For much of the spring, summer and early fall, I rode three days a week with the Merrimack Valley chapter of the New England Mountain Biking Association.   Tuesday nights at Lowell-Dracut, Friday nights at Russell Mill & Great Brook Farm, and Sundays at a variety of places in New England.  I took my first trip to Highland Mountain Bike Park in NH, and also was part of a group trip up to the Kingdom Trails in VT.

I started using EveryTrail fairly early in the season, tracking many (but not all) of my rides with the GPS receiver in my smart phone.  According to their statistics, I recorded 59 trips and covered 722.7 miles as of 12/31.  I estimate that the GPS mileage is probably low by a small percentage since it cuts off corners, especially in tightly packed trails.     I also know I didn’t track several rides, or had problems with losing tracks on some of them.

Applying some conservative fudge factor adjustments, I’m estimating I rode over 800 miles in 2011.

I am fairly sure I didn’t manage to break 1000 miles like I had been vaguely aiming for, but 800 miles of dirt is still a lot in my book.  It’s way more than I’ve ever ridden in one season before.

So, I leave you with two bookends for the season.

A simple video of a studded tire ride at Lowell-Dracut that I shot on my cell phone back in January:

…and a more polished video that I shot on a GoPro camera, from our epic Kingdom Trails trip that we took in the fall:

Can’t wait to turn the cranks in 2012.

I opted to rent full armor (knee/shin guards, elbow/forearm guards, chest/shoulder/spine protection, and a full-face helmet).  I had been considering renting a plush bike more suited to the terrain, but I decided to give it a whirl on my Mojo.  My bike did everything I asked of it (and seemed to be begging for more), so I was definitely the limiting factor there!

My first couple of runs were quite tentative, but once I got a little more comfortable I really started having fun trying to rail down some of the faster, bermed out flowy trails.  I played a bit on some of the drops and tried to get the hang of the tabletops and step ups, but I’m still lacking skill and confidence on those.  My fun-o-meter was pegged into redline most of the day.

I brought along my new GoPro Hero HD camera, trying to get some footage to put together since I enjoy making videos.  Unfortunately, I’m still learning the proper angles to set up for the chest mount, and most of the footage I got is a little low-looking.  Still, it gives a sense of the place and what the trails are like.  Highly recommended – I can’t wait to go back!

To step up my mountain biking game, I’ve had to do a fair amount of tuning of my pre-ride, during-ride, and post-ride nutrition and hydration. In past years I’ve just kind of bumbled along with no particular plan, and have tried a few different things with no consistent success. I often fought exhaustion and generally feeling miserable during rides, and for the last couple of years I had been fighting horrible headaches post-ride despite trying the obvious things like trying to stay hydrated.

While I am still continuing to tweak and tune the regimen, I’ve got a framework well established and it’s been working pretty well for me so far. On days where I ride in the evening after work, I try to make sure to get some extra protein and fluids into my system in the afternoon (greek yogurt and water). On my way to the ride, I usually consume about 16 ounces of Gatorade. If I’m feeling like my stomach is on the empty side, I will usually chow on a Clif bar before the ride.

Our weeknight rides have two start times, and we swing back to the parking lot generally to pick up late arrivals. I have been trying to use this opportunity to get another 8 ounces of Gatorade into my system, which gives a little sugar/electrolyte kick after the warmup loop. I also will usually take my first Gu shot just before we leave the parking lot to start the actual ride. Gu has simple and complex sugars, as well as 20mg of caffeine per packet. The recommended timing is a Gu shot every 45 minutes, and I have been following that roughly. I do find I tend to feel hungry (which is distracting) towards the end of any ride of ~3hrs, so I will often take a few bites of Clif bar along the way to try to trick my stomach into thinking it’s full.

Of course, for every ride I’m always constantly drinking water from my Camelbak. I’m now on my third backpack hydration pack, as I’ve either outgrown or worn out the previous ones. I was enticed by the new quick-release hose system, and a more modern bladder with anti-microbial properties, so I ended up with a Camelbak MULE NV pack. So far I’m very happy with it – I really like the ability to disconnect the drinking hose to fill up the bladder, and the new packs seem to fit me better than my 8yr old HAWG or my 10 year old Source pack ever did.

Of course, water alone isn’t really enough to keep your body happy – you need electrolytes when you’re sweating. Thankfully, the Gu shots have some electrolytes in them. On the hottest days, I will also typically take a couple of Hammer Endurolyte tablets during the ride. This seems to be enough to keep me cramp-free and headache-free, even though some days it feels like I must be sweating buckets.

