Leaving Alaska and heading South

Sept.

Before actually packing up and heading south. we were able to take a quick trip to Denali with our friend Ellie to enjoy the fall colors and be immersed in the beauty of the mountain.

Sometimes it doesn’t seem real!

Bears were absent, but several other mammals made up for them.

Several foxes played near the highway.

An Ermine is starting to turn white for the coming of winter

Never get tired of seeing Denali and the fall foliage.

The three days went quickly in the park and soon we were back in Palmer getting ready to load up the van for our migration to the south.

Fall was in the air and soon the snow would be falling here.

Don was excited about his new movable campfire which we used both morning and evening to take some of the chill off.

With our van packed and the heater fixed we pulled out of Farm Loop and headed South.

It was a beautiful sunny drive with the Wrangels having a new blanket of snow on their peaks. Maybe just maybe we could get far enough south and avoid snowy roads!

As the day turned to evening, the temperature dropped to the teens, guess we will get to test the heating systems. We awoke to a 10 degree temperature and ice on the lake that we had camped next to.

A group of swans were swimming in the unfrozen part.

We stopped at Whitehorse to get gas and noticed that there was snow on the pumpkins. The weather forecast was calling for snow. Guess we will be learning about how the van does in winter sooner than we anticipated.

Oct. 10

Last night we drove several hours and pulled into a rest area with about 4 inches of snow on the ground. Another cold night, but we were able to stay warm.

Full on winter driving, taking it slow and easy. Beautiful landscape.

The Cassiar continued to be snow covered, but at least the truck traffic was gone. A sand truck had sanded some of the hills which helped. Pretty isolated this time of year so glad to get to Dease Lake where the snow was beginning to melt. Not far past Dease Lake the snow covered roads turned to rain covered and the trees still had their fall leaves.

Oct. 12-18

Made it out of the snow and are in full blown fall. Our goal for the next several days is to check out some bike riding areas, First we checked the ones out at Kager Lake.. After looking at the Mountain bike route, it wasn’t hard for us to decide that the trail around the lake was more our style. Mostly flat with a couple of hills and roots. We talked to a couple from Alaska that told us about the trail ways bike paths. We are heading to Williams tomorrow to check out the river trail. Another chilly night and when we finally found the river bike trail, the puddles were frozen. Guess we need to keep moving South. After scrapping ice off the windows we headed towards the Princeton visitor center and got directions to the bike path.

We are excited about the Rails to Trails movement and the great use of abandoned rail road ways.

We did a 24 mile bike ride on this path way. Lots of potential for further riding here.

The sunny fall weather is treating us well

The next day of bike riding found us at Pendicton where the rails to trails winds thu scenic vineyards with a large lake in the distance.

We were definitely in the time of harvest. Wooden crates were filled with green grapes and the purple grapes hung heavily on the the vines.

With a three percent grade it is easy to take in the surrounding scenery.

We didn’t take advantage of the wine tours today, but maybe another day will find us experiencing the harvest.

It is always fun to ride across a trestle and then peddle thru a tunnel.

It was another good day of biking.

Only smiles ended our biking today!

Not sure of this tradition, but it must have some interesting meaning.

Tomorrow we head to Myra Canyon. Sounds like we won’t be disappointed.

Oct. 18

We camped right outside of the park and we were ready to hit the bike trail as soon as there was some warmth in the air. Several people had told us about this ride and that we should definitely do it. The leaves are at peak!

Sure looks like it is going to be an excellent ride. There are 18 trestles that we will get to ride across.

In 2003 a major fire occurred and most of the trestles were destroyed. Fortunately they were all rebuilt which make for an amazing ride.

We often had to stop and just take in the views.

Several rock ovens were beside the trail. They were used when the railway was being built.

It was a round trip of about 25 miles, we never tired of the scenery.

Love those Tamarisk Tree.

Tomorrow we leave Canada and head back to the US.

