Morning Jaunt

I went to Wildcat Mountain State Park earlier this summer in the middle of the week and found the place crowded with campers.

Fortunately not a lot of hearty souls were out on the the furthest part of the trails. I took side trails to keep from running into the mini hoards of people. This time was different.

There was one other vehicle there with a motorhome. They were bow hunters taking advantage of the open section of the park. The hiking trails are closed to trapping and hunting which is part of the reason I chose to take Charlie and enjoy a nice long walk in nature on nice trails.

My goal was to figure out how to hike to all the lookouts. I parked near the Ampitheatre area and took the shortcut to Taylor Hollow Lookout. From there I decided I'd just hike the Old Settler's Trail.

I brought along my little pocket camera that shoots infrared, this 'brown' season is great for black and white. Charlie and I are at the trailhead to Taylor Hollow Lookout.

Below, view of the stairs that lead down and around the rock. I am standing on top of the rock. Charlie is peering over the edge and surveying the landscape.

Next shot...See Charlie leading the way down the 'stairs'?

He loves trails, he loves hiking and like most dogs, he loves to be in the lead.

And there is always a rock to explore and pee on.

We hiked the first half of the trail down through the old pine plantation. We didn't run across anyone but saw a lot of tracks from weekend hikers. It was cold and breezy so I didn't expect to find many people out.

Charlie is wearing his long piece of rope which I can step on when I want him to stop or I use it as a leash when we see other people.

We did run across some Foresters working on some trees. There was a sign on the trail to 'forgive the mess' as the foresters cleaned out the diseased trees. 

There were six guys with chainsaws. We had to walk right past them so of course I had hold of Charlie and we stopped to say hello.

The Foreman asked if they could pet Charlie. Of course. 

I let him go so we could keep our distance and Charlie was surrounded by big burly guys in hard hats and chainsaws who all knelt on the ground to pet him. Oh Charlie was in heaven! His whole body vibrated with happiness and the tail circled and slapped overtime.

They thanked me and we were on our way again.

I had a notion as we went around a rocky formation that if I climbed up to the top I could shortcut or see out over the forest at least. 

The trail is built to do a serpentine through a valley and around a rocky ridge top.

We scrambled to the top and I was surprised to find that the parking lot to the other trailhead to Old Settler's Trail was right in front of us.

We could scramble back down to the trail we just left...or....

Explore.

My Trail Boss voted for Explore.

By some wicked chance, we found the Hiking/Cross Country Ski trail. I'd skied it in the winter, but it wasn't really on the hiking trail map. The confusion is this...the trail is for hiking and skiing but is only shown on the winter ski ridge map. 

I'm one of those people who like to walk/hike a trail and study the topo map to figure out exactly where I am and where I want to go.

IF I'd paid attention to the signs where I had parked, I would have had a clearer picture of how to 'find' the ski trail. 

Start. Hmmm. I'm not exactly sure what the red and white sign is on top of the post.

But I do recall that every year they have a cross country ski challenge on this section of Wildcat and this must be the start!

Well. Let's just say I figured out exactly where I will park next time and enjoy the 6 mile jaunt to the lookouts. 

Charlie and I ended our outing with a picnic in the back of the Subaru, out of the wind and in the warm sun. Dog cookies, PB&J, water, and an apple.

Dear Dad

Thank you so much for those skis you gave to me before you moved to Virginia.
I set them to the side in the large shed to 'do' something with them after I got a pair of proper cross country ski boots.

Well, a few years went by and I sort of forgot all about those yellow skis. Then my interest in cross country skiing peaked again and I grabbed those skis and had new bindings put on. I'd purchased some back country skis that were shorter and wider for breaking trails.
But somehow they didn't satisfy my want for those long strides and glides.

Those Epoke 1000's did the trick.
Today I did my first long trek in years. And nothing beats a pair of good ol' fashioned Nordic skis. In fact...Vintage Skies!

Dad you would have laughed when I decided I could go down a hill and make a quick turn and go over a culvert. Um. I ended up on my ass in the snow on the other side of the culvert. The Vintage skis don't have the edges for turning like the newer ones. But I didn't mind as I was never great at that anyway and I wouldn't trade these skis in for anything.

I finally got on a good track and then those skis really performed. Long strides, long glides, lots of boot slapping lift. Just me, blue skies, puffy clouds, and the swish of skis through the bright afternoon.

I had the place to myself which allowed me to comment aloud to you how cool this was and how you would like the trail. And... how much I missed you.
Glide glide glide...slide.

All that beautiful snow and 9 miles of groomed trails.

"Dad you would like this place. We could go skiing on a full moon night like that time we went around Half Moon Lake." 

I stopped at Star Valley. My 'map my walk app' had told me I'd gone about a mile and a half.
I still had to keep track of my time. My goal was to do about 6 miles, but my legs were telling me that 4 would be good.

"Look at that Dad! Wouldn't we love to take this and break our own trail?"
That was not Dad's favorite thing to do, but I would have gone first.

"Dang it. I miss you. And I think you would absolutely love this place in the winter."

