A DAY ON BIG LAKE, FLOODING THE TRACK...
A STORY THRU APRIL'S EYES!
Driving down to the lake, all I hear is the crunch, crunch, crunch of the tires as I ease
the car slowly onto the boat ramp. The stillness is amazing... The sun is shining brightly making it difficult to see
with the white of the scenery and the white snow covering the lake. The only way to tell where land meets lake is the
white against the beautiful blue skies. I put on my sunglasses so I can see through the glare, put my
car in gear and drive onto the frozen lake. Windows already rolled down so I can listen, knowing the ice is still
frozen solid if there are no popping or cracking sounds coming from under it.
On this day all is silent on Big Lake. I look across the lake, out towards
the middle and there are already vehicles sitting out on the track.
A track for ice racing!!
As I drive down the plowed ice road I cannot tell it's the lake,
there is
only packed snow on it, the world out there is white out... it's hard to tell
where the turn off is for another road going towards the far shore. Turning
into the pits is marked by a little homemade sign,
bright yellow with
black letters standing out like a beacon in the night.
The only sounds I hear besides my tires on the snow is the occasional
snow machiner racing along somewhere out in the distance.
There are Only three men out there, each at a different spot in the large oval track
plowed into the deep snow. The berms stand at least 4-6 foot tall. Walking is impossible on the sides as I would sink up past
my thighs.
Slowly taking the staging lane to get onto the actual track I stop for a minute
to look..... where it has been scraped you can see the ice.... the thick thick ice with deep deep cracks. You can see for
many feet down into the ice and it makes you wonder if you really need to be driving a car
in the middle of what you boat and fish in, in the summer.
Temperatures today were about 35 degrees, so when I left the house, I
did not wear my boots, instead opting for my tennis shoes, knowing there would be no snow where I would be walking, it would
all be plowed off. I had also left my extra hoodies sitting on my chair at my desk and only wore one layer.... it
was, after all, a really warm day especially with the sun shining so bright, it is hot in the car with the sun beaming in
the windows. No need for the heater to be blasting. And no need for layers to just run into town and back. I hadn't planned
on being there today. It was just a short trip out, fate brought me out of the house for a bit so I drove
to the lake.
In the winter, my heavy duty winter gear.... carhart bib overalls, hats, scarves,
mittens, gloves, heavy duty high snow boots, neck and ear warmers are all in the car 24/7. I just never know when I
may need to stop to either help someone, end up walking cause of a break down, being stuck in the snow or even hitting a moose.
In any scenario, having your winter gear is always the norm when you live in such a harsh climate and in a state where the
weather can change at the drop of a hat. Or in this case you get a
call to go out to run errands and end up somewhere you hadn't
planned on being..... it's always there if it is needed.
All of the men on the lake have made sacrifices to be there on the lake on this
day...... a day that they needed to spend to flood the race track... trying to make it smoother and safer
for all of the team members..... riders of motorcycles, quads, mini bikes and side by sides as they race each weekend. We
all spent the day here yesterday racing. Today it's working on the maintenance and not playing that brings them out.
One comes over 70 miles from the big city to drive out there, another one comes
from the sticks another 60 miles in the opposite direction on his only day off besides race days. The last one comes from
the big city after working and then taking a half day off to be there on the lake to work on the flooding. Each
one of them bringing with them different instruments of destruction.... Shovels, push brooms, 3 ten foot poles with a cement
trowel on the end of it, two big awkward 40 pound honda pumps, rolls of hose, large tarps, and heavy metal anchors to hold
down the tarps as the water runs out of the lake. An ice auger to drill holes in the lake to get the
water out, gas jugs, and one truck has a plow that is put on the front
with a belly blade under it to scrape the remaining
snow off of the track.
Each man has loaded all these things into their vehicles and each
one helps to unload them all. Two get started on the track and the other mounts
the front plow blade.
First comes the plowing......... one jumps in the truck and begins to plow the duff
off of the track from the day before races. Bits of snow and ice chipped away off of the track and blown by the hundreds of
studs screwed into each tire of each racers ride, and a bit of Snow that fell the night before.
Starting at the inside edge they begin... as soon as the first swipe of the plow
truck goes around, and for a time before that, as the plow is being mounted on the truck, the other
two men grab brooms and start to push the layers of the snow powder towards the outside edges of the track.
Then You can finally look down and start to see thru the frozen water to see the
cracks and lines in the ice. It's pretty! And a tiny bit unsettling. You can really see the ruts from where the riders bunch
up in the turns.
I step out of the car and it hits me..... the wind is blowing fairly well and it's
very nippy out. My hands instantly start to burn from the wind chills, my face, hot with wind, and ice burn from spending
all day out in it the day before. I look and none of the men have their heavy coats on but you can tell they are not happy
about it. It's too hard to move and bundle up, and work at the same time. The very first thought that comes to my mind....
