St Croix 40 Winter Ultra (Part 2)

Saturday December 7th, 2024

After getting back from my first run yesterday, I worked on solving the sled issue. Found a pool noodle and secured it to the front of the sled. This worked really well!! When the sled bumped into me, it hit my heels/shoe instead of the back of my ankle and was much more gentle. When I get home, I'll add some washers/grommets to the foam to make it even more secure. 

I also wanted to figure out how to shave off some water boiling time as 26 minutes was too long! All the research I had done on this type of system had water boiling well under that time. I found some tin in the rafters of the cabin garage. Took some tin snips to it and fashioned a "canister" that I can pop on and off. It's lightweight, waterproof, fireproof and worked really well!! 

Pool Noodle Bumper

It snowed last night and we had some freezing rain which resulted in about 3" of snow and 1/4" of ice glaze on top. Very crunchy snow today compared with the light fluff from yesterday. I had no idea what to expect on the trails. It was also significantly warmer today by nearly 20 degrees, hovering just above freezing. I wore one less layer on bottoms and 2 fewer layers on top and went with a lightweight jacket instead of my warm one. When I first headed out, of course it was drizzling freezing rain! Went back inside and added a rain jacket over everything and headed back out again. The rain thankfully didn't last long. 

I hadn't plowed the driveway, nor was Voyageur's Point plowed. The main trail was plowed. When I got to the Old Gunflint, a vehicle had also made its way through the unplowed road. I was able to walk in the channel the tires made with very little effort. The tire tracks actually went beyond the turnaround point which gives me hope for tomorrow as I plan to tackle the campground again!

Tin Wind Protection

Today, however, my focus was the boat landing. Fortunately, a vehicle had also made its way down there oddly enough. I happened to pass them on my way in and was shocked to discover the vehicle was an old mini van that definitely didn't have AWD! How they made it through the 8-10" of snow and ice is beyond me, but I was grateful for the path they provided. 

When I got to the boat landing, I stamped out a place to build my fire in a protected area. Pulled out my camping pad to kneel on to keep my pants dry. Using the tin wind barrier worked great and I only needed 1 tablet (yesterday I needed 2). Water boiled in under 9 minutes, but I let it go a bit longer just to be sure. While I was waiting, I sat on a duffel bag and put on my ice spikes as the tire tracks made the snow particularly slippery. I didn't take the time to make hot chocolate, even though I remembered to bring some this time. Maybe tomorrow! Since I was wearing the spikes, I was able to slowly run most of the way from the turn back to the cabin. 

Overall moving pace today was 15:03, but adding in stoppage time, I'm going with 19:47. Cutting down on water boiling time was huge! 

NEXT TIME: Tomorrow I plan to head back to Iron Lake. We're not supposed to get any precipitation tonight and the storm that is coming tomorrow likely won't be too bad until afternoon/evening so I hope to get out earlier than I have the last two days. I don't think I'll do anything differently than I did today. On my feet, I had regular gaiters and I also tried my Kahtoola gaiters for the first time. I will put my ice spikes on right away so I don't have to stop and put them on as I assume everything will still be icy tomorrow. I might pack a bit more of a "lunch" along with my hot chocolate.