One of the most critical things I’ve added to my routine is post-ride recovery. In years past I might not have had anything, or maybe just had a beer and some peanuts with the guys after the ride. While I still have the occasional post-ride brew, it’s not until I’ve chugged down a protein drink. I started out trying some of the commercial drinks, but ultimately ended up using powdered whey protein mix from Trader Joe’s (20g/serving protein). I have a few concoctions that I mix up in a thermos container to keep them cool for the post-ride guzzling. My favorites are: 10oz orange juice + 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, 5oz orange juice + 5oz whole milk + 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (sounds gross, but it tastes just like a creamsicle!), 10oz skim milk + 1 scoop chocolate protein powder. I toss in a couple of ice cubes which help to dissolve the powder and keep the drink cool.

On hot days I’ll usually take another Endurolyte tablet while I drink the recovery drink, and if my knees are screaming at me (or anything else is exceptionally sore) I will take a couple 200mg Ibuprofen tablets.

With all of this “designer nutrition” part of my regular consumption, I wanted to find ways to keep it as cheap as possible. Searching around for deals online is one way, for sure. I found the cheapest way to get Gu, for example, is through the Amazon subscription program, whereby they send you an item on a regular basis for a discounted price. It’s convenient, and it’s cheaper. Wholesale clubs like BJ’s are also a great place to find things like Clif bars, huge tubs of Gatorade powder, and protein powder.

Like I said, it’s all still a work in progress, but I’m happy with what seem like real results. I’m sure a big part of it is simply being more fit than I have ever been before, but keeping the engine fueled is a pretty critical part of the equation.

In the last couple of months I’ve been digging into a great book, Mastering Mountain Bike Skills (2nd ed.). This is my tenth year of seriously mountain biking, and while I knew I wasn’t awesome, I thought I was at least OK. I have to say reading this book made me feel like a rank amateur. I’ve barely absorbed half a percent of what it has to offer, but everything I thought I knew from bike setup to riding technique is challenged by what I’ve read. For every little thing I manage to learn and carry out in my riding, I’ve felt a big increase in the quality of my riding and the fun level. Last night I was even complemented a couple of times by one of the better riders in our group for “ripping” through some of the corners on one of the twistier, hilly bits of trail on our ride. I can only liken the feeling to the moment when linking turns on a snowboard finally clicked for me and I gained some confidence at it. It’s fun, and it just makes me want to do it more and more.

To keep pace with the amount and level of riding, I’ve been tinkering with my nutrition/hydration regimen. That discussion got long enough that I’ll separate it out to its own post.

I’ve been tracking my rides since the end of May using EveryTrail. There is an app which runs on my Android phone and captures GPS tracks, and then conveniently lets me post the trip all from my phone. It’s not necessarily the best or most accurate or most private way to do things, but it’s certainly convenient. In particular, GPS receivers are pretty bad at accurately tracking tightly packed singletrack trails, and tend to cut off corners and reduce the reported mileage. However, it’s still a useful tool to track rides week to week.

This biking season has been a lot of fun so far. I’ve ridden at several places that I’d never managed to get to before, like Yudicky, Harold Parker, Lynn Woods and Fort Rock. In addition, I’m really starting to feel like Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsboro and Russell Mill are getting to be homes away from home.

And it always brings back lots of memories to spin through Great Brook Farm as part of the Friday Russell Mill ride, since I rode there so much in the 2003-2009 time frame. I can still vividly remember the spots where I used to be exhausted, or couldn’t clear an obstacle, or crashed hard. It puts things in perspective to ride that same terrain, years later, with new skills and see that I have actually made some progress. And that’s what it’s all about, right?

I’m on

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When we reached Florence, OR we decided to head south a bit on Route 101 looking for the Joaquin Miller State Park and the South Jetty County Park, which is the northern tip of about 40 miles of dunes along the Oregon coast.  The weather was slowly deterioriating and had turned to windy drizzle, but it didn’t deter Jocelyn from bounding around on the sand dunes and enjoying the ocean views.

