XC Skiing - Sanders Preserve

Beautiful sunny afternoon today, near 40F, after another inch or two of new snow overnight. Holly and I headed to the Sanders Preserve, in nearby Glenville, for some more skiing before tomorrow's washout and warmup. We started out skiing in a packed snowshoe track, which wasn't bad considering the snow depth off the trail was close to 2 feet.



Further from the parking area, we found ourselves following ski tracks, discovering a couple of pretty steep hills we hadn't known were there. After climbing the first and skiing to the top of the second along the ridge, we decided against it and retraced our steps, carefully making our way down the one we'd climbed. From there, we followed a marked but unmapped and unbroken trail along the base of the ridge to where we would have come out earlier at the bottom of the other downhill. On the way back to the car, we had to descend a short steep switchback to a bridge over a stream, adding more interest and challenge.

Reaching the main trail we'd come in on, we noticed it was starting to ice up a bit as the late afternoon temperatures began to fall. The gentle downhill back to the car was more exciting than usual, but a nice ride. All in all, a good day of skiing, possibly the last for a while.

XC Skiing - Albany Pine Bush Preserve

Yesterday, we got hit with about a foot of new snow, much more than anyone expected when going to bed the night before. It was heavy and wet, and shoveling the driveway repeatedly was not fun. With a big warmup coming on Monday, with lots of rain, Holly and I got out today to enjoy this latest storm while we could.

We chose the Albany Pine Bush Preserve, both because it was nearby and because we hadn't been to parts of it in quite a while. Some of the trails had already been snowshoed, which made for easier going in the deep and heavy snow. The trees were all coated in white, since this snow stuck to everything as it fell.



Parts of the area we skied in were being rehabilitated, and had recently been cleared of non-native vegetation, leaving only the pitch pines and other brush that really belong here. It made for some rather eerie looking terrain at times, and also some rerouted trails.



We spent about an hour covering a couple of loops, sometimes breaking trail, other times following previous human or animal tracks on the trails. More snow tonight to freshen things up a bit, and then one more day to enjoy this batch before it all starts to melt.

XC Skiing - Lapland Lake XC Center

Holly and I don't often pay to go cross-country skiing, but when the snow gets to be the way it is right now, going someplace that grooms their trails is really the only choice. Lapland Lake does a really good job with whatever snow or other frozen precipitation nature throws at them, so we headed there this morning for some skiing and lunch, before the afternoon's messy weather was to arrive.

Conditions were probably the best that could be expected after all of the thawing and refreezing we've had. The tracks were crunchy on the sides, but with some loose snow in them, so skiing was OK. Outside of the tracks, there was enough tilled loose granular snow to allow control on the downhills, but they were still faster than usual. I did the double black diamonds, which were beyond exciting, almost scary in spots, while Holly stuck to the blue intermediate trails, not wanting to take any chances on reinjuring her recovering knee.

Après-ski, we had lunch in the Tuulen Tupa Grill on the premises, a delicious Finnish salmon-potato casserole called Lohilaatikko. Then we headed home. I'd covered about 15k for the day, Holly a little less. More snow is supposedly on the way tomorrow, especially to our north, so winter is not over yet.

XC Skiing - Woods Hollow Preserve

We got a couple of inches of new snow overnight, to top off the greyish-brown icy crust that developed in last week's thaw. Holly only had a little time to spare, so we decided to try skiing at the Woods Hollow Preserve, near Ballston Spa. Conditions were fair to poor, despite the new coating of snow. This place gets a lot of walking and snowshoe traffic, and the trails were pretty rutted and icy under the new snow.



We managed to spend a little less than an hour on mostly pretty flat terrain, aside from one exciting downhill near the beginning and a bushwhack around another icy uphill. The skiing wasn't great, or even good, but we at least got out for some exercise on an otherwise very nice day.

Snowshoeing - West Glenville

Went snowshoeing with some friends this afternoon on their property in West Glenville. The snow was crusty and the wind was howling, but it was good to get out. Back to their house afterwards for chili, cornbread, wine and good conversation.

XC Skiing - Rockwood State Forest

Since I'm scheduled to lead a cross-country ski trip to Rockwood on Saturday for Schenectady ADK, and since conditions have deteriorated somewhat this week almost everywhere, Holly and I decided to do a pre-ski this afternoon and see if this trip would still be able to go. It was good that we did. Although Rockwood still has plenty of snow, it's old snow, very beat up by snowshoes and bare-booters, lots of twigs and debris, and not very good for skiing. Today was warm, in the mid-40s, and Friday will be even warmer, so at least today the snow was relatively wet and soft. But Friday night promises another refreeze, and Saturday will barely reach freezing, with 30mph winds gusting to near 50. That means the conditions will be icy, hard, and fast. That also means the trip Saturday will be cancelled. But at least we got in a short outing this afternoon.

