Last Ski of the Winter

After a few days up at Turtle Mountain, I wanted to see what the trails were like along the river here in Fargo, so I went out for a ski early this morning while it was still cold. Yes, there was still crust skiing, but some of it looked like this, which--although skiable--was not sparking much joy:

Crossing the bike paths was, quite frankly, tedious (taking off skis and putting them back on) and treacherous (a smooth sheet of ice had frozen over the bike path). Also, as the snow melted, more sticks, dog poop, and debris had come to the surface, which meant skiing with greater awareness--no zoning out today! Nevertheless, I still managed to catch my left ski on something, causing a sudden face plant--not so fun on the hard, icy surface. 

Despite such annoyances, there was still some fun skiing to be had in the hour I was out. For example, the area between the water treatment plant and Ponte Park had some crust skiing with no obstacles, and I was able to do a few charges up the dike to get my heart rate up into the 160s and 70s. Going down is not so fun on the icy crust though! 

I had to go over to Lindenwood to the spot where I have taken a series of photos as the river began to thaw. Unfortunately, the spot where I usually stand was already underwater, so I didn't get to complete my series, but I did get to see some Canadian Geese enjoying the open water:

I enjoyed the fresh air and seeing the changes to the landscape I've spent so much time in these last few months, but I also felt very sad to see the ski season ending. I always feel such a profound sadness in spring. Others think I'm weird, so I really appreciated seeing the film about Sami artist Maj Doris at the Fargo Film Festival last week, because she expressed that same kind of sadness that comes with spring. For her, it meant saying good-bye to her reindeer, who migrate to their summer pasture up in the mountains.