We headed north on Route 101, making our way up the coast.  We stopped at a roadside area that was empty and wandered out of view of the road to make some lunch.  By this point, the wind had picked up considerably, so finding a spot which would allow us to run the backpacking stove was essential.  A small depression at the top of a knob overlooking the ocean turned out to be just the spot, giving us just enough shield from the wind so we could heat water for coffee, cocoa and our backpacking meals that we hadn’t eaten.  By the time the meals were ready to eat, the rain had started to come down enough that we decided to seek shelter under a cluster of trees, which nicely kept us dry while we ate.

Just north of where we ate lunch is Cape Perpetua, which is home to the Devil’s Churn.  Chris and Sarah had taken me out to see this famous landmark when I visited back in 2003, and it was fun to visit it again with Jocelyn.  We wandered down the path and out onto the rocky “beach” of the churn to get a closer look and take some photos and shoot video.  We should have taken it as a sign when fairly early in our visit, I caught a moderate spray from the churn while I was filming.  But, we pressed our luck and explored the area more, catching a few impressive displays of the power of the ocean meeting rock.  A particularly strong gust of wind kicked up at an inopportune moment and utterly soaked both of us to the bone.  Laughing the whole way back up to the car (and surely drawing looks from the less adventurous and drier visitors), we were glad we had extra pants to change into before continuing on.

We squeezed in one last stop at the Devil’s Punchbowl, north of Newport.  By this point, the rain was absolutely unrelenting.  We quickly had a late afternoon snack in the car, and did a mad dash out from the car to see if there was any action in the punchbowl.  Sadly, even after two minutes of standing in the rain, neither of us saw anything.  Presumably the tide must have to be just right for there to be activity in the bowl.  Still, it was a pretty impressive rock formation, so it was worth seeing it for that.

Our travel plan was to continue north past Newport, and travel back east to Portland via Route 18.  We hoped that as we drove away from the coast that the rain would let up, but it never did.  Despite the wretched downpour, Route 18 was a gorgeous winding drive, often flanked with creepy moss-covered trees straight out of a child’s nightmare.  We had intended to dine in Portland, targeting an arrival around 6PM.  We had a recommendation for a Peruvian restaurant in Portland, but when Jocelyn tried to call for a reservation they were booked until 9:30.

By this time we found ourselves slowly creeping through traffic in the city of Dundee, OR, with our stomachs grumbling.  We were both surprised to find that we were passing vineyards and wineries so close to the city.  I stopped for fuel, and Jocelyn checked Yelp on her phone, noting we had just passed a well-rated restaurant called Tina’s.  Figuring that eating outside of the city and waiting for traffic to let up wasn’t a bad plan, so we ventured inside for our final dinner of our vacation.

Tina’s was obviously a bit of a foodie and oenophile establishment, with a more relaxed and casual atmosphere.  We both ended up choosing a local Pinot Noir to have with our dinners.  Jocelyn had the braised rabbit, served with winter vegetables and a local pancetta.  I had the roasted duck breast, served with a rich cornbread with walnuts, braised greens and a demi-glace sauce.   We were both duly impressed, and felt they were probably the best meals we’d had in a long time.  To finish off such a fine dinner, Jocelyn ordered us a flight of Kopke ports (the white port and the 2001 vintage were both amazing) and chocolate soufflé with homemade strawberry ice cream.  Truly decadent, and a great end to a great meal.

Full from our meals, we made our way back into Portland to return the rental car and back to spend another night at the Aloft hotel.  I managed to play the pre-paid fuel game just right with the car, and returned it with the needle on the red empty line.  Once back at the hotel, we did a final sorting and re-packing of our gear and headed to bed so we could catch our flight back home early the next morning.

All in all, a pretty incredible vacation, spanning from summit to sea!

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<< See the trip video >>

The snow was still whipping around quite a bit, and we found ourselves questioning the forecast of 1-2″, noting that we probably received more like 6-7″ of snow overnight.  Our tent became more buried overnight, but it was still holding up OK.  After sneaking the view of the lake, we crawled back into the tent and I prepared us the traditional backpacking breakfast of cocoa, coffee and oatmeal.

We made the decision to cut the backpacking portion of our trip a day short because the weather conditions weren’t that great, and another day trudging around with no views didn’t seem as fun as heading somewhere else in Oregon until we had to leave.  So, we set about the task of breaking camp, which is definitely a lot more challenging when it’s cold and many of your items are damp.  Digging the tent out of the night’s snowfall was a special treat.  Still, we made fairly short work of it and we were back on the trail fairly quickly.

