Cold months make students bundle up for winter activities
The drought seems to be ruining Logan’s winter. Usually after school, students could bundle up and head for the snow; unfortunately, it just seems to be brisk and cold outside with no sign of snowflakes.
If snow blankets the town, students could use the powder to build snowmen and snow forts or igloos. At many local stores, sleds are available for purchase and students can gather at Old Main Hill for sledding.
There are approximately 14 ski resorts in Utah alone, including the Beaver Mountain Ski Resort located in Logan Canyon. These ski resorts provide slopes perfect for downhill and telemark skiing, and snowboarding. The Beaver Mountain Ski Resort also offers night skiing and a new tubing hill with a rope tow.
The Outdoor Recreation Center (ORC) offers rentals, trips and other programs to those affiliated with USU. Every Thursday, weather permitting, the ORC plans to groom a ski track on the HPER Field and provide free cross-country skiing and snowshoeing events, Kevin Kobe, director of the ORC, said.
Along with providing a full line of winter equipment to rent, the ORC also promotes and sponsors weekly and monthly trips. The multi-day trips are once a month and include one to two nights out with a group.
“It is a chance for students to get out and meet people,” Kobe said.
Each week the ORC sponsors day trips, usually every Saturday. Coming up on Saturday, Jan. 18 the ORC trip will be snowshoeing under the full moon.
“[The trips are] a cooperative venture … everyone needs to help out to make the trip a success,” Kobe said.
Trips to the Yurt seem to be among the most popular of the ORC.
A yurt has a lattice wall covered in material and sits on a circular floor. Traditional yurts use animal hide as material. The most common materials are canvas and vinyl-coated nylon. Rafters sit on the lattice and slope upwards as a skylight, and material covers the rafters at a 30-degree slope, according to www.usu.edu/orc.
Students either snowshoe or cross-country ski to get to the Yurt, which can be reserved and is located four miles up from the Blind Hollow Trailhead.
Free Avalanche Beacon clinics are also available through the ORC. Students can learn winter safety measures and can prepare for winter hazards.
The George S. Eccles Ice Center, Cache Valley’s new Olympic-size indoor ice rink, provides ice skating and hockey classes. Students can also enjoy ice skating on canyon reservoirs and in the valley on the marsh, Kobe said.
The Hyrum Lake State Park, a 450-acre man-made reservoir, which provides year-round fishing, and other local reservoirs are places for ice fishing.
Howard Anderson, a salesman at Al’s Sporting Goods, said he enjoys ice fishing above other kinds of fishing.
“I only fly fish and ice fish, because both are more fun than regular fishing,” he said. “There is just something about being out on ice with some friends and some treats.”
He said a few of the best fishing spots in the Cache Valley area are Hyrum Reservoir, Newton Reservoir and Porcupine Dam, the latter of which is already covered with four inches of ice.
“You can usually walk on two inches, but I wouldn’t,” Anderson said. Sometimes there are flows in the ice and a fisherman could fall through.
Each of the reservoirs provides good fishing for trout and perch.
“Sometimes you can even catch a good salmon, if you’re lucky,” he said.
Anderson said some of the best bait to use while ice fishing is and ice-jig with some meal worms to attract the fish.
“We have always had a lot of success while ice fishing,” he said. “I don’t know, maybe we are just lucky.”
According to John A. Vance on www.oxford.net/outdoors/, local sporting stores may provide ice-fishing rentals including an ice shanty. An ice shanty is somewhat like a wooden hut, which is placed over the ice. People drill holes into the ice and fish from inside.
An ice shanty allows a person to get out of the sun, wind and cold and allows the person to fish longer, Vance said. Mobility is a major disadvantage to using a shanty.
Ice fishing requires preparation and safety precautions. People must dress warmly and be equipped with an adequate ice fishing tackle (rod/reel) and bait and also know how large to dig the hole.
In the cold winter months, students do not have to be shut-ins, sipping hot chocolate and turning up the heater. There are a variety of winter activities available for student interaction and enjoyment.
–klm@cc.usu.edu