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Tim Feldkamp and I went out and skied 10 miles of unbroken hilly trail today on the glorious Waterloo-Pinckney Trail in 8 inches of fresh new pow-pow and about 20degF. It took 5 hours and 3 slices of pizza.
This trail has a great mix of rolling hardwoods and old farms. It crosses a bunch of quiet little dirt backroads.
We’ve now skied the whole thing. This chunk was our last missing portion of the 30-mile trail. It took 3 outings to do it all. 4, if you include the Poto part to the end.
The next goal is—according to the fantasy of another friend—to ski the whole thing in one shot. Never been done before that anyone of us have heard of. If a big dump of snow had been on the ground for a week or so it would be doable. In that time people would’ve been out on it enough to track it all in one way or another. And any way is good. Pretty much. A couple snowmobile passes are about the best way to prep a trail. Postholers of any kind are the worst.
We noted that Tim’s nowax skis were fine and on par with mine whenever we were breaking trail. But on any packed surface my waxables were TWICE as fast. (Same lesson learned when I skied the Poto with John and his nowax skis last year.)
I had the chance for a great finish because the last 1 km of McClure was steep, winding uphill. The packed snow road offered good glide (up!). It was like a starting gate was dropped. I was thrilled that I had the energy to bust it out to the top, then got a cool-down downhill glide to the car. Ahhhh…
Then we dried off and went and got a beer and chow at the swanky indie Common Grill in Chelsea.
I’d like to try some 220’s for trail-breaking. I bet they’d float darn nicely. (I’d REALLY like to get ahold of some 250cm Finnish “forest” skis…)
I enjoyed driving the last few miles to the “put-in” with my old Volvo and its Nokian Hakkapalitta world class rally tires. I could blaze away at 40mph on the narrow snowed-in roads. (Tim and I pushed out a car and a huge SUV that had less luck.) These little dirt roads are great and are tucked away inside the several communities/towns within the 20,000 acres of the park region. They make for a great springtime bike tour.
We cheated a bit for the last mile by skiing on a snow-packed backroad. The unbroken trail zigzags back’n’forth across this very hilly road 3 times, never straying far from it. We turned “ugh” into fun this way. A great way to finish with a smile after 5 hours out there. (We even pushed a huge stuck SUV out of some minor snow.)
Taking a snack break after we climbed up 1km of steep switchbacks to the “Pond Lily” overlook. (Weird name. I suspect it’s somehow named after the vast gravel pit at the base of the hill. Like, it’s the Pond Lily Company.)
