The 'Swamp' - M.B.X

M.B. Start

The fifth running of the the Muggy Buggy 5k and the second running of Muggy Buggy X will take place Saturday morning July 7th.  The Muggy Buggy 5k is a timed classic trail race on the trails around the Winter Park Chalet.  Racers will compete for prizes in 10 year age groupings in this fun and challenging event that begins at 9am.  However, at 10:30am the real challenging event kicks off with the ‘shorter but sweeter’ Muggy Buggy X.  In this case ‘X’ is short for eXtreme.  In other words, the 2.?km course will arguably be the toughest 2.?kms you’ll ever run, but also the most ‘fun’ you’ll ever have over that distance.  The course is packed with serious ups and downs, mud, water, more ups and downs, more mud, narrow twisty stuff, more water, then you get to the ‘swamp’ and then you’re done.  And you do it all for pride and glory.  We have a nice cold shower for you afterwards too!  Sound like fun?!?!?  If you’re a ‘gamer’, it most certainly is!       

You’re race entry fee for either (or both!) will include a commemorative race bandana, and a cold beverage (beer or soda/gatorade) and either a burger or brat at the post race party.  WooHoo!!!

CLICK HERE for more information and to sign up online.

That said, our first event will be on Saturday, July the 7th.  The fifth running of the the Muggy Buggy 5k and the second running of Muggy Buggy X will take place that morning.  The Muggy Buggy 5k is a timed classic trail race on the trails around the Winter Park Chalet.  Racers will compete for prizes in 10 year age groupings in this fun and challenging event that begins at 9am.  However, at 10:30am the real challenging event kicks off with the ‘shorter but sweeter’ Muggy Buggy X.  In this case ‘X’ is short for eXtreme.  In other words, the 2.?km course will arguably be the toughest 2.?kms you’ll ever run, but also the most ‘fun’ you’ll ever have over that distance as well.  The course is packed with serious ups and downs, mud, water, more ups and downs, more mud, narrow twisty stuff, more water, then you get to the ‘swamp’ and then you’re done.  And you do it all for pride and glory.  We have a nice cold shower for you afterwards too!  Sound like fun?!?!?  If you’re a ‘gamer’, it most certainly is!  

You’re race entry fee for either (or both!) will include a commemorative race bandana, and a cold beverage (beer or soda/gatorade) and either a burger or brat at the post race party.  WooHoo!!!

CLICK HERE for more information and to sign up online.

On Thursday, July 19th, things settle down considerably with our ‘Wine Not’?! Wine Tasting Event.  This fundraiser will take place in downtown Minocqua at the beautiful Campanile Center for the Arts and feature wines of the Mediteranean (Italy, France, Portugal and Spain).  The event will run from 6:30pm – 9:00pm.  Click on the link in the Winter Park Calendar of Events in the next few days to get further information and to sign up online.

On Saturday, September 22nd, we will be hosting MWP’s Fall Festival.  Details are currently being worked out, but plan for a fun filled day of activities on the grounds out at the park and a Cookout sponsored by Trigs World Famous Smokehouse Brats.  The last two years we’ve hosted ‘Winter Park Day’, and this festival will be similar.  Expect games, hay rides, exhibits etc. all with the spectacular colors of Northwoods as a backdrop.

Finally, on Saturday, Nov. 3rd, it’s back to the trails at Minocqua Winter Park for the 21st annual Buck Rut Run 5km.  The event’s founder and newly retired Lakeland cross country coach Gary Kmiecik has turned over the race’s reins to Winter Park to carry on this great Fall tradition.  Details and event registration will be posted soon on the Calendar of Events.

We hopefully look forward to seeing many of you before the snow falls again at one of our upcoming events!

Eric T. and the Pisten B.

A trip to the state trails in our area during a major portion of the winter would also tell you that the unbelievable job our grooming crew did this season with that snow made all the difference in the world. Don’t get us wrong, we love skiing the state trails too when they are good. However, the state trails just don’t have the resources in terms of equipment or man hours to work with either ‘just enough’ or ‘too much’ (as we saw in late Feb.) snow. Our grooming crew (Eric, Cory, Dennis, Jon and Barb) was fantastic this year. They work crazy late hours to have everything dialed in for the skiers by morning and rarely are thanked for what they do. If you’d like to send a message to any or all of them, shoot us an email to info@minocquawinterpark.org and we’ll forward it on to the crew.

Beyond the grooming crew, there are many others that deserve a hearty pat on the back. Our volunteers, staff and Board of Directors all worked super hard to make things super easy for all of the Winter Park visitors. It was a wonderful season, and we look forward to seeing you all again next winter, or hopefully sooner at one of our ‘off-season’ events!

