​Best Hand XC-Ski & Snowshoe Fundraiser
Event January 4th, 2025
Registration Begins 10:30 am Raffle Prize Drawings 1:30 pm
 4th July Pass Winter Sports Area-Exit 28 off I-90
 (Free Ski Day for State of Idaho, no parking passes needed)
$12(adult)/$5(under 13)/$25(family) cash or check only
Ski or snowshoe to collect 5 cards for a poker hand
Raffle prizes donated by local businesses & club members
Sponsored by Panhandle Nordic Club
Website: www.panhandlenordicclub.com Facebook: Panhandle Nordic Club
All proceeds support maintenance and ski trail grooming of 4th July Pass Winter Sports Area

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.

​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.

Date:  Jan 28, 29, 30
Lodging:  Sure Stay Best Western
Price:  10 rooms are reserved each with 2 full size beds at $157.49 CN
or around $100 US per room/night.
Contact:  motel 250-362-7364 or 833-362-7364 and say you’re with the Panhandle Nordic Club from
CD'A to receive the discount.
Travel Time:  4 hours
Amenities:  microwave, small fridge, lunch room, hot tub

Make your reservation by the end of Dec to secure a room reserved by the club.  There may be rooms available in Jan for the same price, if there are vacancies.  Must be a club member to participate.

​Contact Jim McMillen 208-755-2575 for info.  Text is better if I don’t have your phone# or leave a message.

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.