XC Skiing - John Pond

Holly got cheated out of some of the best skiing of the season with a bum knee, and now that we've had some thawing and refreezing, skiing near home is no good at all. Today, we took a chance that conditions would still be at least OK further north, and skied into John Pond, near Indian Lake in the Adirondacks. It's about a 5-6 mile round trip, depending whose mileage you believe, and it's normally a novice trip with gently undulating hills.

We arrived at the trailhead to find a snowshoe trench that was hard-packed and fast after a thaw/refreeze earlier this week. There was just a little loose snow in the trench that made kicking and gliding possible, so we decided to give it a go. We followed an old road for a while, passing this marshy area with some minor peaks in the background.



Leaving the road, we began to encounter more and slightly steeper uphills, and wondered what they'd be like going downhill on the way out. We arrived at the leanto at John Pond in good time, and looked across the pond to these interesting cliffs.



The trip out was exciting, to say the least. The normally tame downhills were lightning fast, and controlling speed was difficult since we were skiing in a packed trench. I think today would have easily been rated "intermediate" on this fairly easy trip under normal conditions. We arrived at the car with only minor mishaps (Holly - 0, Me - 1), and hoped we'd be getting some fresh snow again soon. More thawing/freezing coming in the days ahead, and skiing will be iffy until we get some new powder.

Moonlight Snowshoeing - Ushers Road State Forest

This past week was my regularly scheduled moonlight snowshoeing outing for Schenectady ADK. There hasn't been a good opportunity since late last week, but tonight turned out to be perfect. The sky was crystal clear, and the moon was 92% full and very bright. After some short-notice cancellations because of other commitments, three of us set off for Ushers Road State Forest in nearby Clifton Park.

The trail was hard-packed and crunchy after yesterday's thaw and today's refreeze, so we left the snowshoes in the car and donned microspikes instead. The northern half of the forest is deep conifers, and the woods were fairly dark, despite the bright moon. But the southern half, returning to the car, was incredibly bright in more open woods. It took us about an hour to cover the loop on a brisk evening.

Although it was interesting to try this trip in a new location, we all decided that we like Featherstonhaugh State Forest, the usual location, better for this activity. It's farther from civilization, and definitely feels like it. Tonight we had residential lights, traffic noise, and even a nearby train passing by. Despite all that, it was a beautiful evening to be out.

XC Skiing - Camp Saratoga, Wilton

Today was surprisingly over 50 degrees in the morning, with wind and rain expected later, so Holly and I got out for a quick ski around the trails at Wilton Wildlife Preserve's Camp Saratoga. There had been a snowshoe race on Saturday, and the trails had not been regroomed since then, so the surface was hard-packed and fairly wet snow, with lots of twigs and pine cones. Not the best of conditions, but it was a day not to be wasted, especially with another deep-freeze tonight and more freeze/thaw cycles over the next week. The days of soft powder are now gone, but we hope only temporarily.

XC Skiing - Featherstonhaugh State Forest

After yesterday's outing, I wasn't up for much today. But Holly wanted to get out for an hour or so, somewhere nearby that was also relatively flat. Despite recent ice storms, we knew Featherstonhaugh would be skiable, so we went up and skied the main loop at a lazy pace. It was just enough. There was a little new snow in the deep tracks, so despite the crunchy sides of those tracks, the skiing wasn't bad. Big warmup coming this week, so there's no telling what we'll be left with after that.

XC Skiing - Stephens and Cascade Ponds

Today, I joined a Schenectady ADK ski trip to Stephens and Cascade Ponds, near Blue Mountain Lake, NY. Holly and I are the ADK trail stewards for much of this Northville-Placid Trail section, but had skied it only once before, many years ago.

The original plan was to jump off the NPT on an unmarked fishermans' path to Stephens Pond, about 1.5 miles from the car. Then we would ski about .75 miles on the surface of Stephens Pond to the leanto located there, avoiding some unnecessary hills. But recent DEC ice advisories, as well as the prospect of a strong wind in our faces on the pond, led us to change our plans and just ski the NPT all the way to the leanto. The snow was deep off-trail, with about 8-10" of new snow over a previously broken track. These were some of the best ski conditions of the season, and we enjoyed the gentle ups and downs that took us to Stephens Pond, at about 3.4 miles from the car. The wind was howling up the pond here, and we decided we'd made the right decision.



After a quick lunch at the leanto, we headed back up the hill to the NPT junction with the Cascade Pond Trail. This trail was not as well-maintained as our trail-steward section, but it was an easy 1-mile up-and-down to the leanto on Cascade Pond. As always, leader Roy wanted lots of group pictures.