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Back to the US and getting ready for skiing

Oct. 19-Nov. 19

The next month was a bit of meander as we checked out places to ride bikes and do exercises that will help us prepare for a winter of skiing. At Curlew State Park in Washington we were puzzled by the checker board. Looks like we need to do a review on how to play.

Fall continued to treat us well with sunny days and cool nights. The leaves were at peak!

We spent a week or so traveling thru Washington and checking out places to ride and potential skiing locales.

We enjoyed spending time in the Winslow/Mazama/Twisp area. Found numerous places to ride our bikes and maybe returning here this winter to check out the ski trails.

A week in Portland found us visiting Jeff and marveling at the color red.

A winter of skiing begins

After 7 years of chasing the sun we decided that it was time to do winter again. We packed up our skis that were in storage in Alaska and were pleased that our ski boots still fit, hopefully our gear won’t be too outdated. We decided to do this winter of skiing by first signing up for a five day clinic in West Yellowstone. We arrive on the 19th of November and check into our hotel. Afterwards we walk down to the trail head and aren’t quite impressed with the snow.

At least there is snow. This is the first snow we have seen since we left Canada.

Chicago has painted cows and Western Yellowstone has painted Buffaloes.

Notice the lack of snow! There is snow in the forecast, but there is also below zero temps predicted,

We meet the coaches on the morning of the 20th and are divided up into groups.

Our days will start with 30 minutes of warm up inside then out to the trails. We spend two and a half hours in the morning skating and the same amount of time doing classic in the afternoon. The coaches are great and we review our skills and improve our technique. We are exhausted by the fifth day. The snow cooperates and the last three days of the clinic we have groomed trails with tracks set.

It was well worth the time and effort to come. Now we are off to chase snow!

December 2018

We left West Yellowstone with lots of skiing techniques that we can practice before our our race in Feb. One of our goals for this winter is to ski a 50K skate race in Wisconsin. Over 40 years ago we had done this race on our classic skis, the only technique that was used for Nordic skiing.. There were about 300 participants. In Feb. the race will have over 8000 participants and we will be in the last wave! Plenty of time before the race so we will check the weather and follow the snow! We decide to head to Lander where we hear there is snow at Beaver Creek. First though we pass thru the Grand Tetons.

Not much snow here, but the Grand is impressive as always!

Beaver Creek does not disappoint but the elevation for the first few days is challenging.

Looking out towards the Winds where we have spent many days back packing.

Our friend Cady joins us for a sunny, but cold day of skiing.

So fun to be on the snow again and wow fresh corduroy. Two of our old NOLS friends are the primary groomers.

We spend several days camped at the parking lot and have a lot of fun meeting friends from our past. The temps are dropping and with no new snow in the forecast we decide to move on. Casper is our next destination. In the past we have only driven thru this windy town and are surprised to learn that it has quite a few nordic trails on the mountain outside of the town. When we get to the town it is snowless and the wind is blowing. One can see snow on the mountain so we decide what do we have to lose. At the trail head we are greeted with a beautiful trail system and we can park overnight in the parking lot.

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Often we are the first on the snow to make skiing prints! There is plenty of snow, but the 8000 foot elevation is somewhat challenging/

The days are cold and there is little warmth in the sun.

Hard to believe that it is blowing hard in Casper, but up here the trees are heavy laden with snow.

Christmas is coming and the elves must have been out decorating the trees.

Alas there is no snow in the forecast and the trail has lots of pine needles. Looks like we will be moving on, but since we are close to Denver we decide to go and celebrate the holiday with our niece Katie and her boyfriend Joey.

Nice dinner and good times!

Jeff and Emily send us their Chrismas wishes!

A stop at the Wyoming visitor center finds Don in Jail!

Fortunately we were soon on our way to the Black Hills in South Dakota. A predicted snow storm didn’t happen, but there was enough snow to do a couple loops. The weather changed quite dramatically and after a couple days the temps were in the 40’s and the snow melting.

We did discover that Ryan’s cross country suit still fits us!

We ended up parking in Walmart parking lot for a couple of night. There was a good snowfall but by mid day most of it had melted. Looks like we will be moving on!