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.