Souris River skiing

Today I went skiing with my friend Rod and his dog, Buddy. Usually skiing in North Dakota isn't that good due to a lack of snow. This year is different with all the snow that has fallen.


Sunday's weather was good with high clouds, little wind, 8 degrees F, and good fresh snow.

We went skiing at the golf course west of town. Four people had just finished skiing when we arrived. Other than a couple we met at the end of our skiing, these were the only skiers we saw. A trail went around much of the golf course's perimeter and we followed it once. It ended up being a little over a mile long. The trail wasn't flat but it still had less up/down than where I ski in Montana.

On the second go around we left the trail to cross a bridge then go down to the Souris River.

Railroad bridge across the Souris River.

Buddy has a thing about bridges and wouldn't cross over the bridge until Rod and I skied over it. To avoid using the bridge Buddy would go down and up the river banks to cross the river.


The skis I used were ones I had given to my brother a few years ago along with a pair of mismatched poles.  The skis were ones that need wax - which I didn't have with me - so I found downhills to be fast and uphills an effort to not slip backwards.

The skis also were a pain to clip into so I walked sideways down the riverbank to the river while Rod un-clipped and walked down. The snow was still soft and Rod sank deep into the snow on some of his steps.

On the river we were sheltered from the light breeze and this made the skiing even better. The only thing we had to watch out for was the occasional snowmobile that came by. The snowmobiles ruined some of our ski tracks and on our return I had to make new tracks part of the time.

Buddy was in Heaven as he was able to get out and run. And run. Buddy is a yellow Lab and enjoyed the weather. He ran back and forth across the river checking out the tall grass/weeds for signs of wildlife and found none. He also 'marked' numerous trees and branches and I was surprised he could still pee at the end of our journey. Occasionally he would drop to the ground and slide and bury his head in the snow both to eat some snow for liquid and to cool off.


We came to a small coffer dam, and while the river had a thick layer of ice, we discovered some open water below the small dam. We also found the open water strongly smelled like a sewer. Buddy got too close to the water and briefly fell in the water when the snow and ice sank and he got part of his legs wet. We checked him and found him to be fine and so we continued on.

Buddy had lots of energy but a few miles from the end of our trip he was tiring and no longer ran as fast and far. Both Rod and I knew how Buddy felt as we were starting to droop also. I have skied farther in Montana so I put my being tired to my lack of exercise since I arrived in North Dakota.

We spent almost three hours out and about and skiing and had a great time. 6.2 miles total.

The loop is the golf course and the line is the river. The double line shows our return to the pickup from the river after we had done one complete circle of the golf course in a clockwise fashion.

Round Meadow ski

Friday I went skiing at a new place to me: Round Meadow. This is west of Kalispell.

Bill didn't sleep well the previous night so he canceled. Sue Ann didn't want to drive across the valley to meet us. So it was just Joyce and I who skied.

A few other cars were at the parking lot. A young couple with three young kids were just starting out when we arrived. The youngest appeared to be around four or five and the other two appeared to be between six and eight. The parents were with the youngest kid teaching her how to ski.

After we passed the family a dog ran up near me. Dogs are allowed on the trail. I wasn't too thrilled at the dog on the ski trail as I was concerned about it getting underfoot. Shortly a woman skied passed us by. The dog followed her and occasionally squatted on the trail to pee. The trail had a couple red shovels near the start for the dog owners to 'pick up after' their dogs. Ya right, like someone is going to carry a shovel when on skis.

The weather was ideal: sunny, upper 20s temperature, and no wind other than occasionally a slight breeze moving the moss on the tops of trees. The snow was excellent. The recent snowfall made for great skiing. There was a track to follow if one wished, else the trail was wide enough to make your own track.

The forest was mainly recent trees. Some areas looked to be five or so years old while other sections ranged from ten to fifteen years and some areas older. A nice variety.

The trail was relatively level but not completely. Most areas had some nice long straight downhills and I worked on my ability to ski down them and stay upright. I did encounter a long downhill that then curved. I kept picking up speed. My snowplow ability is lacking and I purposely crashed to stop before the turn and the next steeper downhill section.

For the most part I was able to ski upright. It was only near the end when I was on the Fox Run and Lookout trails where I had more crashes. And a few times I took off my skis and walked down the hill. Usually those were hills that had a curve at the bottom and I didn't want to risk crashing into a tree. On the steepest and longest hill I even had trouble walking partway down it. A little under half way down I put my skis on to finish skiing down the hill and I promptly crashed as soon as I started as my skis took off before I was ready.

One time I was on one ski to maintain my balance (along with some arm waving and yelling). I am proud to say I recovered and did not crash. Once I tried to walk down a hill sideways on skis but that failed miserably.

The snow was not slick so I was able to ski up most hills. I did have to take my skis off a couple times to walk up a hill as my skis are so long I can't walk up hills in a "v" fashion as the skis cross in the back.

In the next photos, the smudges are from the snow that got on my camera lens after I had crashed earlier.

By the time we were on the Tu Mennie Chief trail the snow began to stick to our skis. As long as I kept moving I was ok. We then got sidetracked onto a spur trail between the road and the trail. This section was totally in the sun and the snow really stuck to our skis. I could no longer glide and with each step I gained snow until I felt I was on stilts until I got some of the snow off the skis.

Joyce had wax and we put that on our skis after scraping the snow off using a tree branch. That made skiing great again.

There is a really long and steep hill on Lookout trail. I already picked up speed on the upper third when the trail turned. At the top of the turn I suddenly saw two skiers slowly climbing up the middle of the trail. Even without the skiers on the trail I would have purposely crashed to stop. No way was I skiing down that hill!

The couple coming up the hill looked to be in their 20s. Each was carrying a child on their bodies. He had a larger kid on his back and she had a baby on her front. Man, that is some dedication to skiing!

They had been on the trails before and purposely came this direction so as to climb the biggest hill and not ski down it.

Here are a few hills I went down:

Photo 1: I skied down this hill without falling.

Photo 2: This is the biggest hill - the one the young couple skied up. I wasn't able to capture and show the hill's height due to the shade. Joyce and I walked down to the next level and from there we skied down the last part into the sunny part.

On the way home we stopped for Joyce to retrieve a realtor's for sale sign. Joyce and her husband have a job placing and caring for the for sale signs for a realty company.

It took a little work to get the sign post out of the frozen ground once I shoveled the snow away from the post.



I am not sure how many miles we skied. Maybe eight miles?