Bear Creek Triathlon

With a morning full of chores behind us and a couple inches of new snow on the ground, we decided to take the dogs up the road for a little romp in the woods.  We opted for the cross country skis and were planning on heading up the canyon on the usual trail, when Carl suggested we try striking out across the bordering ranch land (with our neighbor's permission, of course).  Sure, why not?  We're always up for an adventure.

The thing was, no one had been that direction since it began snowing except for the deer and moose.  Luna tried breaking trail but she tended to wander, so Carl took over.  We learned that skinny little classic nordic skis are not the appropriate tools for travelling through waist-deep snow.

Carl breaking trail with the mutts hot on his heels.

Snow puppy

 It took us a ridiculously long time to cover about a quarter mile, so we decided to turn around when we reached a small slope.  For some reason, Carl thought trying some downhill on skinny little skis would be a really good time.  I think it was mostly for his own amusement.

Sphinx Mountain trying to break out of the clouds in the background,

Dropping in!

Shredding the gnar!

And....disaster.  Good thing Luna the avalanche dog was there to save me.

 After digging myself out (which took almost as long as the hike in), we skied back to the truck, thus completing the first leg of the triathlon.  On our return home we realized we'd left a gate open.  Since it was just a short jaunt and we already had a trail established, we opted to switch out skis for snowshoes.  Halfway back up the road Carl spied a car headed in the opposite direction and, gentleman that he is, he tried to get to the side so they could get by.  Unfortunately, the spot he chose was a sugary, snowy morass that swallowed the truck tires whole.  We were good and stuck, and no amount of rocking was going to get us free.  Leaving him to start digging, I jogged a mile back down the road to the neighbor's house to borrow a truck and a tow strap.  But just as we were ready to drive to the rescue, here came Carl and the truck, free as you please.  Apparently all that digging worked.  Thus ended the second leg of our triathlon.

And the third part?  When we made it back up the road, strapped on the snowshoes, and closed that gosh darn gate.

How do you keep a puppy warm?  Stuff her in a small child's fleece, courtesy of the local thrift store.  She's tough enough that she doesn't care about looking like a weenie.