Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday with time spent with friends, family, and plenty of pumpkin pie.
Since our last meeting, a solid crew of folks spent several days up at 4th July Pass clearing the ski & shoe trails and setting up our temporary winter shelters.  We are grateful for everyone that participated.  We are ready to kick-off the season just as soon as we get that first big snow.      
Our next club meeting will be held on Tuesday December 3rd at the CDA United Methodist Church.  This meeting will include a social gathering with Christmas cookies and hot chocolate.  Attendees are requested to bring a dozen or two Christmas cookies to share with the group. All leftover cookies will be donated to our IDOT friends who plow our parking lot at the 4th of July Ski & Snowshoe Trails.
Our annual Best Hand fundraiser event will be held on January 4th, 2025.  This event will need volunteers to help set-up & tear-down, staff our card distribution stations, keep the fire going, etc.   I will have a sign-up sheet available at the upcoming meeting for volunteers.  We would greatly appreciate you taking a shift at the event and helping us out.
The Club Board is in the process of gathering prizes for the event from local businesses including: Trek Bike Store, Sport & Ski Haus, Trader Joes, Super #1, Pilgrims Market, Starbucks, Two Wheeler Dealer, Ski Shack, Gear Garage, Moontime, Vantage Point Brewery, Post Falls Brewery, Daft Badger Brewery.  We would welcome efforts by any club members to solicit donations from other stores or even donate an item of your own.
Our Panhandle Nordic Club-Events calendar is also included with this newsletter.  I will also bring hardcopies to distribute at our upcoming December meeting.  If you wish to participate in any of these special outings, please email the Trip Leader, or register via the event sign-up sheet at one of our club meetings.  Once the trip leader has been notified of your intention to participate, further details about the trip and logistics will be provided.       
Do not forget to obtain your annual Park N Ski sticker at any participating retail outlet or order online from idahostateparks.reserveamerica.com
Also please join or renew your membership electronically via our club website at:  panhandlenordicclub.com
Look forward to seeing you all on December 3rd for cookies and hot chocolate!   

Welcome to the 2024/2025 season of our Panhandle Nordic Club. Fall has arrived and we should soon see the snow begin to fly leading to the start of another great ski and snowshoe season.
Our club will hold our first seasonal kick-off meeting on Tuesday November 12 at 6:30 PM:

United Methodist Church
1470 W Hanley Avenue
Coeur d’Alene, ID 83815

Our Club Board recently met on October 22nd to start the planning process for upcoming events and activities for this season. We have thus far set the dates for two of our primary events to be held at Fourth-of-July Pass:

Best Hand Fundraiser: January 4th, 2025
Rock Soup Ski & Shoe Social: February 1, 2025

Please all be thinking of additional day or extended outings for our club members during the upcoming season. We will be looking for suggestions and trip leaders during our November Club Meeting with a finalization of the schedule during our 2nd Club Meeting on December 3rd.

Do not forget to obtain your annual Park N Ski sticker at any participating retail outlet or you can order online for home delivery at: www.idahostateparks.reserveamerica.com. When you purchase your sticker, please select Fourth-of-July Pass-Area 4 as the designated location. This ensures these supporting funds are directed to support the maintenance and grooming activities for our home trail network.
Please also join or renew your membership for our club. This is also critical in supporting the maintenance of the trails and facilities at the 4th of July recreation area and ensuring that the club will endure for many years to come. We strongly encourage you to join or renew your membership electronically via our club website at: www.panhandlenordicclub.com. We would also prefer you pay for your annual membership thru the electronic payment methods available within the registration process. If you wish to be on our email list, please make sure you select the box [Add to PNC Group Membership List] within the registration form. Also, make sure to Key [Submit] after you have completed the form and payment process. Please sign up as soon as you can. It really helps to get the membership list for the year completed early. Thanks again for your support!