I doubled back and headed out towards the partially built dam. I know the ski trail went around it and rejoined the Old 131 Trail.

The 'tick tock' of the clock said I needed to get home and get ready for chores and make supper.
I took a side trip through the woods and then stopped in my tracks.

I simply was enjoying myself too much.

Vintage yellow skis
Memories of my father
Trails of fond places

Love it. X-Country Skiing.

Here I am trying to explain to Charlie that he isn't quite up to going on a cross country ski adventure.
He sat on the couch and gave me that look.
Sorry Charlie.

My neighbor had emailed me and we'd talked about going skiing together on a trail. Would a day that her youngest was at school work?
I checked my schedule when I got home from CrossFit and texted her that 'Today will work if you are able..."
I received a text back and it looked like it was going to work out as an unplanned quick get away.

I packed a few power bars and some water, an extra pair of gloves, a wind breaker, extra dry socks, and the emergency space blanket. I took the old handwarmer packet out of the plastic zip lock bag and stuck it in next to my pocket camera.
I was ready.

And then we were off! I'm on the right with sweat pants over my warm tights. I have a pair of soft tights on underneath.

And off we went...well. We first did the black trail as shown on the screenshot below. Since it was the first time in a long time since I'd skied, I wanted to get a feel for things.
And I went the wrong way...

So once we did the black loop we headed off on the red trail. I had no idea how long it would take us.
Lauren had to be back to pick up the kids for soccer practice.

The trail had been packed but not groomed yet. So we blazed our own tracks. This is my favorite picture from our adventure...

Yes I edited it to look like a painting. 

When we got to the midway point we stopped and had a discussion. Could we do the whole trail and still have time to get Lauren back on time?

Lauren gave me a thumbs up and off we went. This time I led and set a hard pace.

The scenery was gorgeous.

I wasn't sure we had time to stop at all the overlooks. But I did stop and pose for Lauren.
Always...always we must goof off, right?

This was my imitation of the little person on the X-Country Ski sign.

The temperature was about 19 degrees with a light breeze. I'd started out with a light jacket and gloves but soon warmed up enough to stuff them in my backpack.

We pushed hard and finished up the trails faster than we anticipated.

Lauren and I sat in the Subaru and ate snack bars and drank water before we headed back home.

Next time we'll know how long the trails will take us.
Both of us felt tired yet refreshed.

Cold air and adventure.
It felt so good.

I can't wait to do it again.

And Charlie was so relieved to see me....

Night Skiing

Text: Meet me at the mailbox at 8:30?

Me: Yes! Skis?

Text: Yes skis please!

Me: Okay!

I hustled around the house, made supper and then gathered my gear together. GG gave me that funny look, as though I had two heads.

"Are you going on the ridge and skiing in that ice and blowing snow? You guys nuts?"

Me: "Ahhh yup."

At the top of the ridge is 65 acres of cropland with gentle dips and dipsy doodles of strip crop planting. We've had snow, then rain, then melt, then snow, then sleet-rain, and then freezing and tonight it was snowing and blowing hard.

As I walked up from our house I could hear the wind in the trees. It sounded like an ocean above me! 

I met up with Lauren and we headed right into the brunt of the wind and snow. We laughed behind our scarves. 

We wobbled across ice crust patches and soft gushy snow drifts and several times we both had great 'runs' of pushing and gliding. 

I went down a hill and hit a soft spot. Poof. Nearly a face plant. Lauren started laughing and lost her footing and we both lay in the snow just laughing at ourselves. 

Our skis made horrid sounds as they went over glare ice and the poles came in very handy. Balance on ice was a bit interesting especially when one ski would go straight and the other one sideways.
Corn stalks were just another added obstacle, especially while going down a grade.
Take my word for it the tall alfalfa was easier to get through than some of the stalks.

By our second round we were flying in the good places and pacing ourselves.

If we ever get on a groomed trail we might even be awesome. We both would like to ...ski or snowshoe at least two times a week [at night of course]. 

There is something wildly free and liberating about skiing at night on ice/snow in a snow squall.

I can sleep well tonight.

Some things you cannot wrap

Yesterday we had a beautiful snow fall. However it was not very nice for anyone that was travelling.
Our brother and sister in law took 4 hrs for a two hour trip. They arrived safely at my mom in laws but are heading back before the ice storm comes tomorrow.

In the photo above are my cross country ski tracks. I went during the heaviest part of the snowfall and 'broke' a trail across the 60 acres of cropland on top of the ridge.

The views during the snow storm was amazing. It seemed as though the sky and the ground disappeared into each other.
It was mesmerizing.

Even when I went through a section of woods to short cut, the views were amazing.
I hate driving in this stuff.
I love, love, love walking, snowshoeing, and cross country skiing in it though.

Your world is wrapped in a blanket of snow fallen silence.

I took my little pink pocket camera and dared to bring it out a few times to try and capture the essence of the silence. It was beautiful and overwhelming at the same time.

