XC Skiing - Rockwood State Forest

After the recent snow/sleet/ice mess, today we headed north looking for snow that didn't get that crap. And did we ever find snow! Rockwood State Forest, west of Johnstown, got 10-12" of fresh snow, with no ice whatsoever.

The parking lot had not been recently plowed, so we parked at a large plowed pullout at the junction of NY29 and NY10A, just east of the official parking area. We climbed the large snowbank across the road, put on our skis, and headed into the forest, going between the two large stone pillars. And then we spent the next 90 minutes breaking trail in all that virgin powder. We were the first ones who had skied there, and we saw no other tracks. We tried a normally very challenging downhill, and wound up poling down parts of it through the deep snow.



After completing a 90-minute loop that was much shorter and more work than usual, we decided to go back around and reap the benefits of our labors in the new tracks. We also threw in a different downhill that shortened the original loop somewhat, and then followed our tracks back to the car.



The sky was darkening at this point, and we got caught in a pretty good snow shower on the way out, which only added to the ambience. It's great that this place is only an hour from home!