The hike back seemed to go a bit quicker than the hike in the previous day, and we made good time back to Discovery Point.  This time we could actually see a little bit of the lake down below, though compared to a summer view, it was still pretty obscured.  We still didn’t see a single person on our trek, and we could only just make out our previous day’s snowshoe prints in a few places.  A short while later, we found ourselves trudging up the last hill towards the Rim Village cafe.  We decided to head inside to have some overpriced food before we loaded up the car and headed back out on the road to points unknown.

Here are the GPS tracks from our hike back out.

We decided to head out of the park out towards civilization on some interesting roads.  We followed Route 62 northwest until we picked up Route 230, which swung us around to the northern edge of the park.  Descending from the snowy heights down into lower country brought increasingly better road conditions.  We then took Route 138 west, which follows large portions of the North Umpqua River.  Jocelyn found a couple of water falls in a hiking book that we had picked up earlier in the week, so we decided to check them out on the way.

Our first stop was at Watson Falls, located near milepost 61 on Route 138.  Watson Falls is tied for Oregon’s second tallest waterfall at 272 feet, and it was an impressive site.  The trail up to the falls was snow/ice covered, so we decided to put on our crampons to give us surer footing and make for a quicker hike.  We reached the viewing area fairly quickly, but didn’t spend a lot of time there because of the amount of travel we had to do.

The second stop was Toketee Falls, which is near milepost 59 on Route 138.  The parking lot is immediately interesting, as it is host to a wooden aqueduct a half century old which has sprung a few leaks.  The hike itself has many man-made elements, with wooden steps and walkways leading to a sturdy viewing platform with a decent view of the falls.  Despite the man-made nature of the hike, it is still through some gorgeous forest of Douglas Firs.  The falls are impressive, with columns of basalt flanking the flume, and a gorgeous aqua blue color radiating from the pool.

When we pulled into the parking area for Toketee Falls, we noticed a sign for the Umpqua Hot Springs, and decided to try to find them.  Unfortunately, despite driving around for 20 minutes, we found the road leading to them to be closed, so we had to give up and get back on the road.  By this point we had decided on a plan to head to Eugene for the night, and then out to the coast for our last day.  Night was settling in as we approached I5 near the town of Roseburg, and our route had us follow the pretty North Bank Road, which winds through some gorgeous rolling landscapes.

Once we got some fuel in Sutherlin, we pushed the last stretch up I5 and rolled into Eugene looking for a place to have dinner and a place to spend the night.  With our hopes of having seafood dashed by the restaurant we chose being closed, we settled on the Steelhead Brewery for fish and chips.  Jocelyn located a cheap but serviceable motel for the night, which was thankfully just down the road.  We pretty much checked in and conked out, exhausted from the day’s adventure and travels.

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<< Continue on to Day 8 >>

Our plan was to make our way down to Crater Lake to do a night or two of backcountry snowshoe backpacking and camping in the snow.  We left Bend around 9:15 and made decent time as we headed south on 97.  Since the north entrance of Crater Lake National Park is closed in winter, we had no choice but to continue to the southern entrance.

We stopped in the tiny town of Chiloquin for a couple of supplies (how did we both manage to forget a compass?), and for a late morning snack.  We found the Black Buffalo Coffee House, run by Clay and Theresa Chocktoot.  When we arrived, there was a solo musician playing, and some lively discussions among the locals.  It was truly a surprise, and a neat bit of culture.  The owners seemed quite happy just to be there, and indeed as the owner said, a day “on this side of the grass” was one to be thankful for.

From Chiloquin we headed north on 62, heading into snowier conditions as we traveled.  We eventually found the park entrance, and made our way to the ranger station, where the snow banks and drifts were probably 12 feet tall.  We obtained our backcountry permit from a friendly ranger named Tara, who gave us some advice and sent us on our way to finish the drive up to Rim Village and start our hike.

The drive up to Rim Village was a twisty 3 miles, with ever-deepening snowbanks flanking the sides of the road.  I pulled the car into the appropriate overnight parking area, noting that we were the only ones foolish enough to be there in the middle of a snow storm.  We took a quick trip to the gift shop so Jocelyn could grab a suitably tacky tourist mug to use in the backcountry.  Back at the car, we finished loading our packs, bundled up, strapped on our snowshoes and got ready to set off on our adventure.