After dark I met up with my neighbor for cross country skiing.
We skied and made our way in the dark with my little headlamp shining the way with a red glow.
We laughed when we hit drifts that tripped us up.
No one was there to see us fall over in the snow.
At one point we both 'crashed' and just lay back and laughed into the night sky.

Eventually we made it around the huge field and ended back up the mailboxes where we had met.
We marveled in the night and wished we could have seen stars. We felt a light mist coming down on our faces.

We talked, we chatted, we laughed. We didn't solve the world's problems but we did enjoy each other's company.

And this simple thing was a gift that cannot be wrapped.
Friendship.
Merry Christmas to me I thought as I walked back down the driveway towards our house parting company with my neighbor.

What a magical night.

Make My Day!

All things were calm and quiet. I was in my PJ bottoms sipping coffee and thinking about how cold it was outside for chores.
The phone rang.

My neighbor's car wouldn't start even though she had put it on the charger. "Could I give the beasties a ride to school?"
Why sure. I grabbed the remote to the Subaru and piled into my heavy coveralls and boots. I wrapped up and headed out to scrape off the windshield.

The kids were really quite good and we got them to school only about 4 minutes late. Since I needed a couple of things we ran into Walmart and grabbed them. Then my nice neighbor took me out to breakfast!

We enjoyed chit chatting and having some friend time.

I laughed when she took off her 3 year old's jacket  and he had a PJ top on.
"What can be better than going out to eat in your PJ's!" I laughed.

Rich had plugged in both his truck and skid steer, he was going to go and get some large bales of hay. While he took a short nap, I decided to go fetch the trail camera from the woods and make a small cross country ski trip out of it.

The sky was bright blue with trails from airplanes overhead. The snow glistened and I had to get a shot of the 'snow diamonds'. Every time I see them I think of my dad.
We called them snow diamonds when we would ski together. And it makes for a fond memory.

I like my skis that I now have. The boots are well insulated and the skis are slightly wider to break trail easier. It only took me about 20 minutes to ski around the meadow and break trail at the same time.

It was much more effortless than snow shoeing. However I can't ski in the woods and snow shoes shine there!

Now another Winter Storm is headed our way. No one is sure what the amount of snow will be.
However since I work the third shift, I decided to pack an overnight bag in case the roads were too wicked to travel on.

Oh, when Rich went to start the truck, it ran just fine. But it won't go anywhere. No hay hauling. It was a very bad time for the truck to break down.
But there we go. Bad things happen, but going out to a PJ breakfast and skiing sure made my day!

Let it snow

The weather people predicted a significant snow fall for us starting at midnight on Sunday. Indeed it did snow!

Since this was the first real snowfall of the season, I was excited to take that first snowfall hike.

I grabbed my camera backpack, a plastic bag, some paper towels, and my gun belt. Morris started running circles around me in the house. I hadn't taken him the day before and he wasn't letting me out of the house without him again.

I decided that since the snow was so wet and heavy I'd best take my little pink pocket camera. The Pink Fugly camera that never dies. I stuffed it in my pocket and Morris beat me to the door.

At the top of the lane we stopped to check on the Dexter's water tank. It was full. Beauty and Buster came up to the fence line to stare at us. The other Dexters were laying on their old pile of hay chewing their cud. 

Morris ran ahead leaping and going from one place to another acting as if he were a puppy instead of a nearly 13 year old dog.  I think he loves the snow as much as I do.

We got to the creek and then hiked to the place I'd stacked some rocks on the day before.

I took a photo and we explored some more. I wasn't that surprised that there weren't many new animals tracks in the snow. They wouldn't be out until after the storm had ended.

The snow was coming down so hard I had to be careful with my Olympus OMD E5. The camera is one of the first mirrorless cameras made by Olympus and it is supposed to be weather resistant. However, I wasn't sure how far I wanted to push that.

It still got fairly wet, but I had a cloth to wipe it off after using it each time.

I managed to get a few shots of the fresh snow falling before I decided to put it away safely in the backpack.

The pink camera then took over.

Before we left the creek, Morris and I climbed an old Basswood tree that lays across the creek. The view is more interesting from 10 feet above the ground.

The fresh snow made the climb more interesting. Morris is better suited to climbing in slippery conditions than I am.

Both Morris and I were soaking wet by the time we made it home. The snow was still coming down fairly hard.

I had a text on my phone asking me if I wanted to try out the cross country skis.

Of course! And off I went again after I dried my coveralls in the dryer.

Morris curled up on the couch and didn't flick an ear when I got ready. He probably was enjoying the fact that I'd covered him up with a sweatshirt that was nice and warm that was fresh out of the dryer.

We sure did enjoy the skiing. We had to quit due to the fact that the temperatures crawled up a bit and our skis kept 'clumping' up with snow.

I probably shouldn't have been so excited about the snow. My husband acted as if he was horrified at it.

However funny thing...

He was not horrified at being able to use his 'upgraded' skid steer with a cabin and a heater and a ... new/used plow that hooked up to his hydraulics.

He managed to make sure that it was right at chore time. Sigh. 

I guess we both enjoyed our first snow day!