Once we got back to the junction with the NP trail, the rest of the 2+ miles back to the cars was mostly downhill, and was very pleasant skiing in our previously broken tracks. Overall, we were probably on the trail for about 4 hours, to cover the 8.6 miles. It was a pleasant day, with temps in the 20s, occasional flurries, and some really fantastic skiing.

XC Skiing - Featherstonhaugh State Forest

Went XC skiing today at Featherstonhaugh with a local group that shall remain nameless. The skiing was fair, with a little fresh powder atop the otherwise icy tracks. The sides of the ruts were crunchy, so there was really no possibility of turning on any of the mild downhills. We really had to stay in the tracks and do quick step turns as needed. We skied the entire trail network, about 4 miles, at varying paces. Not a bad day, despite the usual lack of organization.

Annual XC Ski Getaway - Landgrove Inn, VT

For almost as long as Holly and I have known each other, we've been heading off to Vermont for a couple of days of XC skiing every winter. For much of that time, we've been staying at the Landgrove Inn, an old country-style inn with lots of charm, located in North Landgrove. You may not find that town on any map, but it's northwest of Londonderry and southwest of Weston. They've had scads of snow this winter, and we caught the owner, Tom, on the roof clearing off some of the excess.



Because of Wednesday's storm, we'd gotten a late start, and had no time for skiing when we arrived. So we settled in for a nice dinner at the Inn. Afterwards, we went out snowshoeing in the dark for a while, and spent the rest of the evening reading and talking with Tom and some of his other guests in the cozy lounge.



Thursday morning found us at the Vermont Country Store, in nearby Weston. Even though we both hate to shop, we always make a stop when we're in the area because of the many unique things to be found here.

On Thursday afternoon, we went skiing at nearby Wild Wings Ski Touring Center, in Peru. The trails were nicely groomed, and the woods were beautiful. This is an old-time, family-owned, no-frills cross-country ski center, with lots of snow, good prices, and best of all, no skating allowed! The trails are relatively narrow, and are only groomed for classical skiing.



Thursday's dinner was at the Inn at Weston, a place we'd never tried in many previous trips to the area. Then it was back to our own Inn and more quiet time in the lounge, playing games, reading, and talking.

On Friday, before checking out to come home, we skied on the Landgrove's own trail network, a modest one, which had so far only been "groomed" by a pass with a snowmobile. The real grooming was to take place on Friday, but we were out there before it happened. Many of the trails are in open meadows and along a stream, with others deep in the pine woods.



Arriving back home Friday afternoon, we found mounds of snow already turned brown and black since Wednesday's storm. Vermont was still very white, in stark contrast. A couple of inches on Saturday will freshen us up again and continue this wonderful winter.

Trail Maintenance, XC Skiing - Featherstonhaugh State Forest

Today, a group from Holly's church was going to do some ski trail maintenance at Featherstonhaugh SF, and since I ski there a lot, I tagged along to help out. It was good to have a group this size, and especially an enthusiastic one. We made a real difference on one of the nice gentle downhills that had been clogged by overhanging branches, and also cleared out a rerouted section around a large fallen tree. A second group went a different way, cutting back brush and adding more trail markers to an especially confusing section, where I commonly get "misplaced" on the moonlight snowshoe outings I lead here.



When we were finished, I skied the rest of the loop back to the car, after an afternoon well spent.

XC Skiing - Rockwood State Forest

This afternoon, we headed off to Rockwood State Forest, a few miles west of Johnstown on NY29, and about an hour from home. There are miles of ski trails there, and the snow is usually pretty good as a result of being on the edge of a lot of lake-effect activity. The conditions today could not have been better, with lots of soft powder and broken trails. Sometimes, they "groom" some trails here, but honestly, it's better when they just leave it alone. The trees were covered with snow, and the skiing was fabulous.

Holly did a shorter less hilly loop, still babying her injured knee somewhat, and I went off and did a longer more hilly loop. We'd be coming back on the same trail, and arranged a meeting place to get back together. But I caught her from behind before we got there.



This was really nice kick/glide skiing in previously broken tracks, and I'd been moving along at a pretty good clip, not to mention a couple of speedy downhills.

We continued on together to the top of another hill, a fairly gentle one, and prepared to head back down it and back to the car.



This place rarely disappoints, and today was no exception. There's something for everybody here, and the skiing today was as good as it gets.