​The fall season brings several required preparation activities to the fourth-of-July Trail network. We will soon be looking for volunteers to support two different trail workdays to get things ready for an enjoyable season. Stay tuned for a request for volunteers from our Geoff Harvey. The more the merrier!
If you are in the market for any new ski equipment or wish to sell any equipment please be aware that we have two different ski swap events in the area over the coming weeks:

Coeur d’Alene Ski Swap
Kootenai County Fairgrounds
Saturday November 16 [10am to 5pm]
www.theskiswap.com

Mt Spokane Ski Patrol Ski Swap
Spokane Fair & Expo Center
October 26 & 27 {Sat 9-5, Sun 9-12]
www.skipatrolskiswap.com

Look forward to seeing you all on November 12th to kick-off another exciting season..

2024 Upgrades at Fourth of July


Mid-summer is not the time most Nordic Club members are thinking about the Fourth of July Trail System, but it is the period when the Club and the Forest Service makes upgrades. This summer some upgrades were made. Others are in progress, but will be postponed until after the fire danger abates Volunteer crews have worked to clear trails, remove trash and level a couple gates.
Some may have read in the paper that the vault toilets at the parking lot were replaced with a new improved unit. It is a single structure that houses both the men’s and women’s facilities. As of last Wednesday (July 31st) the parking lot was still closed for ramps to the restroom are still under construction.
The annual assault on the gate and barrier system protecting the non-motorized trails occurred again this spring with attacks on the cement bollards with sledge hammers. In response, additional bollards were cast in place to send the message that such vandalism will be met with larger barriers. We are also working with the Forest Service later this summer to level additional gates that have been pushed down by winter snowpack.


Damaged bollard Larger ten inch diameter recast bollard


The bench shelter at Treetop View has been completed and an additional bench shelter was built at The Benches. The structure at the Benches will require a few additional improvements. The plan is to build benches like the one at Treetop View and place these in the structures at The Benches.


Shelter at Treetop View Shelter and Bench at Treetop View Shelters at The Benches


During the spring and early summer work, crews have cleared most of the trails, while the Backcountry Horsemen cleared and brushed Jannettes Jaunt.

Spring is here and it is time to start thinking about some summer adventures. To begin with I want to remind everyone that our primary goal for the April club meeting is to develop a list of activities for the summer. Hopefully you will be giving it some thought and be ready to offer up some great ideas.
To say the least, the winter season was pretty uneventful for having good conditions at 4th of July. Let’s all hope that the potential for a better snow year in ‘24/’25 becomes more promising next Fall. But there were a few activities that were successful over the past few months. I want to thank everyone who participated in them. Especially, I want to thank the folks that stepped up and organized and led activities. Hopefully you will consider organizing a summer time opportunity that will get folks together to hike, bike, camp or party.
At the club meeting we will also need to take a few moments to address two upcoming items. The first is the election, or approval, of a new president and/or changes in board member roles. To begin with, Scott Gossard has offered to take on the role of President starting next Fall. If approved by the membership, I will step down from that role and stick around to help Scott transition.
Randy Brewer has indicated he would like to step down from the roles of VP/treasurer and WEB manager. Since I signed the Forest Service Special Use Permit and liability insurance policy for 4th of July and the club, it seemed appropriate that I should stay on the board a little longer. Also, like Randy, I am already authorized to deposit or withdraw funds from the treasury bank account. So I offered to take over the treasurer role. So with Randy’s help I will be transitioning into that role next Fall.
But we are still hoping a member would be willing to join the board and eventually take over being the WEB manager. Until then, Randy has agreed to continue taking care of the WEB site for now. But in order to establish some redundancy for the future, Scott and I will start trying to become more familiar with the WEB tasks Randy takes care of. If anyone is interested, I would encourage you to come to the board meetings next year to see how things function. You might find you would like to become more involved.
The second item involves an opportunity to promote the club and, maybe, encourage recruitment of some new members. Mark Staumbaugh with the Kootenai County Mountain Rescue Team has invited the club to set up a recruiting/PR table at their fund-raising event on May 22nd. He will be at next Tuesday’s club meeting and will give everyone more details about the event. The board discussed the offer, and we all agreed that it would be well worth our effort to take advantage of the opportunity. If anyone is interested in joining us, Scott and I will be representing the club at the event. Let us know if you want to tag along.
Finally, for the April meeting will meet again for pizza and beer, or soda pop. After searching around it turns out that the Pizza Factory is still our best option for the final meeting of the season. I have
reserved the group room (i.e. the same one we’ve met in in the past) from 6:30 – 8:00 PM on April 2nd. I would encourage everyone to order before you arrive so we can get our pizzas and drinks early.
Hopefully, most everyone can make it to the meeting. So see you there!

