XC Skiing: Coyote Ridge Natural Area

Unlike yesterday, today the sun was shining brightly. There was plenty of snow on the ground, but it was melting fast even tough it was only 30 degrees. I wanted to take advantage of the snow and get some cross county skiing in close to home, so I drove about five miles to the Coyote Ridge Natural Area just south of Fort Collins.



Heading to the foothills



Coyote Ridge sign at the entrance (left), a bunny in the snow at Coyote Ridge (right)

It was only 10AM and but already the warm spring sun was melting the snow on the trail. There a few sections of the trail that had no snow on it and a few sections with very deep snow drifts.



Snow already melting on the trail



Looking back at the trail from the first ridge



Action shot using the timer on my camera



Tracks from climbing a hill



The view from the ground-level

It was definitely harder to ski on an un-groomed trail. I had two falls, one climbing through a snow drift and one coming down a hill. This was the first time I’ve fallen on skis. Trying to get up is interesting, especially without taking the skis off.



Hanging out on the deck of the cabin



The cabin in the distance and a prairie dog




Skiing up the second big ridge





Up on the ridge, that's Fort Collins in the distance on the right



Skiing back down the ridge (left), a lot of snow has melted, you can see my old ski tracks in the middle patch of snow left on the trail (right)



With all the snow melted off the trail, I had to ski on snow on top of the grass



Back at the trailhead, I skied up that second ridge and back

By the time I turned around and headed back to the trailhead, there was a lot of bare trail showing and I had t ski through the grass. It was a good time and I managed to ski about 4 miles.



The trail is 7 miles round trip from the trailhead, about half of the trail is on the Coyote Ridge Natural Area and the other half is in Rimrock Open Space

XC Skiing out the Backdoor

It was in the 70’s a few days ago and today a foot of snow fell on Fort Collins. While that wasn’t great news for all the people trying to get to and from work, it was good news for me. I’ve wanted to go cross country skiing again and today all I had to do was go out the backdoor and start skiing.



Skiing out the backdoor of my house



Pre-ride poser shot in the backyard



Making tracks



My dirt riding goggles worked pretty good

I checked the weather and saw that the winds were going to pick up in the early afternoon, so I got ready and went out there in the late morning. It was only 18 degrees out so I bundles up.



Taking a break



Let it snow



Going up a hill

I headed in to the open space behind the house skiing on top walking/bicycling path. Then 30 minutes from the house the white out conditions began - the wind started blowing 30mph or more. I kept going. I couldn’t see much because of the white out conditions and at some point I thought that maybe I was insane, I was the only person out there. So after two miles a few fun hills I started to head back home and then….. I had to cross the street so I took my skis off, and I couldn’t put one of them back on. I had so much snow caked and iced up in my binding that my ski wouldn’t clip in anymore. I was on the sidewalk, the passing cars were giving me weird looks and I could not get my boot clipped in. The wind was blowing so hard that I had a hard time standing on one foot while trying to get the other one clipped in to my binding.



With the snow and wind, it's hard to see the lake and the houses



Snow covered buds on a tree

After a while I decide that there was no way I was going to get the binding cleared of snow when the snow was constantly blowing at me, so I gimped back to the house by putting the boot down on the ski and kind of pushing and sliding it along. So after 4 miles I get home and the wind stops blowing.



After 4 miles I made it back home

XC Skiing: State Forest State Park - Gould Trail

I wanted to take my new-to-me cross country skis out for a spin today, and since Mike has never been on skis before, he wanted to go cross country skiing also. Mike went and rented a pair of skis, poles and boots from Jax in Fort Collins for $12, then we headed west on highway 14 towards Cameron Pass.



Highway 14 heading toward Cameron Pass

I had a trail in mind for us to ski. I wanted to skis the Cameron Connection trail first, which would take us to the Michigan Ditch trail. Both trails are supposedly easy. We arrived at the Zimmerman Lake Trailhead parking lot around 11:30AM. It was going to be a warm day today, but at this hour it was still in the mid 30’s.



The mandatory poser pictures with skis

As we collected our gear the parking lot was filing up fast. With all the new snow that fell here yesterday, many people has the same idea but most of them were heading out to do the Zimmerman Lake trail or the Montgomery Pass trail.



We needed some help to get the 4Runner out of the parking lot, we really need a four-wheel-drive out here

We grabbed our skis and poles and crossed the roads to the Cameron Connection Trail. The snow was very deep here. We got our skis on and proceeded west but it was hard to make any forward progress. The snow was very deep and it didn’t look like anyone had been here yet since the new snow had fallen. There were some small hills on this trail, not even hills - more like bumps the size of large steps, but for whatever reason we couldn’t get over them with our skis. The skis were bending, if we tried to climb the hills sideways, we would just end up sliding backward sideways. We just weren’t ready to ski trails like these, after a few falls be got our skis off and walked back to the Zimmerman Lake Trailhead parking lot.