XC Skiing - Wilton Wildlife Preserve, Camp Saratoga

This afternoon, Holly and I went for a short ski at the Wilton Wildlife Preserve and Park's Camp Saratoga, on Scout Road in Wilton. This was more of a test of Holly's recently injured knee than a real ski outing, so we took it slow and easy. The trails were nicely groomed and in great shape, and it was nice to kick/glide in prepared tracks after so many trailbreaking sessions earlier this season. I did ski one other ungroomed and slightly hilly trail, and also added in a few speedy spurts of my own, after which we'd regroup and continue on. We were only out for a little less than an hour, but made the most of it, each in our own way.

Snowshoeing - Christman Sanctuary

Today, I didn't feel like skiing for some reason. I reasoned that with no snow for almost a week, all of the nearby places would now be walked to death. So I grabbed the snowshoes, and headed to the Christman Sanctuary in nearby Duanesburg, another place I tend to visit a lot. There are trails on both sides of the stream and gorge, and today I walked them all.

The cascades in the stream were all frozen and snow-covered, though water was clearly gurgling underneath.





As I approached the main 30-foot falls, there was some nice bluish ice hanging from the wall of the gorge.



Then came the main attraction.



Large chunks of ice had fallen from the left-hand waterfall, and water could be seen gurgling underneath and forming new ice. The right-hand waterfall was solid and silent.





Under some conditions, I might have gone behind the ice, and have done that before. But with water running, and fallen ice all around me, I decided not to tempt fate.



The walk out was uneventful, up through the jagged rocks with cables added for security.

XC Skiing - Clapper Hollow State Forest

Despite the frigid temperatures expected today, I went ahead with a ski trip I was leading for Schenectady ADK to Clapper Hollow State Forest, in southwestern Schoharie County, about an hour from home. With 8 signups, I couldn't be a wimp and cancel the trip, so away we went.



It was about 13F when we left Schenectady, but we were expecting to be in single digits all day down in the hills, with double-digit negative windchills. As it turned out, it was 9F at the trailhead, with brilliant sunshine and no wind, a beautiful morning, and much warmer less cold than we expected.



We skied the first hour uphill to the leanto and took a short snack break in the warm sun. Then we continued on and skied some other trails atop the hill before returning downhill to the cars, having done the large figure-8 above entirely counterclockwise. We were out for about 3 hours and were never cold. Aside from the one retraced strip in the center, we were breaking trail for the whole 5 miles or so in nearly a foot of fresh powder, with some icy crust underneath. My only regret is that my camera battery was dead and I couldn't take any pictures. The snow-covered pines were gorgeous against the bright blue sky. Spectacular day, and much less severe cold than expected.

Snowshoeing - Moccasin Kill Sanctuary

The Moccasin Kill Sanctuary is yet another of the many natural areas that we're lucky to have so close to home. It's not a place I'd ever dream of skiing, because of the steep-sided ravines and the trails that traverse them. But it's a beautiful and scenic place for snowshoeing, and today there was no shortage of snow, crunchy though it was.



There was about 8-10" of snow underneath an icy crust from this week's freezing rain, with another inch or two of new snow on top. I started out following a trail that had been broken before the ice storm, and then headed off on the blue trail, which hadn't been broken in quite some time. It was also all uphill at the start, so it was a pretty good workout. Coming down, it was common to have the snowshoe break through the icy crust and slide forward, catching the toe underneath. No face plants, but I was close.

Then I picked up the orange loop, and followed it to a spur trail down a ridge with old acorn markers. These soon petered out and I gave up following it, though at one point in the past, I think there may have been an open view across the Mohawk River down there farther.



Following a narrow ridge top, I was back to the car in about an hour or so after an invigorating walk on a very pretty day.

XC Skiing - Featherstonhaugh State Forest

It was a messy storm yesterday and overnight. First came a few inches of new powder, followed by a brief period of sleet in the morning. In the afternoon came the freezing rain, creating a full half-inch of icy crust in my driveway and back yard. Then today we got another inch or two of powder on top of that crust. Skiing seemed improbable at best, so I resigned myself to getting out for a snowshoe walk this afternoon.

Featherstonhaugh SF has become my go-to place for a quick outing like this close to home, so was the most likely candidate for today. It's flat, uncrowded, and familiar, so seemed like the right idea. But just in case, I'd throw in the skis, in the unlikely event that would even be possible. If not, then I'd snowshoe instead.

As it turned out, as long as I skied in the previous ski or snowshoe tracks that had been well-packed before the icy crust came down, the skiing really wasn't bad. There was an inch or two of new snow on top of the crust, and not much soft snow underneath to break through into. Next to the trail was a different story, and a ski disappeared under the crust on several occasions, into the 8-10 inches of softer snow below.



The trees were all sugar-coated with new snow atop the icy glaze, and the branches were bending over deeply from the weight. It turned into a pretty good day to be out.