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!
