Hope everyone is hoping for lots of snow! So far it’s been less then encouraging. But the good news is everything is in place at 4th of July, so that when the snow gets here the skiing and snowshoeing will be great. Keep your fingers crossed.
For those who really enjoy snow shoe opportunities, there is a new route you might be interested in. A loop has been created off of Jeannettes Jaunt. Skip probably will have signs placed on the intersections before too long. But for the moment if you want to test it out, once we have enough snow, you may need to look for snow shoe tracks that take off from Jeannettes Jaunt down the hill toward the freeway. The loop involves a little uphill and downhill travel, and might be considered moderately difficult. You would need to be your own Judge!
At the next club meeting the main agenda will be generating the list of winter activities and getting them scheduled. I hope everyone has been thinking about some ideas. Jim Millen already asked me to make sure that a ski trip to Rossland B.C. gets on the list. So we have a start.
Speaking of activities, hopefully most everyone is aware that on the WEB site there are trip leader guidelines, sign-up forms and other helpful info to assist folks you volunteer to lead activities. If you aren’t familiar with where to find these documents go to: Home page/More (on the tool bar)/Member Page (on the drop down)/scroll down just pass the volunteer form/ you will see Trip Guidelines, trail classifications, sign-up templates, etc. etc. FYI – thanks to the efforts of Katie Stubblefield the trip related documents have all recently been updated. Take a look.
In addition to creating the clubs winter activities list, I want to remind everybody to bring some cookies. It is the annual cookie exchange (cookie party) for members, that in the end provides leftovers to be given to the IDT plow operators to thank them for keeping the parking lot plowed. So don’t forget to bring homemade or store-bought cookies for all to enjoy.
Planning for this year’s Best Hand ski and snowshoe event begins this month. As usual gathering up the prizes for the event is a big task. The members of the board will be busy checking with 2-Wheeler Dealer, Ski Shack, Fitness Fanatics and other locations for donations. Efforts by anyone who wants to help out by checking with other stores or donate items is certainly welcome.
The event always needs volunteers to help set things up or staff card distribution stations, etc. So when the requests are made and the lists for volunteers come out this month please consider helping out.
As a reminder, If you hadn’t picked up a Park and ski sticker yet, make sure your payment specifies that it is designated for AREA 4.
Also if you haven’t gotten around to renewing your membership or know someone who might want to join please keep the following in mind or share it with others:
1) Personal information entered on the club mailing list is populated from the membership form, the membership form on the Nordic club WEB site must be filled out electronically to make this happen.
2) If you wish to have your information added to the membership list you must check “yes” in the box in the lower right corner of the form “Add to PNC Group Membership List”. Please make sure to Key “Submit” after you have completed the form.
3) Payment of dues, can be done either electronically (preferred method) or manually (mailed to the club PO Box 2583 Hayden, ID 83835). Keep in mind, you must still submit the form electronically to be included on the mailing list and/or membership list. If you have questions, forward them to Randy Brewer via [email protected].
Please sign up as soon as you can. It really helps to get the membership list for the year completed early. And this year Roberta Truscott will be making up name tags for those on the list. She can’t really get going until the list is pretty much complete. 
Thanks again for your support!
See you Next Week!

As you may have noticed the weather is beginning to change. With any luck it is the beginning of a good skiing and snowshoeing season.
The club will continue to meet this year at the United Methodist Church at the intersection of Hanley and Ramsey Road. The club meetings will begin at 7:00 PM. As always, we plan to continue meeting on the first Tuesday of each month, through April. COVID is still with us, but at least it is not considered to be as significant as it had been for the past few years. But I would encourage everyone to continue to use safe practices to avoid unnecessarily spreading it, or the flu, to others at the meetings.
For the first meeting of the year, Pat Hutchins from 2-Wheeler Dealer, will be presenting examples and info about new winter sport equipment available this year.
Recruitment of new members is one of the main focusses of the board this year. At the first board meeting it was agreed that the club should try to offer an event designed to attract family participation. The current idea is for the club to offer an opportunity for parents and their children be to introduce to winter activities. Initially the event will be focused on snowshoe hiking. So you will be hearing more about this in the future from Katie Stubblefield and Scott Gossard. They will be taking the lead at working with local organizations or groups to facilitate assistance and support in getting families, or individuals, to participate. Our hope is, that if our members can make contact with non-members through this type of activity that some will join the club and keep their children involved. Which in turn may help ensure the future of the club, and its ability to continue providing groom trails and warming facilities.
The board also started talking about activities for the coming season. We have agreed that the “Best Hand” Poker Ski & Shoe, and the Rock Soup events will be held again. But to get things in the works for the future the main topic of Decembers meeting will be to review activities that have occurred in the past. The objective will be to assess level of interest, establish leaders for planning and coordination and to establish schedules if possible. So start thinking about trips and other types of activities for the future planning discussions.
If you hadn’t picked up a Park and ski sticker yet, there is a new development that you should be aware of. We have learned that the State has apparently discontinued the use of AREA 11 as the area that 4th of July is in for reimbursement of the funds to the club for the grooming program. It is now AREA 4. So when you pickup a ski and park sticker for this season, make sure to specify that it be designated for AREA 4.
As reminder, since it is the beginning of another season the need for folks to renew their membership or join the club is critical to supporting the maintenance of the trails and facilities at 4th of July recreation area. I want to thank everyone who stuck with the club in 2022 and hope you will renew your membership in 2023/24.
When renewing or joining for the first time, we want to make sure you get onto the club mailing list and Membership list. To ensure that your information is entered on the club mailing list, the top of the
membership form on the Nordic club WEB site must be filled out electronically. If you wish to have your information added to the membership list you must check “yes” in the box in the lower right corner of the form “Add to PNC Group Membership List”. Please make sure to Key “Submit” after you have completed the form.
Payment of dues, can be done either electronically (preferred method) or manually (mailed to the club PO Box 2583 Hayden, ID 83835). Keep in mind, you must still submit the form electronically to be included on the mailing list and/or membership list. If you have questions, forward them to Randy Brewer via [email protected].
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!
PS – Goeff Harvey may be looking for volunteers in the near future to get the grooming equipment sheds and snowshoe warming hut up. If you have the time to help when requests go out, please let Geoff know. The more the merrier!
See you Next Week!

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.