To say the least it has been an interesting winter! Unfortunately the lack of snow didn’t allow 4th of July recreation area to be much of an outdoor escape opportunity this season. But at least, from what I observed, opportunities to hike were taken advantage of by a few hearty folks. But on the bright side, we were afforded the chance to apply the treasury savings to maintenance of the grooming equipment and we should be in great shape to support next season’s grooming program.
Unfortunately, due to weather and snow conditions several of the scheduled winter trip and activity events had to be canceled this year. Although, after “Best Hand” some activities did and still will happen before the season ends. If you missed them: Fish Creek park and ski, Rock Soup, Round Lake and Mckensie Conservation Area events all took place. The group of participants weren’t large (~6-10 folks) but I think everyone got to have some fun and got some exercise out of the events.
But if you still want to try to make it to a winter activity all is not lost. This coming Saturday (March 2nd) Scott is leading the annual trek at Nordman. Hopefully you’ve already seen the announcement he put out. If so, and you are thinking about join him let him know.
Also, Goeff is offering an opportunity to “ski”. He is planning to lead a trek at Lookout next Wednesday or Thursday. So be prepared to hear more about it at the club meeting next week. There might even be a sign-up sheet on the table when you enter the meeting room.
Regarding next weeks Club meeting, there will be two items on the agenda. The first will be the speaker of the evening. Since the hiking season might be heading our way earlier this year I thought hearing about the history of one of the nearby hiking areas might be in order. If you are not already familiar with the “Cougar Bay Nature Preserve” you might want to attend this meeting to hear Theresa Shaffer speak about her recently release book. It provides a good look into how the area was used and developed in past, and how the preserve came to be. It’s good story if you’re into the history of this area.
The second item is Ya-I-Du-Ski/Snowshoe awards. So if you haven’t got your accomplishment sheet up to date, you might want to get it ready for the meeting so Roberta can tally up the “K’s”. If possible, I am sure She would appreciate it if your accomplishment sheets could be sent to her in advance. If you can scan your list, it can be sent to Truscott’s email address shown on the membership list.
Hopefully, even though it has been a lean year for accomplishing many miles of skiing or snowshoeing you will want to take credit for what you’ve done. If you attended Best Hand and Rock soup you should feel obliged to take credit for snowshoe miles even if you just walked. So document your accomplishments and get them to Roberta.
PS – Everyone needs to start thinking about summer time activities. As always the April meeting will be our opportunity to develop the summer list.
See you next week at the club meeting. March 5th, 7 PM @ the Community United Methodist Church.

​Hi All
See below for upcoming XC Ski Outing.  Hope to see you all at this event.
Hanna Flats (Nordman) XC Ski Outing, Saturday March 02, 2024
Meet at 9 AM at the Hayden Super 1( 95 & Kathleen) at the east end of the parking lot.
The Hanna Flats Nordic trails are relatively gentle, in a meadow and forest setting on the west side of Priest Lake.  Several different trail routes and distances are available.  I am planning to ski the route shown below covering approximately 6 miles.

I also plan to stop for a late lunch before the trip home at the Moose Knuckle in nearby Colin, ID if anyone would like to join.