Ordinarily, during the warm months, there is a 33 mile road that you can drive around the rim of the crater.  The park does not keep this road plowed in the wintertime, instead allowing feet upon feet of snow to pile up on it and allowing it to be used as snowshoe and XC ski trail.  The camping rules in the wintertime are also greatly relaxed, more or less allowing you to set up camp anywhere as long as you’re at least a mile from the Rim Village, and out of sight/sound of the trail.  One advantage in the winter is that, with sufficient time and motivation, you can snowshoe or ski all the way around the crater.  In the summertime, you are limited to certain trails which don’t allow you to go all the way around.

They get so much snow at Crater Lake that the snowbanks on the road get to be absolutely enormous.  Because of this, they have to create a snow ramp to allow you to climb up from the road to the top of the snow pack.  We clamored up the snow ramp with the snow and wind whipping around, and trudged off following the west rim, breaking trail and making fresh tracks in the snow.

Unfortunately, as is often the case in winter, conditions were bad enough that we couldn’t see even a glimpse of the lake when we peered into the caldera.  However, the steep drop-off on the lake side was very apparent, and we took it on faith that there was indeed a body of water at the bottom of it.  Making our way roughly following the clearing in the trees that represented the rim road, we eventually encountered Discovery Point, which we could only tell because of an ice-caked sign and little bits of roadway visible from where the unrelenting winds blew all the snow away.  This was the point beyond which we were allowed to camp, so we pressed on, starting to keep our eyes peeled for a nice spot to set up.

The local terrain creates interesting channels for the wind, which often results in some crazy snow drifting.  We walked along the top of a couple of these drifts as it often meant the snow was more packed and thus made for easier snowshoeing.  While visibility was pretty limited overall, we did greatly enjoy the winding path through the trees, and the solitude that being the only ones crazy enough to be out backpacking brings.

About 3/4 of a mile from Discovery Point, we started to find some trees on the caldera side of the trail that looked promising for providing a wind break for our camp.  While we could have set up on the western side of the trail (away from the caldera), we decided it would be more fun to give ourselves the opportunity to wake up with a view if one would present itself.

After a bit of exploration, we found a nice sheltered spot amongst a cluster of trees and set about setting up camp.  We dug into the snow using our Snow Claw and a snowshoe, creating a level platform for the tent, sunken a bit to protect us from the wind.  We packed the snow as tightly as we could by stomping on it with our snowshoes, and once we were happy with the platform we pitched the tent.  I set about finding and creating tie-down points for the tent, as the wind was whipping quite a bit.  Meanwhile, Jocelyn set to building a snow wall to act as a wind break.

After an hour or so of work, the light was fading and we decided we needed to get into the tent and get hot drinks and meals into our bellies, as we were both feeling cold.  Jocelyn made haste with inflating Thermarests and unpacking our winter sleeping bags while I finished a few last things outside of the tent.  Once in the tent, we changed into dry clothes and stuck our feet into our bags, which took the edge off of the cold.

We set things up so that I could open the zipper of the vestibule and lean out of the tent to cook.  We had decided to pack in some water for the first night, so I set to getting it boiling with my tiny propane backpacking stove.  Ordinarily this stove isn’t the best choice for winter camping, as the propane canisters stop working well as they get cold, but thankfully it worked well enough.  The Snow Claw worked well as a makeshift wind break, which was nice because even with the shelter of the vestibule the wind was whipping around quite a bit.

In short order we were able to have some hot cocoa, and get our freeze-dried meals started.  Once we had food in our bellies, we warmed up quickly, and after cleanup we snuggled down into our bags and both felt like falling asleep very early.  As night fell, the winds picked up quite a bit, and snow kept falling and collecting on the tent.  Our site proved to be pretty effective against the wind, as we certainly heard a lot more of it whipping through the trees than we felt.

Sleep was generally a bit restless, as it is challenging to get and stay comfortable in a mummy bag.  Night-time trips to nature’s rest room involved a lot of shuffling around, suiting up, and occasional questioning of our sanity.  Throughout the night, the snow kept piling up, and we did the best to keep it from collapsing Jocelyn’s slightly outgunned 3 season Big Agnes tent.  I own a tent that’s a little more suited to winter, but it’s a bit cramped for two people, especially with lots of bulky gear.  While her tent performed admirably under the conditions, next time we’d go with a four season tent.

Here are the GPS tracks from the hike in to our camp site.