''These men are KRAZY!!!!'' Not just your run of the mill crazy... I'm talking KRAZY, racing in the blood, KRAZY!!
Each one has a red face, hoodies on and heavy gloves... one has remembered his rubber
boots, they are thinner than the socks he had on. One had his snow boots on, warmer yet not necessarily completely waterproof
or high enough to keep his feet dry. The other one was like me, in his tennis shoes.... forgetting to tug his boots on
until it was too late and his feet were soaked to the bone. They all turned against the wind when they could.... feeling it
bite through their light weight coats that they had on. I was too thinly layered to even think about standing there too long.
I put on all my gear except the heavy duty tall boots.... my feet would not get
wet, and no need to walk through snow, but they got extremely cold. I was too curious to see what all they went thru
to maintain the track to leave, yet not in good enough shape, back wise, to put on the heavy boots. The heavy winter coat
I threw on was already pinching the nerves in my once broken neck.
I rode for a few rounds in the plow truck while the other two broomed the track,
then for a few minutes, sitting in their running vehicles to try to thaw out their hands, dry their gloves,
and take a much needed break.
Once that was done out come the motors and while one continued to broom the others
set up the motors, laid out the tarp and threw out the hose. I walked over to where they were using the ice auger to drill
about an 8 inch hole in the ice. Fishermen use them to drill holes in the lake to ice fish. (A sport as an Alaskan, I
still just can't figure out.)
I stand there as the auger, taller than the two and about the same height as the
other one, gets started. Two of them hang on it to get the auger to start the hole and once it starts, shaved ice is coming
out of the hole as it inches deeper into the lake ice.
The ice is thick, the hole is deeper than my legs are long.... finally the auger
stops, they pull it out, and I get a chance to peer into the hole right before it is broken completely through. It is
one big thick piece of ice... the hole is over 3 feet deep!! One more push with the auger and out it comes and when it comes
out of the hole up gushes the lake water, pouring out and then just sits there. At this point is where one would, with a mind
like mine, in a cartoon sort of image, you would think the water would become a geyser and shoot water all over
with the lake emptying the lake water out and making the ice a sinking ship. That doesn't happen.
Then comes the hose which is then shoved into the hole, hooked up to the generator
type motor pump and another hose is connected and strung along the middle of the track which sits on top of a tarp that is
weighed down with the anchors. This insures when the water is being pumped onto the lake that there isn't a ditch made in
the ice at the end of the hose and the water spreads over the tarp and onto the track in an even flow.
Once the water starts pouring onto the lake, it's off to the next spot at the other
end of the track to drill the next hole, start the next motor, and start pumping water. As that is being done by two of the
men, the one at the other end is busy spreading and smoothing out the water like wet cement with the long extensions
on the trowel. The water is almost freezing instantly as it comes in contact with the outside air.
As they are beginning to drill out the second hole, they realize one of the
anchors didn't get put into the truck so they use a piece of sonna tube filled with cement with a hole in the middle and find
a piece of rope to tie it to the end of the hose. They toss it onto the track and lay out the tarp. When they turn back
to the hole, the puppy that came along in my car decides it's time to play more games..... after getting soaked and not
liking it, chasing the flowing water from the first hole, and being shooed away from it several times so he don't stick
his head in and getting it stuck in the drilled hole, he decided at this hole, the rope was the toy of the moment... off to
the middle of the track where the deep snow is he runs, ignoring all calls to bring the rope to us!! The one with snow boots
on tries to chase him down as he stands there looking at us all. The puppy waits til he gets close and
he bounces on ahead thinking.. weeeee we get to play keep away. This goes on for a bit and finally he gets close enough to
the puppy and the dangling rope to step on it and grab it. Only now it's turned into a game of tug of war! You can't tell
who is winning at this game..... one step forward and three stumbles back. Finally after watching and hollering for what
seems like 15 minutes or more, (which it wasn't that long) I have to give in and in my tennis shoes and jeans with
no cover I start after the puppy to make him drop the rope. Now my feet are not only cold but my shoes, socks and pant legs
fill up with snow. Who's idea was it to bring the hyper puppy??!! I had to giggle at the sight of it all though!! Then I walk
him to the running car and put him into it. He immediately curls up in a ball on the floorboard to take full advantage
of the punishment given to him for not listening.
Meanwhile the weight is tied off and there is a deep river running through the deep
ruts that the race machines wear into the ice in the corners. It fills out the ruts and grooves first then moves along up
and around the corner before it spills out and onto the higher middle parts of the track. This is when you know
it's ready to be shut off when the track is filled from one side to the other. Once it starts to fill out all it does is run
along the far edges as it is lower than the deepest grooves etched in the ice in the corners. Every little bit the tarp,
heavy with water, hose and weights is moved up and around the corner and sometimes another hole
is drilled... filling in those grooves before being moved again until
all the uneven parts are all filled in.
