Hillman's road update

[kelly-p]

Hillman's road is plowed clear to 6 miles. Buddy has kept the snow off from it for over 2 weeks now so it has build up a good foundation of ice and is starting to "hump" a little. As usual it is perfectly straight and wide. For now Buddy stopped the road at 6 miles when he found some slush he was not comfortable with. I figure that Buddy has "washed" enough plow trucks in his life that we should trust his judgement. Remember that every inch of slush you are in is an inch less of ice under you.

[harvey lee]

Thanks for the report Kelly.

[Ears]

What is he letting out for vehicles. Coming up to either red or LOW on the 2nd. Have a half ton truck and a 8x20 wheel house. Any ideas on if thats possible???

[Random guy]

A half ton truck and smaller wheel house should be fine on the road. Like Kelly stated Buddy has been working on this road since he could get a four wheeler and a drag on the ice so it has a good foundation and has been kept snow free for several weeks. Good strong and uniform ice on the road compaired the rest of the lake.

Many don't get to see it but Buddy spends everyday working on that road. From staking it out in a the same perfectly straight line it has run for the last few decades, dragging the snow clear so it freezes solid before trucks are even close to going out, even going over it with a fine tooth comb everyday looking for any safety issues. It takes much more to building a good safe road then just blasting out to some fishing spot across the lake at the last minute. Make sure to thank Buddy and the rest of the Hillmans for the month of hard work they have already done before we even begin to start fishing.

[Stan7600]

Thanks for the report ,Kelly. Merry Christmas to all of you! Stan C.

[cookie129]

Yes I would agree Buddy makes a road like no other.

[luv2fish]

Thanks for the report guys. We are heading up and should be there early Friday morning. This is my first year with a wheelhouse, so how is driving off of the road when we get up there? Basic stupid question come to mind, like... Are there outlets plowed off of the main road? Did this last snow hit you guys? How far off the road should I put my house?

If you guys see an Ice castle Eliminator out there this weekend, stop by and say hi. the wife and I will be out there.. her frist trip, got to try to get her on fish to keep her excited about the "investment".

[mr marbles]

Thanx to the Petrowske,s and the Hillmans, thanx lil buddy! for risking your neck again!Merry Christmas to all! p.s. keep them darn seals down!

[ret swabby]

Thanks to Buddy, Jon and Kelly P. for make it safe for all of us. I hope to make use of "Buddy road 1" on friday.

[steeplechaser2]

thanks for the report Kelly...see you tomorrow around 12 to 1pm....merry christmas!

[RiverKarhu]

I went out Saturday evening for a coupla hours on Hillmans road. I have a 1 ton crew cab so left that on shore and took the wheeler. Note there is no sign and no one said I couldn't take a heavier truck out, but I thought discretion was the better part of valor. I assumed it was up to the individual whether or not he wanted to risk taking a heavier vehicle out.

Measured 17" of ice off the road about 25 yards, out about 2 1/2 miles (got too cold on the wheeler to go farther). Had a few guys go by on the road a little fast, which really makes the water bounce in the hole.

cheers

River

[kelly-p]

Hillman's road is now out to 8.3 miles. The first 6 miles have been kept clear of snow for weeks so it has a good bed of ice but the last 2.3 miles were just plowed today. I used our 1 ton (GAS) with a V-Plow today with no problems. Be carefull of the south snowbank as all of the snow from the road, (a lot of snow)was placed there and broke the ice. There was enough snow that we had to cut the road into 15 foot wide strips to move it with the V-Plows.

[RiverKarhu]

Thanks for the update. We are going to take another smash at it tomorrow and come over about 2pm. I'm going to leave the truck and wheeler at home and take the car. It's 4wd, so we should be okay as long as we don't have to go x country. The other guy is going to leave his truck on shore - his wife is a little nervous about riding in anything that heavy on the ice, so I'll ferry them out. I told him just buy a road pass and park 100 yards out. I'm fingering we just pull off on a side road and hike from there. There will be 6 of us so plenty of hp to pull the portables off the road 50 yards or so. We will just avoid the south side and try to find "the" spot. We'll stop in for minnows and the latest update first.

cheers

River

[steeplechaser2]

I think the road is in such good shape that she might come around....when we were up there the 26th and 27th, it looked better than most of the highway we drove on....maybe lump it into the "what she don't know won't hurt her" category, along with bachelor parties, old girlfriends, how much you really spent on your new boat! A friend of mine a few years ago actually told his spouse that the road was part of the highway system...she believed him until they pulled up to the rental house....then, what could she say?

[JBMasterAngler]

I'll be up there this weekend going out of hillman's road, I'm wondering what the rules/ethics code are for parking out there on the ice? Are there side roads or specific plowed out places for parking? I just want to make sure I'm not causing any problems or getting in anyone's way.

[RiverKarhu]

As it turned out, she was able to ride out all the way in their truck. I didn't have to ferry them with the car. Unfortunately I suffered from the Farther Out Must Be Better syndrome and we went out 4 miles on Westwinds road, 1/2 mile at least past the spot we did really well last year. According to the lake map, we were in a nice "bowl" so we thought, hay, structure.........even though the contour lines on the map are only 6 inches, yah never know........

We fished from 3:30 to 9:30, caught 3 fish for 7 of us. All 3 were small enough to keep. I was lobbying to stay 'til 10:30 but got outvoted. Had fun anyway. 13.5 FOW, some were jigging, some were bobber fishing. We lost a couple off the tipups, but just not much action. Got home by midnight, but lost my dang favorite choppers in Kelliher when I stopped by the gas station to check the trailer. Hope they found a good home!

Might go back this weekend, sposedta be warm.

cheers

River

[Random guy]

Well first off don't set up your 16x20 wall tent dead center in the middle of a road. One of those things I wish I had my camera with to prove it. Dead center in the road with plows having to go around them. Amazes me what a person sees on that lake.

JB, Hilmans has all kinds of little off shoots going. I know Kelly cut a some with the V out deep and Hillmans cut some in shallow so lots of room to park. If you do want to park close to the main road try to stay off of it 50 yards or so, it just helps with the drifting.

[kelly-p]

No hard and fast rules. Just try not to set up or park so you are blocking traffic. As we are more comfortable with the ice thickness there are plow trails running all over. This past weekend I saw some people go up to 2 miles cross country with wheel houses. Just have a shovel along as some drifts are big and hard.