Trail Blazerz

About Trail Blazerz

When a December storm swings across northern Minnesota, the wind piles snow into drifts with opinions of their own, and that is when Trail Blazerz goes to work. Storm nights are their element: truck heater roaring, wipers losing the argument, blade dropping again and again until every driveway on the list is open. Bemidji winters run long and unapologetic — snow on the ground for months, cold that makes the pines crack — so the plowing here is a campaign, not an event. Some nights the sky pays them back, the clouds tearing open after the storm to show the northern lights over the fresh white. Clear pavement under green fire: not a bad way to end a shift.