Winter storms and cross country skiing!

Shihiyea · Joined: 20 Oct 2003 Posts: 1135

I had an interesting weekend. The drive up to Flag on Sat. really sucked, but it did remind me on the do's and don'ts of winter driving. I was very grateful before the day was over, that I have a 4x4.

I made it to the Nordic Center in the winter storm. The first hour out on the trails were interesting, as I could barely see in front of me, however it stopped snowing which made for the most pleasant time in the wilderness. I was making my own trails pretty much the entire day. I did 27 km (had to look up the conversion which is roughly 17 miles), before the day was finished. I spend 4 1/2 hours on the trails and for 4 of those hours I was totally alone. I love the solitude in the wilderness, it certainly allows for a lot of soul searching. Being out there brought back many childhood memories....you know those sorts of things you loved doing as a kid, but wouldn't want to be caught doing, as an adult....well, I still did them. I didn't get caught, unless some elk was watching me from afar. The weather temp's were ideal for skiing. I was told that it had snowed 4 inches that evening. I had an other 2 inches on my truck this morning when I went to leave.

I was checking out this trail, as in the summer time it's converted to a mountain biking trail. It's obviously non-technical (my speed, especially since I haven't been on my bike in over a year). I think I will have to go back this summer and get back on my bike. Those woods are magical!

This was a great trip and the trails were beautiful with the snow covered trees.
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BoyNhisDog · Posted: 1/30/2005, 6:39 pm Post subject:

Awesome journey. I love that image of the Aspens in the snowscape.
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Trishness · Posted: 1/30/2005, 6:52 pm Post subject:

Mary,

You have no idea how much I wanted to go and from your write up I missed a great time.

Glad you were able to ski through the storm and the trails were good.

Mr. Green

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~~~Trish~~~

"Eastward the dawn rose, ridge behind ridge into the morning, and vanished out of eyesight into guess; it was no more than a glimmer blending with the hem of the sky, but it spoke to them, out of the memory and old tales, of the high and distant mountains." � J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of The Rings.

Abe · Joined: 11 Jul 2004 Posts: 436 Location: Prescott Valley

What an awesome adventure! Beautiful write-up.
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Hnak · Joined: 06 Jan 2003 Posts: 1766 Location: Prescott, AZ

I'm glad that you had fun there. I thought about heading over there on Saturday when I was coming home from the Canyon, but figured that I probably couldn't find you.. I do want to try that again one of these days...

And biking it in the summer time sounds like fun too!!

Shihiyea · Joined: 20 Oct 2003 Posts: 1135

Trish, I know that you would have loved this trip....for some reason the gnomes were busy at work and I'm certain you could have understood their language.

Hank, you should have programed my phone number....had my phone with and even spoke with my parents from the middle of the woods, but I would certainly be up for a mountain bike trip there, this summer. I also have the arizonahikers.com sticker in my back window.

I missed all three of you.....you would have loved it out there, it was 100% different. The trails were not icy and were really easy to get around, including going up hill. I didn't fall once and if I had, the snow was so soft that it would have broken any fall. It was fantastic skiing! I couldn't have asked for better conditions and it took all of me to drag my butt off the trails before they closed. By the end of the day, I was pretending that I looked as good skiing, as those spandex boys do!

There is one thing that I was so awares of when up there this weekend. How much I love the 4 seasons and the reasons why I love them so much! I love the variety of my activities....back home, it was ice fishing, snow mobiling, skiing, skating in the winter and cutting a hole out of the lake ice for an after sauna dip. The summer was camping, canoeing, fishing and water skiing. I miss the variety of activities that I used to do. It just seemed as the seasons changed, you would have to relearn the activity. I'm looking at bringing more variety in my weekend plans and Arizona is ideal for that, with reasonable weather.

Mary

Shawn · Posted: 1/30/2005, 8:17 pm Post subject:

Sorry I missed this trip. Sounds like a whole different experience.

I'll have to tell the story of why I couldn't make it. I have been working and playing so much for several months now that I have literally not been home in the daylight for quite some time. I received a letter from the homeowner's association dinging me for weeds in the front landscaping. What weeds, I didn't see any weeds, then I got to thinking about not being home. I went out with a light and DANG, they were right. So Saturday morning when I should have been skiing I was on my hands and knees with a bucket picking weeds out of the rocks. Looks pretty good right now. I'll douse it with Round Up again.

Glad you had a good time. I think the being in the woods like that would be great.
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Arizonaheat · Posted: 1/30/2005, 9:03 pm Post subject:

Mary glad you had a good time.

It came down in buckets here yesterday afternoon with hail to go along with it. Made for a beautiful day in the Supes today. Glad I steered you right with my predicition Wink

Will be interested to hear how Kurt and his gang made out. We followed their footprints down the Calvary Trail today.

Ray at the Bluebird, had 1.25 inches of rain and 6 inches of hail yesterday. Said you could have floated a canoe down 88. He said he has had 6.75 inches of rain this month alone.
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SUN_HIKER · Joined: 05 Dec 2003 Posts: 1057

Mary, I love your pictures!
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Davis2001R6 · Joined: 12 Dec 2003 Posts: 5591 Location: Italy

I bet you had a blast Mary!

Shihiyea · Joined: 20 Oct 2003 Posts: 1135

Thanks everyone, I know there isn't a one of you who wouldn't have loved this...Next time I'll try to give a more advanced notice. It really does depend upon the weather, so I even have to be flexible (even canceled a weekend backpacking trip for this trip, sorry Kurt)! I had some really great beginning picutures, but I ended up deleted them both from my computer and camera before I could post them. I'm still learning and I guess I will eventually stop making these mistakes.
Mary