Hanna Flats XC Ski Trails are ~4 miles north of the town of Priest Lake on State Route 57.  Drive time from Hayden is 1hr-45 minutes.  GPS Coordinates (48.5743628, -116.9677147)

Please RSVP to Scott Gossard at [email protected] if you plan to participate.  I can also be reached at (208)-661-9523 if you have any questions.

To begin this month’s letter I want to acknowledge Dwight McCain. Sadley, he recently passed away. Dwight was always a committed participant in club activities and volunteered regularly to help keep the trails and facilities in good condition for all to use. To honor Dwight’s memory the board has agreed that the Skateaway trail, which he used regularly, will be renamed to “Dwight’s Skateaway”.
Please join me in providing condolences and support to Marty during this trying time! There is a “Celebration of Life” planned for Dwight at the Lake City Church on April 18th at 10 AM. Hopefully many of you can attend to honor a great guy.
​Regarding club activities coming up. I want to remind everyone that this Saturday, February 3rd is “Rock Soup”. Cooking of the soup this year will begin at noon. Hopefully it will be ready to serve between 1 and 2 PM and serving will continue till its gone, or everyone has gotten what they want. Bowls and spoons will be available. But if you want to bring your own bowl and spoon, that’s okay.
I want to encourage everyone to come on up. I know there may not be much snow to ski or shoe on, but walking and/or biking might be an option to work up and appetite. The plan is to have a pot, or pots, heating up and ready to poor ingredients into for the soup. This year the only ingredient, along with a broth and water, that will be added will be vegetables (canned, frozen or fresh). So be sure to bring something to added.
For those who want a little meat in their soup, it can be added when you get your serving. So if you’re interested in a soup with more than just veggies, please bring it with you, pre-cooked if possible. But just in case it’s not, there will be a fry pan available for heating it up.
If you would like something more than just soup to eat, I would encourage everyone to bring along other items to munch on. Like snack food or fruit. Also, feel free to bring whatever you would like to drink. Water and hot chocolate will be available, but BYOB is always an option.
There are a couple of other events coming up soon. I hope weather cooperates a bit better to make it possible to still hold them.
The 1st activity in February will be the Round Lake snowshoe hike. I am the leader, and I still plan on doing it on Saturday, February 10th. So I will try to have a sign-up sheet available at next week’s club meeting (Tuesday, February 6th). I’ll see if I can find out if it’s worth bring snowshoes or just rubber boots. I’ll get the word out to anyone who signs up. If the snow doesn’t happen, I still plan to walk it.
The Methow Valley and Newman Lake events are still tentatively scheduled for February. So stay tune for sign-up sheets or messages from the trip leaders (i.e. Nancy Mertz and Geoff Harvey respectively).
See you next Tuesday at the club meeting. If you’re interested in electric bikes, Greg Lewis will be giving us a presentation.

​ROCK SOUP SOCIAL EVENT THIS WEEKEND!!!
Who needs a walk/ ski/or snowshoe in the woods? It's time to enjoy the beauty of the 4th of July trails and forests. The annual Rock Soup event happens this weekend. Meet at the Club Hut on Havin' Fun Trail (1/4 mile up from the parking lot) at 12 noon on Saturday, Feb. 3. Bring something, canned or fresh, to add to our vegetable soup base (surprises welcome) and any drinks or treats that you might want to share. If you want meat in your soup, bring a pre-cooked item to add to your base. The chefs will mix up a delicious soup for us as we take an hour or two to enjoy the trails. All club members and guests, strangers, and friends are welcome!!

​We finally have enough snow to pack and groom at the Fourth of July Ski & Snowshoe Area.  There is plenty of snow to snowshoe, ski and backcountry ski.

