Winter 2008

January 28, 2017 Sooley Cabin Day Trip: (14 Photos)

14. A couple days after our Blizzard mother nature crapped all over us once again and delivering 40mm of rain and mild temperatures to the East Coast. Thankfully it didn't completely ruin the snowpack. With temperatures falling we headed to the Sooley family cabin to clear the driveway in preparation for the upcoming Annual Winter Trip before it froze solid.

13. With three Snowblowers and a large can of gas loaded aboard my pickup we headed out the highway to Whitbourne and got to work. There was a consistent 12-18" of snow on the laneway and about half that on the parking lot.

12. Sooley promptly broke his Yardworks blower so Maffer and I continued on with our trusty Hondas while Sooley fitted the plow onto the Honda Fourtrax.

11.

10. Plowing worked very well on the parking area as there was a layer of ice covered by a layer of old hard snow. The plow quickly scraped up this snow over the smooth ice surface without much trouble or strain on the bike.

8. Job done, laneway and parking lot clear!

7. With our primary job complete we got the two Sooley family sleds running and headed down to the pond to check ice thickness. We tested the ice all over the pond especially in the known trouble areas and found a consistent 10-14" of ice in all areas. This is great news for the upcoming cabin trip.

5. Nalcor, the provinces energy company, is building a new transmission line across the island. It follows close to the existing transmission line into St. John's and will carry power from Muskrat Falls in Labrador.

4. Unfortunately this clearing of land also includes a new gravel road which has really opened up relatively secluded backcountry which is both a good and bad thing. It's very convenient for travelling over, allows easy access (even for a standard car) for many more people than previously, the old transmission line was only accessible on foot, snowmobile or ATV.

3. It was a beautiful afternoon in Highwaters, both of the old sleds are running great, even the old Enticer II hasn't disappointed us yet!

2. Quick vid of snow plowing, some Snowblower action and Sooley water swimming - not skimming!

1. With daylight coming to a close we loaded up the truck and headed back to town to eagerly await the big trip in a couple weeks time.

Cheers, MIKE