Amazing views from highway 14 of Cameron Pass

We needed a wide, groomed and mostly level trail and I knew exactly where we could go to ski one that wasn’t too far away. I was just there yesterday snowshoeing. We would have to pay $6 to cross country ski at the State Forest State Park , but I was certain that the Gould Trail would be a perfect trail for us newbies.



The Moose Visitor Center at the State Forest State Park

Unfortunately, with all the snow in the parking lot, the 4Runner was now stuck in the snow. The Toyota 4Runner is a very popular SUV around Colorado, but unlike all the other 4Runners around here that are four-wheel-drive, Mike‘s truck is rear-wheel-drive since he didn’t need a four-wheel-drive vehicle when he was living in Louisiana. With a little push we were on our way to the State Forest State Park just on the other side of Cameron Pass.



A groomed ski trail is exactly what we needed



Mike - first time on skis



I'm look like a pro now, having skied two whole times



Mike in action



I'm really moving on those things



Going downhill is so much fun



Cross country skiing and getting a tan - that's Colorado

There was only one other car in the lot at the State Forest State Park. We basically had the Gould Trail all to ourselves. The groomed trail was awesome to cross country ski and we were having a blast. The temperature was now in the 50’s, which felt like 67 degrees with the warm sun.



Notice the snow in the parking lot has all melted now (there was lots of snow in the parking lot when I shot a picture of the Moose Visitor Center a few hours earlier) the sun is very warm here, the snow melts very fast



I tried the Alpina skis that Mike rented, they had metal edges, they were much faster then my skis, shorter and wider too, but I didn't not like these Rottefella bindings - no button like on mine which you can press with your ski pole to release the boot from the ski - on this binding there was this grey locking mechanism that you needed to open and close using your hands

I have to say that I was much faster and better on the skis today, then the first time two weeks ago. Also, this trail being wide and groomed, with no obstacles to watch out for, gave me a lot of confidence. We didn’t ski the whole Gould Loop which is 6.5 miles long. We skied out about 1.5 - 2 miles and turned around. We probably ended up skiing about 3 - 4 miles today.



Mountain sheep along highway 14, I've never seen them out here, usually they hang out near Estes Park

Now that I’ve snowshoed and cross country skied the Gould Trail, I have to say that skiing it is more fun because it is such a wide trail and there isn’t much of an incline, it‘s prefect for cross country skiing. And I’m sure I get through the 6.5 mile loop faster on skies then on the snowshoes

My new-to-me (used) gear for x-country skiing

Through the magic of time travel I’m able to post from the future! Well, not really. I’m just so behind on my blog that I’ve already been able to use my cross country skis 3 times. That’s how some of these pictures came about. It’s already April as I type this and more snow is on the way :)




This is me x-country skiing in the future

But lets go back in time to Saturday, March 7th since that’s when the whole cross country skiing idea came in to fruition. I live just around the corner from the REI Fort Collins store. Usually on Saturdays I head out early for some snowshoeing but yesterday I was lucky enough to be able stop in at REI before heading out to my full moon snowshoe (see previous post) which didn‘t start until the early afternoon.

I went to REI because I was looking for a day pack. I had narrowed it down to two or possibly tree brands/models and decided to check out the REI members only garage sale, hoping to find one that was slightly used and less expensive than a new one.



My new-to-me cross-country skis: Fischer BC Country Crown



I love the easy push button release Rottefella NNN-BC bindings

I didn’t find any used packs at REI that I wanted but I did come home with a pair of used cross country skis with bindings for $30, a pair of used xc boots for $15 and a pair of used ski poles for $18.



My new-to-me Rossignol BC7 boots





I love the sturdy design of this boot, it's very comfortable - so much better then those Alpina boots I rented





They even have a metal ring for attaching gaiters

I really enjoyed cross country skiing two weeks but I definitely wasn’t ready to buy new gear until I figured out how much I really liked cross country skiing and where I liked to ski and on what types of trails. I imagine that by the time I get my new skis I will have these things figured out plus which type of skis to get. But first I have to learn how to ski.



My new-to-me Rossignol adjustible poles



I have small hands and these small rubberized hand grips fit my hands well

I was really glad that I did a bit of research on xc skis two weeks ago after my first time skiing even though I had no plans on getting skis this soon. When I walked in to REI and saw all this xc gear, I already knew things about it, which made my decision to buy so much easier. Buying this used gear saved me hundreds of dollars. Coincidently, these same brands and models that I bought used where the ones I was thinking of buying, when I was ready to buy new.