Earning your turns

My first skiing experience I remember my dad taking me to a ravine a few miles away from our house in the high deserts of Southern California. It was one of those strange years when the cold front came down so far that the southern latitudes of California got 14" of snow. We had to hike back up the hill a few times and for a kid who had never really seen the snow that much it was all becoming quite chore.






















Both the Emery & Colton know how to ski but they have been chomping at the bit to get on snowboards. We were just going to get out of the house for a while and do some sledding. I brought my snowboard to get in a turn or two but it was the kids who put in most of the time with the board. buckling and unbuckling the bindings was the toughest part of the event. They were so happy about it we all went again the next day.

Alien Trail - Outer Limits Loop

Nothing soothes the soul like riding with good friends.

I had been to the Alien Trail riding area once before but the 10 mile loop was all that they had completed at that time (2007). Now the "Outer Limits" trail extends east to the divide between the Animas and San Juan rivers with great views in all directions with the small boulders keeping you busy during the whole ride. Toward the end of the loop we came up to a road intersection where the trail went across and down to a gully where the trail ended. At this point the trail had not been finished and you have to go back to the road and ride westerly to Y turn left and climb the sandy hill to the top where you will find the trail sign where the trail continues on the right along the ridge.

Not quite winter

Dave and I rode our bikes on the South rim trail while it was trying to snow just after Thanksgiving. I thought we were going to have more snow but as I drove from my house at the north end of town to the south end the various temperature reading I saw on signs along the road kept going up. We ended up only doing the Sail Barn to Big Canyon section with some cleat issues stopping us from going further.