Champaign Ski & Adventure Club Outdoor Adventures December 2025 thru March 2026

[Mike Metz]

To All,   On Dec. 6th,2025  Thanks to some early snow of about 6 in., 11 of us enjoyed some cross country skiing at Buffalo Trace on Rt. 47 north of Mahomet. With a little help, 3 newbies got going and learned to ski pretty well.        On Friday evening Dec. 12,   Anja and I along with Matt and Carole Stuckey went for a 3 mile hike near Jupiters at the Crossing in Champaign [ Windsor & Duncan ] and then had dinner at Casa Margaritas.  On Sat. Dec. 13,  Ginger Hundgren planned a hike at Allerton Park. During the early morning and most of Sat. It was snowing very hard. Anja and I came to join Ginger in case nobody showed up in the rough weather. As we had guessed, nobody showed and Ginger was glad to see us. Anja and I took off on cross country skis and a while later Ginger came along following in our tracks. When we got back to our vehicles, we noticed Ginger was still out in the rough weather. We waited, then she called us, and was glad we were still around. The three of us then went to downtown Monticello and had an afternoon meal. That evening the Greg & Vicki Smith's, had a wonderful Christmas party.      The next day,  Dec. 14,  5 of us went to the Sangamon River Park near Fisher, for more cross country skiing.    On Dec. 24,  Anja and I had a Christmas Eve Party  attended by about 25, at our house in Savoy.         The week of Dec. 26 to Jan. 1st Anja and I traveled to Michigan for a fun week riding our four wheelers [ ATV's ] in a lot of snow. On Sun. before the big snow hit. Anja and I went to Roscommon,MI. for some cross country skiing at a park we knew well. I took one look at the icy ground and said " this looks like a busted butt to me," I will hike.  But Anja chose to ski. We travelled on a loop of 3 and 1/2 miles with occasional hills. Going up the hills I had the advantage as Anja had to take off her skis or do a hard herring bone climb. On one hill going down, our dog Lisa, ran in front of Anja and they both rolled. As we ascended more hills I gained a small lead. I couldn't see Anja but could hear her scraping along. She fell again on one downhill. When we got back to our truck, I had arrived about 200 yds ahead.  Hard to believe that conditions were so rough to slow her down that much.Otherwise she would have beat me by a mile. We had three enjoyable days riding our four wheelers too. Next year between Christmas and New Years, we will most likely go four wheeling again. If anyone else who has four wheelers would like to join us, please let us know. There are hundreds of miles of trail in central Michigan.This trip is not sanctioned by the Ski club.     ON  Jan. 11 th,  11 of us went for an enjoyable hike at Middle Fork Wildlife area, north of Kickapoo State Park.        During the week of Jan. 25-31 Anja and I travelled to Tomahawk,WI. for a fantastic week of snowmobiling. Again, if anyone else who owns or would like to rent snowmobiles, would like to join us please let us know. All of our lifelong snowmobile buddies have gotten old and can't go anymore, Again, this trip is not sanctioned by the ski club.        During the week of Feb.22 -28 we joined other members of the ski club for a great week of skiing at Winter Park, CO.           On March 21 at Sugar Creek near Crawfordsville,IN.  5 of us kicked off our new season of kayak trips. We traveled from just west of Crawfordsville, to Deer Mills red covered bridge just north of Shades State Park, 12 miles. The river was at a perfect level. Lots of fun rapids and very scenic. Now we have 4 good trips on Sugar Creek we can run without the hassle of the rental companies who leave us no where to park.         On March 29th 8 of us paddled the Salt Fork River from Oakwood blacktop to Camp Drake for a short hike. Then we paddled again to the confluence with the Middle Fork by Shangri La. Do any of these trips sound good to you??   Well then get off the fence and come join us. Looking forward to it.           Mike & Anja Metz