XC Skiing - Glenville's Sanders Preserve

After a couple of days in Syracuse celebrating one final Christmas, we drove home today leaving a very snowy landscape behind.  Oh, we have snow here, but it seemed like a lot more there.  But, with the afternoon free, and plenty of new snow here, we settled in at home for a bit and then headed out for an hour of skiing before dark, at the Sanders Preserve in nearby Glenville.

This can be a challenging place to ski, especially before all of the little rivulets running beneath the early snows have a chance to freeze over.  We had to gingerly cross several of these as we followed the mostly snowshoe-packed trails on the north side of Sanders Road.  We avoided the biggest downhill with a short bushwhack along an abandoned (but still marked) trail, crossed a bridge in a ravine, and found our way back to the beginning of the long gentle downhill back to the car.

The snow was fantastic, and deep enough even here to hide all of the rocks and roots.  With the colder weather expected in the coming week, it looks like a perfect time to get out and enjoy winter's best.