Hi, all!
On the schedule we have an outing to Farragut State Park next weekend. A short synopsis for your perusing:
Meet at Hayden Super One parking lot, east side, at 8:45am, if you wish to carpool out to the Park. We will leave at 9:00am to drive the short 20 minutes out to the Visitors Center parking lot in the park. If you do not want to carpool, just meet us there. You will need a parking pass; if you did not buy the annual pass, you can buy one at the Visitor Center that day($7 Idaho resident, $14 non-resident). This is NOT the Park and Ski pass, but a State Park Pass.
Depending on the conditions, we will break into groups and decide what we want to do. It is always best to go into the Visitors center and buy a current trail map ($1-2) as the trail system is tricky,and get a winter activity map. Often on the weekends the trails from the Visitor Center are crowded. I myself prefer the North Side Fat Bike trails that start from Thimbleberry parking lot, just a short half mile up the highway from  the Visitors Center. Those trails are multiple use for skis, snowshoes, bikes and dogs. Often there is not a groomed track at Thimbleberry; if that is important to your skiing, you will need to use the Visitor Center trails.
Now, about the conditions......Right now there is not enough snow for skiing, but the forecast holds out a little hope for fresh snow this week. So we will just have to wait and see. I usually bring my skis, snowshoes and walking cables, just so I'm ready for whatever. 
We will recreate for 2-3 hours and then, for those who are inclined, we can go down to Bayview and have a nice meal at the Captain's Table restaurant.
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Anyone else who would like to join, please contact me at: Nancy Lewis gnranc@gmail.com 208-451-4649

Thanks all,
See you out on the trail!!
Nancy L

Pine Street woods is part of the Kanisku Land Trust project and is located 3.5 miles west of downtown Sandpoint. There are about 7 kilometers of trails the offer both snowshoe and groomed cross country ski trials. There about 4 K of ski trails that are mostly easy skiing.

I would rate the snowshoe trails as moderate to moderately hard. The area is fairly low elevation and snow conditions can deteriorate with warmer temperatures. I will provide snow conditions the week of the outing

We will meet at Super One parking lot in Hayden near the east side of the parking lot at 9AM. There will be a sign up sheet at the January club meeting.

Betty Schneider
​208-659-7426

Found on Fourth of July Ski Trails
A pair of Head Ski Gloves. These appear to be for a small hands perhaps a woman’s hands. Contact Geoff Harvey 208-762-1246

Round Lake State Park snow shoe hike Jan 14, 2023 1.8 mile loop considered easy level terrain. Meet @ Hayden Super One Parking lot 8:30 am Leader/Contact Don Garringer (donaldgarringer@gmail.com) phone 208-819-2778

The Nordic Club’s most venerable snow machine is Alice. The 1985 Skidoo Bombardier was dubbed Alice by long time groomer, Van Bennett, but the machine’s history with the club goes back much farther than even Van’s service. The Panhandle Nordic Club was about to take over grooming of the Park N Ski Area in 1990, but had no snow machine to accomplish the work. The State of Idaho gifted the club with Alice to fill the need. Alice went on to groom the area for twelve years until an eighteen-year update of the Bombardier was added to the club’s snowmachine fleet. Willem Huender, his son Spenser, and Van Bennett coaxed and cajoled Alice, holding her together with clamps and baling wire to make the rounds at Fourth of July. With the addition of a third snow machine in 2012, Alice was effectively put out to pasture, called to duty on occasion to groom the odd golf course, but typically kept stored in the Forest Service’s Fernan Station bone yard.
The current season has been a challenge. Early wet snow brought down many trees across the ski and snowshoe trails and a subsequent heavy snow added to the bounty. To make matters worse, the newest snow machine suffered a failure in its electronics that will require a couple weeks to cure. We were down to one machine when we need two. Alice was called up. Of course, she had not budged from her birth in the boneyard for three years minimum and to add to the insult, the old gas poured into her tank contained an over-the-limit ration of water. After a couple days of tender loving care that included drying her out, replumbing her gas lines, and more than a few carburetor adjustments, John Lee managed to bring the old girl back to life. Saturday, Alice rode to the rescue grooming the inner core trails at Fourth of July, while her newer cousin was off on a tree cutting expedition.

​Those snowshoers and non-groomed trail skiers who use the snowshoe hut for a rest during their outings at Fourth of July will find a welcome addition to the hut: a new stove.  Using a propane tank, some additional materials, his welding skills and following internet instructions, Greg Lewis fashioned the new stove.  The hut was set up on Wednesday, December 1st and the new stove was both installed and tested.  Unlike the old unit that hugged the ground and was hard to operate, the new stove stands tall, making fire building easy.  Its capacity is small for a reason, so fires do not get too large for the hut, however it warms the hut nicely.  Currently the stove door must be kept open for it to draw. Greg has a solution for that problem with a damper design, but we will not get it in this year. There is kindling in the in the plastic box and we’ll try to keep the hut “wooded up”, but keep those fires modest and enjoy the heat.