A Trek on the Traks!

Just a quick post because I am so proud of myself. In early January, I awoke to a beautiful, sunny, and very cold day. The Christmas snow (about 18 inches) had settled and hardened. The night before, a very cold storm had deposited another 2 inches on top. As I stared out the window, it occurred to me that the conditions were perfect for a cross country ski trip. Years ago, Kim and I would do this several time each winter. Only thing was, we had to drive about an hour usually to get to our takeoff point. Here was an opportunity to take off from my backdoor!

I dug my old Trak Nowax Mountain 210's out from behind our freezer in the garage, blew the dust off, and sprayed them with silicone. Then I went and dug my boots out from the back of my closet, and daubed some Hubbard's Shoe Grease on them to keep my toes dry. I let the Dogs out, strapped on the "Skinny Boards" and headed out.

It was beautiful as I crested the hill into the Grieve's place.

Looking back at Mark and Toni's house,
the old France homestead.

It took a bit to get into the stride, but by the time I crested the hill between our house and Grieves I was starting to settle into the groove. The dogs were no bother. Remi was pretty much sticking to the road, breaking trail for Delta. The bigger dog kept breaking through the settled snow, so they didn't range too far out front.

Took this self portrait after passing through Grieve's.

Delta stuck to Remi's tracks

I gingerly crossed the road (A-23) without taking my skis off, and headed up the road to Sharkey Cemetery.
By now I was getting into the rhythm, and really starting to enjoy the exercise, and the long lost sensation of kicking and gliding along on a beautiful winter's day. As the grade increased up the road, the dogs slowed down quite a bit, laboring along, with Delta obviously thinking that this wasn't as much fun as she thought it would be. She was still ahead of me, but stuck strictly behind Remi in her tracks. I wondered if my skis would start to slip backwards as the hill got steeper and steeper. They didn't.

A very serene view of the headstones in the Cemetery.

The front gate with two Christmas wreaths hung.

Pictorial evidence that I was wearing my 35 year old Trak Mountains!

Finally, we got to the top and took a short break. I decided that I would batten down the hatches before I headed back down the hill. In days long past we would pack a picnic lunch, and a bottle of wine to fortify ourselves before the long (and sometimes quite steep) downhill run back to the vehicles. So I zipped up my jacket, pulled my hat tighter, and pointed the old Traks down the hill. Of course Remi jumped out in front of me, but that didn't last long.

Looking back down the road just before pushing off. Doesn't look too steep?

The view of Sierra Valley from the top. Always one of the best parts!

I slowly built up speed under the near perfect conditions. I was expecting to do a swan dive at least once going back down, so I focused and bent my knees. Within a few minutes, I had left the dogs far to the rear as the could not keep up in the deep snow (although they did their best). Faster and faster I went! It was exillarating! As the slope flattened out near the bottom, it occurred to me that I wasn't gooing to do a face plant after all.....and I didn't! However, the the dogs finally caught up, and then I remembered why I never used to take mine with me oh those many long years ago. They screw up the tracks, and occasionally step on your skis, which can be inconvenient!

However, it wasn't bad, and we crossed A-23 again on our way home. About the Grieve's house, my skis started sticking, and the last quarter mile or so was a little tough. When I skied back up to my deck I was starting to feel it in my legs. I had been gone about an hour, maybe a little more. The whole experience brought back a flood of fond memories from over 30 years ago. Great friends, long strenuous days, a little bread, a little cheese, a bouda bag full of wine, and occasionally more of an adventure than I had bargained for. But that is another story...or two...or more!

That's All!