Black's Cliff Birch Bark Blog

Excerpt: Lower Kaubashine at -22 this morning. School was back on after 2 days off with windchills going down to - 50. Minus 22 this morning was cold but nothing like the - 50 wind chill from the last few days. Cars started and off to school everyone went Burrrr...... raft and boats under the snow somewhere. Only casualty of... Read more

Excerpt: We had warmer temps for one afternoon this weekend and we decided to take advantage of it and head out on a ski trail. Schlecht Lake trail is 5 minutes from the resort on the way into Minocqua just before Settler's Mill golf. The trails in yellow on the map are lit at night during the ski season and... Read more

Excerpt: Temps last night went down into the mid -20's to 30 below with a windchill of - 50. I get asked what is the coldest temp we have ever seen. That would be about 16 years ago when it was an actual temp of - 40 not counting the wind chill. - 40 is an important temp we learned... Read more

Excerpt: We have had a break in the cold for yesterday and today and fresh snow fell last night. The Gregory crew were not wasting anytime to get out on the trails and enjoy the relative heat wave we are having at a balmy 20 degrees. We are headed back into the deep freeze along with the rest of the... Read more

Excerpt: Time to go snowshoeing. We figured if we were sending so many folks down the trail we had better get out and snowshoe it ourselves, so down the trail we went You find our very quickly that having snowshoes with grippers on is a good thing coming down a hill Down the trail we go with a golden retriever... Read more

Excerpt: The snow has been falling and the cold has been blowing. We have had a couple of day reprieve from the cold temps for folks to get outside and play in the snow and ice Snowshoes have been the name of the game this week with many folks going out to enjoy our blue trail through the woods Snowshoeing... Read more

Excerpt: It was a merry Christmas at the Cliff. Who is under this hat you ask..... in an ugly Christmas sweater..... that will remain a secret Christmas brings out the best in people and our rink had a heart in it carved out of the fresh Christmas snow They would not completely admit it but I believe this is our... Read more

Excerpt: Sometimes you feel like the only one on the lae with a whole lot of snow..... Trying out the leaf blower again on the ice rink. The conclusion to this experiment is that for light snow it works fine but if there is any weight to it, it is not worth it. The old shovel method is the best... Read more

Excerpt: How much snow is on the ground? I think the top of the bird bath is a good measure. It is piling up The ice from the storm a couple of weeks ago is still on the trees with new snow on top. Until we have a good melt the trees will be loaded down. The trails in the... Read more

Excerpt: The Black's Cliff 2014 calendar is finally ready to be ordered. Sorry about the wait. I have it done through Walgreens as usual. I can invite you to see it and you can order it and have it made up at your local Walgreens or delivered in the mail. Through Thursday the calendars are 40% off at Walgreens. I... Read more

Excerpt: Cold December morning but warmer than it has been Wandering down to the lake after days in the house by the woodstove There have been tracks on the lake so time to take the first few steps out on the lake. Checking out the ice, it is pretty rough. We will start getting a rink ready for Christmas. This... Read more

Excerpt: We had a 3 day storm roll through which everyone in the Midwest dealt with. For us it started out as snow, switched to ice and rain and back to snow. The ice came down on the heavy wet snow and weighed down the trees snapping off some limbs. The pines in the front yard took the biggest hit... Read more