Working just before the cold weather descends on the area the crews working today were busy setting up the area and packing ski runs.  The snow machines concentrating on packing the light fluffy snow.  Joined by a Forest Service employee the inner loop trails (Havin Fun, The Swoop, and High Road) were packed, but not groomed.  Trees were removed on all these trails.  Skateaway was packed out to Skywalker and Skywalker down to the trailhead at the entrance road.  Elderberry was packed out to and around Treetop View. 

Don's trail from the parking lot up to Skywalker was packed with a snowshoe track.  Skywalker (FSR 614)  was gated to end any vehicular traffic.  The kiosk, parking lot signing and entrance signing are in place with a few exceptions.  Enough snow was mounded at the base of FSR 614 to block it from wheeled vehicles, but IDT has not piled enough snow at the Havin Fun Trailhead to keep out vehicles, so the large green gate remains closed until likely next week when IDT crews can find time to clear the lot and pile up some additional snow.

Several skiers were up this afternoon skiing the packed trails.  We will not groom over the weekend while we have below zero night temperatures and single digit daytime temperature.  These conditions are waring on both machines and their drivers.  When the cold lifts Tuesday or Wednesday next week, we plan to groom the trails packed and pack the system to the trails further out on the system.

Merry Xmas & Happy New Year! I for one am still hoping that there will be enough snow to ski and snowshoe on before too long. A few of us went up last week to cleared several windfalls that we hadn’t removed earlier. From that trek, I can at least tell you that there was 2-5 inches of snow on the snowshoe trails. There might be a little more after the last snow shower. For the sake of the “Best Hand” fund raiser, and the rest of the season, let’s hope there is a bigger snow storm coming in the future.
Regarding the upcoming fund raiser, Saturday January 6th, hopefully a lot of you are planning to participate. I also encourage you to spread the word to friends that may be interested in x-country skiing or snowshoeing. Who knows, if they join us for the event they might decide to join the club and help support the future maintenance of the 4th of July trails.
At next week’s club meeting there will be a sign-up sheet for volunteers to help staff the “Best Hand” event support tasks. We may still need of eight to ten folks to help. So please be on the lookout for the sign-up sheet on the table as you come in the door of the meeting room.
As usual, several stores have helped support the event with a variety of prizes. But as mentioned before, if anyone is interested in donating items they would be welcomed. If you do, bring them up on the day of the event and deliver them to the prize table at the panhandle hut. Please put your name on the donations so I know who to thank! If you can’t make it to the event, and wanted to donate something, give it to any of the board members at next week’s meeting.
I hope everyone that wanted to stay active with the club has had a chance to renew their membership. If not I encourage you to sign on to the WEB site and fill out the membership form and submit it. It may be the result of a lest the stellar snow season, but according to Randy our membership numbers are a bit down this season. Also if you know anyone who uses 4th of July for recreation, please let them know that if they join the club they would be helping ensure the future maintenance of the trail systems.
As a reminder, there are a couple of other events coming up in January. On Saturday, January 13th Skiing at Farragut State Park with Nancy Lewis is coming up. January 19 and 20th, Nancy is also leading at trip to Fish Creek Park n Ski near Grangeville. On or near the weekend of January 27 and 28th, Jim Mcmillen will be heading to Rossland B.C. If you are interested in any of these trips there may be sign-up sheets on the table as you enter the meeting room next week. But you can always contact the trip leader directly and they would be happy to add you to their roster of participants.
Keep in mind that due to changes in circumstances or conditions, or lack of, trip leaders may need to adjust event dates or plans shown of the recently sent out winter schedule. So it is always a good idea to make sure your signed-up for the event so the leader knows who to keep informed about changes. The WEB site may also be a good source to check to see if changes to scheduled events are being advertised.
The guest speaker at next week’s club meeting (Tuesday, January 2nd, 7 PM) will be Paul Loutzenhiser from FONIT’s. He will fill us in on the trail association partnership the club recently join into, and how
the club may participate and benefit from it. Goeff will also include some details about his role and activities as our club’s representative.
See you Next Week!