Hygge Hike illuminates evening

By CHARITY SMITH

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MONTREAL, Wis. — Numerous colorful ice lights and giant bonfires illuminated the Montreal Ski Trails on Saturday night as hundreds of people snowshoed the trail during the fourth annual Hygge Hike.

The event is a fundraiser for the Northern Iron County Engaged Residents and the Penokee Rangers. Kari Klemme, of NICER, said that 379 people came out for this years event. That nearly doubles last year’s number, she said.

“It was awesome,” said Klemme. She said that the funds will be split between the two organizations. NICER will put the funds into its events throughout the year, and the Penokee Rangers will use their portion to help them continue to maintain the trail.

The event started off with five people for a daylight snowshoe walk in 2018 and has become a popular nighttime snowshoe hike on the last weekend of February, said Klemme, adding they switched to a night hike last year because it is “so much better.”

She said they thought it would be fun and that there aren’t many nighttime trail events.

Klemme said that with the COVID-19 pandemic it was easier to have the night hike and they scheduled it last year around the full moon.

Rebecca Holm, one of the event’s organizers, said that they had a chili cook-off the second year, which was popular, but that had to be discontinued because of safety reasons during the pandemic.

The hike consisted of a 1.5-mile trail loop which organizers lined with homemade ice candles. They were made with food coloring in a bucket of ice. The colorful ice blocks were then placed along the edge of the trail with either flash lights or candles placed inside. A couple of tall, narrow bonfires acted as warming stations, as well as a place to roast marshmallows.

Organizers provided snowshoes for participants to borrow courtesy the University of Wisconsin Extension Iron County office.

Many participants pulled young children on sleds as they snowshoed the trail. Hot cocoa was available at the warming stations along with marshmallows and sticks to roast in the fire.

“It was fabulous, all the lights were exceptional, the stops with the marshmallows were super, and the fires were great,” Deb Holland, told the Daily Globe as she completed the hike. “It was really nice.”