XC Skiing - Wilton Wildlife Preserve, Old Gick Farm

Another beautiful sunny day, and Holly and I wanted to try to get out for either some skiing or some snowshoeing, depending on the snow conditions. After some rain yesterday, cold temperatures overnight, and temps only around freezing this afternoon, we weren't sure what kind of crusty mess we'd find. To improve our chances, we picked a place that we knew to be wide open and sunny, which would help in softening the snow. Not being fans of golf course skiing, the perfect place seemed like the Old Gick Farm parcel of the Wilton Wildlife Preserve. A lot of habitat restoration has been done here in recent years, leaving open fields with lots of sun and mostly soft snow.



We skied in a snowshoe track around two loops that totaled only about 1.5 miles, but we'd gotten a late start, and were happy just to find skiable snow. With temps around freezing, there was a definite difference between sunny areas and those in the shade or in the woods. A hill or two proved interesting, as we attempted to make turns while descending in the curving trench.

It was a short outing, but a nice day to be out. It's March 1 now, and snow conditions will continue to deteriorate until we get one of those unexpected (and probably unwelcome!) March mega-blizzards.