Today the SkiMeister and I were looking to get on our skinny skis for the first time this season. We decided there might be enough fresh snow to ski on if we found some flat terrain. We headed for Jericho, Vt., and the Mills Riverside Park.
We knew there wasn't a ton of natural snow at that elevation, so we didn't take our best skis, but hoped there was enough to slide across. We were in luck, as we found five fluffy inches of snow — enough to cruise on!
We strode around the large field that you find when you first enter the park through the red covered bridge. Then, we cruised up toward the sledding hill and over to the dog area and the other grassy fields where we got to visit with a couple of neighbor horses. We did not go up the hill into the woods because we knew there would be less snow and more dirt and rocks!
Most cross-country centers around the state are waiting for more of a base to open. Only Craftsbury and Trapp Family Lodge in northern Vermont are open, and they just have one or two kilometers available with the help of snowmaking.
We enjoyed our early-season cross-country warm up in the gently falling snow. I'm looking forward to many kilometers of Nordic skiing this winter. I feel so fortunate to be able to mix things up with cross-country skiing, backcountry skiing or downhill skiing on any given snowy day!
