Snowfall on chili feeders

Winter snow made a belated showing for the Coeur d'Alene Snowmobile Club's Chili Feed and Fun Run to the Del and Betty Kerr log cabin at the Magee Airstrip last Sunday. The reward for attendees was homemade chili perfected over the years, plus Polish sausage, coffee, cookies and camaraderie.

Attendance was down from prior years because of the low snow season, which hindered use of the Bunco and Fourth of July trailheads, leaving the Fernan Saddle trailhead to bear the brunt of access to the Coeur d'Alene River Ranger District's snowmobile trails.

Unfortunately when the Fernan Saddle parking lot fills up the Forest Service posts signs near the bottom of the hill putting the kibosh on plans of late arrivals.

For years, Kootenai County Commissioners have been invited to attend this event to experience some of the planning and effort that goes into maintaining the snowmobile trails in Kootenai County.

Commissioners Rick Currie and Rich Piazza met Coeur d'Alene Snowmobile Club president Steve Powers, his wife Bev, son Matt and I in the Fernan Saddle parking lot about 8 a.m. where we mounted our loaned Arctic Cat snowmobiles from Edge Performance. Powers also heads Region 1 of the Idaho State Snowmobile Association.

The Powers, commissioners and I proceeded via Windy Ridge down to the Little North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River, up Leiberg Creek, climbed to Stull Saddle, then down to Teepee Creek and on into Magee. Snowpack on the trails varied from 1 foot to 2 feet with a coating of a couple inches of fresh snow.

When a snowmobiling party meets opposing traffic, each rider holds up his left arm flashing the number of fingers indicating riders following him. The last rider holds up a fist showing he's bringing up the rear.

Del and Betty Kerr started hosting the event at their original cabin deep in the Coeur d'Alene Mountains 36 years ago. Since then they replaced it with a beautiful log cabin just off the south end of the Magee Airstrip and their daughter, Tammy Kerr Burnside, has taken over the reins, assisted by Beth Taylor and Jill Jones. Of course, Del and Betty hover nearby for any assistance they can give.

Darrick Johnson of Edge Performance and 5-year-old son, Ethan, along with his Edge crew came in from the Bunco trailhead. This ride was literally child's play for Johnson who will soon depart for Wasilla, Alaska, to ride his fourth Iron Dog trans-Alaska snowmachine Pro-class race scheduled to start Feb. 21. Ethan was excited to try driving his dad's sled part of the way back to the Bunco.

The Powers party returned via Cascade Saddle, Walker Saddle, Horse Haven Airstrip and the Hudlow warming shed.

Coeur d'Alene snowmobile club volunteers cut, split and stack firewood for each of three warming huts every summer to serve snowmobilers over the winter. Warming huts at Hudlow, Skitwish and Magee were also built by snowmobile club volunteers.

Two families were visiting amiably when we arrived at the Hudlow warming shed and we joined them for awhile before completing our outing by way of Burnt Cabin Summit.

Back in the Fernan Saddle parking lot, Commissioner Currie declared snowmobile conditions to be the best he'd ever seen. It was warm enough to be comfortable yet there was a layer of fresh snow on a decent base.

Bev Powers declared that we'd traveled 74 miles since departing that morning, which is just a fraction of the available snowmobile trails in the Coeur d'Alene Ranger District system.

"There are 350 miles of trails in Kootenai County plus 60 miles in Bonner County and another 90 or so in Shoshone County for a total of around 500 miles that we groom," Del Kerr said.

"The trails have held up remarkably well for as little snow as we've had," said Dave Bonasera, Kootenai County Snowmobile Program director of operations.

Bonasera is helped by Dale Adickes, Al Beauchene and Noel Kimball, who are longtime volunteer groomer operators.

The morning of the chili feed, Bonasera and Kimball had left from Fernan Saddle and Beauchene took his groomer in from the Bunco.

"We travel around 6 mph and it takes five hours to get into Magee," Beauchene said. "It will be five hours getting back on a different route."

Sponsors who helped cover the costs of the event were Edge Performance, Specialty Recreation, Cannon Hill Industries, Cascade Lodge, Jifi Stop Stores, Happy Hermit Resort, River City Yamaha, Coeur d'Alene Polaris, Helmet Outlet USA and the Coeur d'Alene Snowmobile Club.

Proceeds help support the Kootenai and Shoshone county's snowmobile programs and area snowmobile clubs.