As this is happening, one by one, the vehicles are moved off the track as the water
begins to run under them. The fresh ice needs a couple of days to set up before you can ride or drive on it to
keep it solid and smooth. The
puppy doesn't budge as I step back out of the car and onto the track
to see the last of the water run onto the lake.
Every once in a while a few snowmachiners will stop and watch the activity, one
man breaks away from the work to let them know what is going on and to ask them to please try to stay off the track. Not only
for the flooding wise but to warn of the 4-6 foot drop from the berms to the track. It's not safe to just wiz across the lake
when you cannot see that there is a track there until you fall into it. Each of them ignoring the reflective stakes, painted
bright orange sticking out of the snow at the edges of it and the bright red ''warning'' tape across the entrance of the track.
It is then that it is realized that this is, in fact, spring break week and weekend.... kids, partys in the pit area and racing
almost everything they have on the track area. This whole thing, this whole day may be worthless unless we get lucky and at
least get a day to freeze up before the hooligans get a chance to wreck it. A thought that crosses their minds for a
minute or two.
Then it's back to the other side of the track and back to work.... the ruts are
so deep that the water runs fast and fills up the grooves and spreads out onto the sides a bit faster at this end. The snow
berms so heavy the outsides of the track are about 2 foot lower than the rest of the area.
I look at the track and can see the last flooding marks made a few weeks earlier,
barely two to three feet wide as the racers have wore away the rest of it. You can barely tell it was done at all if you didn't
know what to look for.
Everyone is dog tired and cold to the bone... one has frozen water in and on his shoes
and the shoestrings are icicles hanging off of them like water from an outside dripping faucet or melting icicles off your
roof.
It's time to load up the instruments of destruction into one remaining vehicle left
on the track and take them to the pit area to seperate into the 2 other vehicles parked there, still with their
engines running and warm air blasting from the heaters within.
They undo the hoses, empty them out and roll them up like a firehose and clamp them
together to get the water out and keep them from freezing up. They load up the engines they use to pump the water... it takes
two to lift them up onto the flat bed. One takes the tarp for a walk to let the water flow off of it so it can be folded into
about a 3 foot square, one takes a shovel and fills in the holes so they won't get fallen into and they freeze up
faster, and the other one checks again with the broom to be sure the
water was spread out evenly.
They are all wet and tired and wore out. It has been about 5 hours worth of work
so far and another hour to load and secure everything.
The sun had long gone as the clouds rolled in from the south, a few hours earlier, and
as it started to set it was not as bright and intense as it was when we got there. Wind chills were dropping even though the
temperatures only fluctuated a few degrees. It was down to 32 by the time we left
the surface of the lake.
They take the plow off of the front of the truck and it's loaded onto the flatbed
and strapped down with the motors, hoses, tarps and shovels. The last of the equipment to get loaded and only ones that have
to be strapped in. They are done. We are back in the pit area where you cannot see the ice and the area is covered with a
layer of freshly fallen snow from last nights storm.
One is Climbing out of his wet heavy gear and into a pair of toasty warm slippers and
warm truck. He is the last to leave the lake...
One talks with another group of snow machiners that stop by to see what we are doing
out there in our vehicles. He is the first to leave the lake. Followed quickly by the flatbed plow truck.
I take off a couple of my coats and ease into the seat that has the warmers in them....
ahhhhhhhhhh........ warm!! My backside warms up alot quicker than my feet. It is too warm in the car but not warm enough to
thaw them out. I turn on the floor heater and the puppy jumps in the seat and sprawls all over the console and half of me
to fall into a deep sleep. (The cat will get some rest tonight!!)
As I turn out of the pits and head towards the boat launch I roll down my windows
to hear the sounds......... crunch, crunch, crunch......... and off in the distance the sound of a snowmachiner!
When I am off the lake, I think of the riders that come up to me on race day and
ask me what is being done about the rough track, I just look at them and tell them that the track is maintained by a crew
of hard working men. I leave it at that!!
It's usually the same ones each time, one other one joins in when he can. With thanks
coming from each other and not one of the enquiring minds. They are never expecting the hoards to come bow at their feet.
To them it's just a part of the deal. Just another day to be able to play on a track that is at one point smooth and
rutless.
That is until our group of two and four wheeled race machines gouge it out
again on race day and the flooding is lined up for next time.
A thankless job in a sometimes thankless world of some of those that have not a
clue that ANY of this goes on or the amount of time, effort and work that goes into it. Others know all too well!!
To you that are on the track......... maintaining it, working your fingers raw,
killing your backs, and freezing in the elements..... I for one THANK YOU WITH EVERYTHING I HAVE.
Watching you work that long in those conditions for a bunch of others so that our
team can play is amazing!!!! All for the fun of the game and no other reason. Not for thanks, not for glory, not for brownie
points...
So Thanks guys!! YOU ARE THE BEST!!
KRAZY
to the bone........ but the best!!!!
April
(Just there to watch, yep.... I am just the witness...... sometimes lol!!)
