Schooshing through the Woods

The new owners of our gym have done a wonderful job of cleaning and fixing it up for us gym rats. But, for what we assume are religious reasons they are closed on Saturdays which means we have to find other exercise options. Its really not a problem and you have to respect their religion, I'm just darn glad they're not Muslim or we'd be taking a whole month off for Ramadan. So today was the perfect day for me and my friend-advisor-workout partner-bread winner-conscience-lover and critic to hit the ski trails.

We all know Soldotna is a cool town, but lots of folks might not know that we have arguably the best Nordic ski trail system in the State. The trails have been a work in progress, spearheaded by local enthusiasts and centered around SkyView High School where its no surprise that the x-country team routinely competes for the State title. They even have 15 K's of illuminated trails which is huge for us here in the frozen north.

So today we opt for the ' Wolverine Trail' , its our first time out and the 'mountain goat' just doesn't sound right. The trail is fast, well as fast as x-country skiing can be and is perfectly groomed and wide. Theres room for either skating or tracks are cut for the old traditional way. We skied the entire loop and never saw another person until we ran into my friend John Mohorich in the parking lot. As I skied along I was thinking of the downhill skiing I did as a kid, I was pretty good and could attack the moguls or bust the powder with the best of them. We're a long way from that but what I'm doing today is just as good if you ask me. I'm in the woods, the air has that clean crispness to it and just like downhill skiing theres a chance I can wreck and hurt myself. I'm happy.

Before we started our trips to Mexico every winter I was into the snowmachines pretty good and had alot of fun with them. But this skiing is better, exercise, no breakdowns, you can't get lost (so far anyway) and I'm hanging around with exactly the right people. That's MP at the end of a downhill, she's dragging her poles just a bit to slow down, I don't blame her that snow is pretty hard. So we ski the entire loop, no falls, no tweaked knees and when we get out we come across this ultra cool one of a type metal gate. The close up of the bear tells our story, its got a fish. That's our town, I think we lead the nation in per capita fish figures...

This last pic I took from the landing a few mornings ago. While fishing I'm often asked how the hunting is around here, well its the old saying, a picture is worth a thousand words. Thats alot of ducks eh?