XC skiing near Joyce's ranch

A 63 year old and a 71 year old woman kicked my butt Friday! Yes, I went cross-country skiing with Sue Ann and Joyce again. I had to work at keeping up with them. Montana women are tough.

In the morning Joyce called me to say that she and Sue Ann were going cross-country skiing at noon. Ah ha! Just what I need to get back to my Montana way of life.

The skiing would be from Joyce's ranch on to adjoining Plum Creek timber company land. I hadn't been to Joyce and Edley's ranch before. Their house and ranch buildings are at the back of their ranch and I must have driven a mile to reach their house. Their driveway is a single lane road and the snow had not been plowed as Joyce likes to cross-country ski on it to go get her mail. She said the road gets too icy this time of year when it is plowed. My car is low to the ground but I had no problem driving the road as I made sure to stay in the wheel tracks. I did have to slow down a couple times when I crossed cattle guards in the road.

Sun Ann was already there with her purple Geo Tracker. Joyce had made a loaf of orange and nut bread and we had a few slices and caught up on events since my return. The group had gone on a number of interesting cross-country ski trips while I was in North Dakota. Bill and Gary currently are out-of-state in warmer climates but after they return we have an interesting and challenging ski trek planned.

I borrowed Joyce's son's skis and this time I put the skis on the right feet. They didn't fall off either this time - no matter how hard I crashed.

We skied across a pasture and crossed through a barb fence and onto Plum Creek land. Joyce and Sue Ann took off their skis to cross through the fence. I didn't want to take my skis off so they held a strand of barb wire up as I awkwardly got each leg and ski through the fence. Joyce had to unhook the barb wire from my coat a few times.

A short ski up and through the woods and we were on an old logging road. Much of this area had been logged ten or more years ago. There were tall trees left here and there, and new trees were growing again, but we had open views as we climbed one of the mountains. On high we could see back to Joyce's ranch and open pastures. Beyond we could see to the Swan Mountain range and towards Glacier Park. The mountains were all snow covered in white. Extremely beautiful!

Our skiing was mainly climbing a mountain. Sometimes we had to angle our skis outward so as to not slip backwards. Other times it was more like walking with skis than gliding. The previous day's weather when I had sun-snow-sun at my ranch; at Joyce's ranch it was lots of snow. There was almost a foot of fresh snow to ski on. Fortunately it wasn't deep enough to make breaking a trail difficult. At least Sue Ann didn't complain as she broke much of the trail.

On and upward we went. On a switchback, when we stopped to look back at the Swan Range view, I got distracted by the view and fell over sideways into the snow. Joyce and Sue Ann got a good laugh. I was covered in snow. I brushed the snow from my pants and in the clear sunny skies quickly dried off. I also learned how to get myself up off the ground by using my ski poles.

Joyce's dog - Laddie - joined our ski adventure. Laddie is a Rottweiler with some German Shepard. She would bound around and around and put her nose into the snow and move it about searching for a mouse or something. She never found anything but kept trying. Occasionally Laddie would stand on the trail in front of us blocking our way, or she would stand on the back of our skis. That made skiing harder. I thought of my friend Rod back in North Dakota and his dog Buddy, and how they like to cross-country ski.

We had skied for two hours and estimated we had skied four to five miles before the logging road came to an end. After eating a few snacks, we turned around to ski back down the logging road. Joyce and Sue Ann were looking forward to skiing down. Me? I was so enjoying my surroundings earlier that I forgot to think that "what goes up, must come down". Uh, oh.

Sue Ann was in lead, then me, then Joyce. Going down was definitely faster than going up. I concentrated on staying in the ski tracks and to remain upright. I figured out that to help slow down I should ski out of the tracks and in fresh snow. I started to go faster and faster and moved entirely out of the tracks. The problem was that I am not good at steering. I made sure I skied on the up-mountain side and not the "over-the-side-of-the-mountain" side of the logging road.

My first fall was when I went too far on the up-side of the logging road and I had one foot way higher than the other foot and toppled over. I found that having fallen it is tricky to get one's balance again, especially when the area where I had fallen was steep enough that my skis took off as soon as I stood up. Joyce had a laugh as I had fallen a few more times before I got the knack of staying up again.

I let Joyce pass by. No sense slowing her down if I fell again. And I did.

Joyce and Sue Ann zoomed down the mountain. Every so often Joyce and Sue Ann would slow down or stop and wait for me to catch up. They explained how to "snow plow" to slow down. My first attempt at doing so had my skis crossed in front of me. I quickly did a forward tumble. Sue Ann and Joyce had another good laugh.

After a long period of remaining upright I had to pass between the tops of two trees that had fallen partially across the road. I passed between the trees but in doing so got distracted and fell again.

Once we left the logging road to return to Joyce's ranch I found the terrain to be steeper than what I remembered. Lots of obstacles of fallen branches and trees and tree stumps. I really used my ski poles to keep my movement as slow as possible. Sue Ann almost skied into the barb wire fence and had to fall over to stop. She did so in time.

Once again I awkwardly got my body and skis through the fence. Once again Joyce had to unhook a strand of barb wire from my clothing.

The road on Joyce's ranch was snow packed and slippery. The skiing down was fast. I weigh more than Sue Ann and Joyce, and starting from the same point, I quickly moved faster and ahead of them. More crashes on my part when I tried to slow down.

Joyce and Edley's cattle are calving now. One of Joyce and Edley's newborn calves - a week old - got a broken leg. They believe another cow accidentally stepped on the calf's lower leg just above the hoof. Joyce and Edley took the calf to the vet the day before and the vet put a cast on the leg. The cast is also wrapped in duct tape to help keep the cast dry. Mama and calf are kept in a building while the legs heals. This reduces the chance of getting stepped on again and the need for the calf to walk around following the herd. The cast will be on for three weeks. Not only is it trying to learn to walk, it has this cast on its right hind leg that makes it harder to walk. Poor baby calf. It is so cute.

While Sue Ann and Joyce skied from the barn down to the house I walked. Enough falling for me.

While our trip up the mountain lasted 2 hours, the return trip lasted about 30 minutes. I told you it was faster going down!

The temperature wasn't cold as it was in the 20s F. I worked up a sweat skiing up the mountain. After our skiing was done Joyce had us in for hot chocolate, cookies, and more orange and nut bread. Like me, Joyce and Edley like big windows in a house. They have a fantastic view of their ranch and the mountains out their window. It is gorgeous!

I felt great and had a wonderful time skiing. I drove home slowly in order to appreciate the mountains shining bright white in the late afternoon sun.

The next morning I woke up very stiff and sore all over from my skiing adventure. This feeling lasted a few days. That's what I get for laying around much of the winter!