Remainders of Foxfest

In looking at the projected hourly temperatures for today, I could see that it would warm up from twenty below to twelve below, so I thought about going skiing in the afternoon, but then I saw that the wind would be increasing from 3mph to 12mph, so I decided to go in the morning because I think wind is worse than cold.

I warmed up my ski boots in the heating register before heading out. My cat, Benjamin, thought that was a good idea, so he cozied up to my ski boots. I decided to go with mittens today (instead of gloves or lobster mitts), and for good measure I put in the beaver fur inserts that were a gift from my friend, Siobhan Wescott. I also wrapped my right knee before putting on my long underwear because it has been giving me some trouble lately. As soon as I stepped out the door, my spirits lifted. At 10:15am, it was bright and sunny, and there was almost no wind. As soon as I got out on the classic trail (Swix green kick wax again today), I saw that the foxes had been active. I could see their tracks along the trail, some tufts of fur, and the occasional scat. Up in the trees, I could see some small birds with their white, gray, and brown feathers all puffed up--maybe tufted titmouse? In the willows on the ground, sparrows were active. Even though it is a very cold day, it still feels like spring is coming. I continued on my ski, first to the dog park (no dogs) and then toward Lindenwood Park. At Ponte Park, someone had driven on the ski trail, degrading some of the edges of the set tracks. Snow coverage was still sparse. I saw a turkey feather in the middle of the trail--maybe one of the foxes had caught a turkey?

I passed one other skier, and we greeted each other. At Lindenwood, I saw a figure walking a dog. I recognized the gait of the walker and his dark green parka--my colleague, Bruce Maylath, with his dog, Joy. We chatted for a brief time, and he noticed that Joy was shivering, so he decided to head back home. I continued on toward the I-94 bridge. This part of the ski trail was still in bad condition, with much debris that grabs at one's skis. I went very slowly to reduce the jerking from that. On the way back, when I got to the part where there was the feather I looked around and saw evidence of the foxes having quite a feast, with many feathers left behind. Must have been quite a Foxfest!

I don't like to have my face covered while skiing, but occasionally, I would pull up my neck gaiter when the trail had me facing into the wind. I discovered another use for taking selfies wiht my phone--it allowed me to do a quick check for frost bite. I didn't see any white patches, so I continued skiing with my neck gaiter down until I got home.

I was out for about 80 minutes, just taking it easy and enjoying being outside on my skis on a chilly winter day.When I got back, I made some chicken vegetable soup, and I will enjoy a bowl of that when I have posted this to my blog.

A Ski through the Cold Corridor

Last weekend, my husband, Enrico, and I enjoyed a social ski with our neighbor Chuck. The weather was warm and we chatted away while skiing at a leisurely pace. Today was different; the temperature was -17F. Chuck had been out in lake country, and he texted me about dropping off some fish be had brought us. He texted me, "Even too cold for skiing." It felt like a dare. To this former Alaskan, today is just an average cold day. Also, it looked like it would be warming up to -11F soon, and it was sunny, and there was very little wind, so I began preparing to go out.

To treat myself on the trail, I prepared some Labrador tea and poured it into an insulated bottle from Great Northern Bicycle Company. I put on my thickest wool socks, added a vest to my long underwear top, and put on a goretex jacket instead of my lighter ski jacket. I wore my thickest long underwear bottoms under my windpants. I went to the basement to dig up a thicker neck gaiter made by my Aunt Belinda. Lobster mitts would be warm enough for today. Then, I downloaded the new Foo Fighters album from Apple Music and put in my airpods, carefully positioning my ear muffs over them, so they wouldn't fall out (this happened to me once, and it is very hard to find a lost white air pod on white snow). I put on Swix green kick wax on my classic skis, then gently stretched a little to build up some heat in the layers of my clothes before heading outside. When I left the house, I saw my neighbor Chuck was loading up his truck to head back to Lake Country. He just smiled and shook his head when he saw me. I may have smirked a little. I climbed over the dike and headed to the classic trails. The tracks had been re-set and were in good condition from our house to the dog park. When I turned around and headed south, I felt a little breeze on my face, so I pulled up my neck gaiter and got into a good, easy rhythm while listening to some new tunes. Our lack of snow and the previous warm temperatures meant that some parts of the trail were pretty sparsely covered--ice and dirt were showing through.

After rounding the oxbow, two large black birds exploded into flight--ravens? I didn't see any skiers until I got into Lindenwood Park, where I saw a novice skate skier struggling to get some momentum going on the dry, cold snow. It looked like a lot of effort. I smiled in encouragement and kept going toward the I-94 bridge. The next section was pretty rough. The groomer had kicked dirt up into the snow in several parts, and there were leaves and debris collected in the tracks from the wind. My ski caught on one of these and brought my right ski to a stop, while my body continued its forward motion, causing me to fall gently onto my right side. Uff da. After reaching the campground, I was feeling plenty warm, so I took a little break and had some tea. There were some nice rocks in the sun to sit on for a couple of minutes.

Given the poor conditions of the section of trail I had just been through, I opted to ski up out of the river drainage by I-94 and across the open area of Lindenwood Park and back to the entrance, where I rejoined the classic trail and headed home. As is often the case, after passing through Ponte Park on the oxbow, I entered what I think of as "the cold corridor," the straight section leading to the water treatment plant. Seems like the wind always blows harder in this area, and now I was facing the wind. I could feel a cool sensation across the top of my head as the wind stole my body heat away. I rotated my neck gaiter to find a dry section and pulled it up a bit higher. I also stepped up my tempo, as I was getting text messages from the family letting me know we would be having our weekly Zoom call in about 10 minutes. I got back just in time after being outside for about 75 minutes total. I saw my frosty face in the storm door window--the frost let me know where I have been accumulating some facial hair in my post-menopausal years. Thanks, Jack Frost!