall. We will be back in active communication when the snow clouds gather in late October.


Summer Schedule has been made but NOT yet on the website.

Here are the first two events. The rest to be posted.

Saturday, April 25 -- Rock of Sharon hike (Dishman Hills area). Geoff Harvey Leader ... 762-1246,
Meet 8 AM. Near Jack-In-The-Box - Ironwood Plaza - Ironwood Dr. & Government Way.

Saturday, May 2 -- Gold Hill hike (near Sandpoint). Judy Waring leader ... 765-5378.
Meet 8 AM. Hayden Super 1 near Goodwill truck (or is it a trailer?)


Found Skis.

Van says: A pair of x-c ski's were found at 4th ski area. To identify call Brenda 769-3000.


The Best Hand Fun Ski.

This past year Janice Purdy, Vera Ewing and Betty Schneider bravely "volunteered" to chair the Best Hand Fun Ski and they did a wonderful job. However, we didn't get the press coverage we usually get, due to cuts in staff at both newspapers.

Since this is one of our main ways to generate funds, we thought maybe if we got a chairman very early and everyone in the club thought about the Best Hand Ski all year AND that we either called the press and asked them to do a story (they used to call us) or took out a couple of paid ads, maybe we could generate even more money.

If, when people are going about their business, they see something on sale that would be a good prize--a ski hat, some gloves, a scarf, ski wax, or--even re-gifting. Yes, if you aren't really going to use that $10 gift certificate that your brother in law got for you at Perkins, please donate it to the Poker Ski. If you get a really cool tee shirt from an outdoor store and you really don't need another tee shirt, save it for the Poker Ski.

And lastly, we need a chairperson or people to pull everyone together very early. In past days, the chair used to have to go to the vendors to get donations by himself or herself. Under Jim McMillen's presidency, the club decided that all the members should work to collect prizes from vendors or from private persons wanting to donate or even from club members. If members thought about the Best Hand Fun Ski all year, perhaps there would be several unwanted gifts or gift certificates that members could save for the Poker Ski. With that in mind, it would be really good to have someone step forward to chair this fund raising event for us. Thank you.

Geoff Harvey