Beautiful Day - Beautiful Trails - Beautiful Skiers!

Over 200 skiers participated in the Lakeland Loppet races Saturday at Minocqua Winter Park. Paulette Niemi swept the womens 8K classical and 25K freestyle titles. Jonathan Rulseh fell just short of doing the same, winning the 8K classical and finishing 3rd in the 25K skate. Both of these skiers took home the prized ‘Best of Both’ category and won lodging at the local Black’s Cliff Resort.  Chris Pappathopoulos was the mens 25K champ. The 25K classical titles went to Mark Parman and Eli Gore. In the 8K skate, Evan Patz and Karmen Whitham posted the top times.

Whoooooooooooooooooo!

WTR Wave Start

While there certainly were countless hours of preparation that went into the planning and executing of the first (soon to be annual) Wolf Tracks Rendezvous, Minocqua Winter Park is first and foremost indebted to the weather gods for blessing us with the spectacular blue sky day we had on Saturday.  We’d also like to thank them for the ‘just enough snow’ conditions that allowed the grooming crew to absolutely work magic out on the trail.  The 230 ski racers that entered the race came from 8 different states and Canada, and, judging by the smiles on the faces, they all seemed to enjoy the first running of the Wolf Tracks Rendezvous.

Women's Classic Champ (and great MWP Staffer!) Barb Blow

The 42 kilometer (26+ mile) course featured most of Winter Park’s favorite trails including the formidable Nutcracker and VO2 Max trails.  As challenging as they are fun, these trails, along with all of the others, added up to a race course that offered the ski racers a huge variety of terrain to test all of their skills and abilities.  Comments like, ‘best variety I’ve ever seen in a course!’, ‘most fun I’ve had in a ski race!’,  ’the best course I’ve skied in my 20+ years of racing!’, ‘total riot!’, ‘you guys knocked this out of the park!’….and so on were heard all afternoon after the completion of the race.

All of the results, provided by the good folks from White River Sports and iTiming, can be accessed if you CLICK HERE.

Headlining those results was Men’s Freestyle Champion Adam Swank from Duluth, MN.  We’re honored to have Adam race with us as he has finished as high as 3rd overall in the American Birkebeiner!

Winter Park would like to thank all of the volunteers and staff who were involved in putting on this race.  Without the efforts of these fine folks, the Wolf Tracks Rendezvous would not be possible.  We’d also like to thank all of you fine racers who took a chance and came over to a new race.  Just think, the Birkie started with under 40 racers in their inaugural race.  We had 230, where are we going to be in 40 years!  We hope to have you all come back next year (and bring a friend or two!).

Men's Freestyle Podium 3rd-Andrew Nadler, 1st-Adam Swank, 2nd-Peter Coenen

Women's Freestyle Podium 2nd-Michelle Flanagan-Haag, 1st-Jenna Krueger, 3rd-Susan Tanberg

"Santa & Mrs. Claus" - Ken & Carolyn Aldridge

On December 1, 2011, friends of Winter Park received an early Christmas present, one which will be long remembered. On that day, Ken and Carolyn Aldridge signed papers with the Northwoods Land Trust establishing a conservation easement on their 3,195 acre property -nearly five square miles - including 42Km of ski and snow shoe trails at the core of Winter Park.

A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust to permanently protect a property’s natural characteristics by limiting how it can be used. The land trust is committed to monitoring the land and ensuring that the easement’s terms are carried out in perpetuity.

In this particular case, the Aldridge’s have granted skiers perpetual access to the existing trails and have placed limits on forestry practices, land fragmentation, and development which will keep the land in its natural state and open to the public forever.

3195 Acres Protected by the Aldridges - WOW!

Ski trails now protected include – Base Loop, Tornado Alley, Survivor Windy Ridge, Nutcracker, Nose
Dive, Beaver Pond, Creek Trail, Red Pine, Silver Strider, Sleigh Ride, VO2 Max, Nepco’s Cruise, most of X-C Express and River Run as well as the northern half of Yukon. Much of the newly expanded snow shoe trail system is protected as well.  Regarding those trails, the next step that is being worked on currently is a Trail Management Agreement  that will describe the rights of trail management to be upheld by the Lakeland Ski Touring Foundation.

This is the largest gift of a conservation easement ever made in Wisconsin!  Feature articles have shown up in the Chicago Tribune, The Daily Herald in Chicagoland, and the Milwaukee Journal.