	#	Elevation	Distance	Time	Movingtime	Speed	Movingspeed	Max Speed	Climb Up	Climb Down
	1	2092 m	0.000 mi	0s	0s	-	-	-	-	-
	2	2187 m	1.892 mi	2h 49m 01s	2h 48m 44s	0.67 mph	0.67 mph	3.09 mph	1122 ft	814 ft
Summary			1.892 mi	2h 49m 01s	2h 48m 44s	0.67 mph	0.67 mph	3.09 mph	1122 ft	814 ft

<< Continue on to Day 7 >>

Sarah was fortunately able to join us for the first time, and after a quick trip to the mountain shop to buy Jocelyn a new helmet, we decided to split up to do some runs before lunch.  Chris and I headed over to Northwest Express, to play more in the steeper trees on the west side.  The powder was deep and fresh, and at every turn Chris lit up with excitement over how epic the conditions were.

Unfortunately for me, for every grin and smooth flowing turn I had the day before, I was met with what seemed like an utter inability to ride a snowboard this day.  I had woken up feeling a bit ill, and combined with being tired from the previous day and conditions that were probably above my skill level, I kept having lots of mishaps.  It was definitely one of those times when I felt like I was one step behind the curve instead of on top of it or ahead of it.

Conditions mid-mountain were a bit crazy, with freezing fog giving total whiteout conditions.  We all described experiencing vertigo at least once, not being able to tell which direction we were moving because everything was uniform white; sky, slope, it all looked the same.  Once you made it down the mountain a bit, you could at least make out the slope and terrain better.  As a girl from California we met on the lift put it, it was like “boarding by Braille.”

After doing just a few runs, I was making my way down on piste and I managed to catch my front edge in the deep snow and faceplant.  Unfortunately, when this happened, my board freed up and came careening over my head, tweaking my back and lots of other muscles in the process.  This was my sign that it just wasn’t in the cards for me that day, so I decided it was time to quit while I was ahead.  I was happy to have had my personal epic day the day before, so at least I didn’t feel like I totally missed out on epic conditions.

Chris and I were a bit early to the lodge for lunch break, and Sarah joined us shortly after we sat down.  Jocelyn was still out doing runs, and she eventually appeared, obviously wringing out every last second of skiing bliss that she could.  Since Sarah had to head back to town to take care of the dogs and I was calling it a day, we took off, leaving Chris and Jocelyn to take advantage of the conditions for the afternoon.

At first they did runs by themselves, but Chris, doing what he does best, convinced Jocelyn to start doing tree runs over on the east side via the Rainbow lift.   He gave her lots of tips to help her learn to ski the trees better, and patiently waited for her to make her way down.  She classifies the afternoon as “epic,” and “awesome,” and I believe it.  I wish I could have kept going, but I’m glad that they got to take advantage of the conditions.

Meanwhile, back at the house, I took a glorious hot shower to soothe my sore body.  Another trip to Back Porch provided some nice afternoon bean, which I sipped while staring out the window at the house.

After Chris and Jocelyn made it back from the mountain and regaled us with the tales of their off-piste powder prowess, Jocelyn and I decided to head out for another quick late afternoon trip.  This time we set our sights for Smith Rock and surrounding areas.

Smith Rock is a cool area known for awesome rock climbing.  I bivouaced there several years back on a prior trip, but have never climbed there.  We mostly ended up doing “American style drive-thru exploration,” opting to then head up 97 a bit to the Peter Skene Ogden overlook, the site of a 300′ gorge and three generations of bridges.

There, we wandered around a bit at the edges of the gorge and across the middle bridge which is now relegated to foot traffic.  We caught the sunset and once again headed back to Bend to meet up for dinner.

Dinner was at Pastini Pasteria in the Old Mill District.  This allowed us to make another quick stop at REI to grab a couple more backpacking meals in case we decided to do two nights in the backcountry later in the week.

After dinner we had a mellow evening sitting around at the house and chatting a, basically wrapping up the Bend part of the trip since Chris had to head back home early Wednesday morning.  We were also planning to leave Bend the following morning to head on to the next parts of our adventure.

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Steve’s Turns

Jocelyn’s Turns

<< Continue on to Day 6 >>

Because most of the lifts were closed, we opted to park at the Sunrise Lodge lot.  Being a weekday during a snowstorm, the mountain was very quiet.  As we took our first runs, we started to get a taste of the fantastic powder that had come down overnight, and indeed was continuing to fall.

We spent our time on the Sunrise Express and the slow Rainbow lifts, mostly split up with Chris and I playing in the trees and Jocelyn enjoying the freshies on the groomed runs.

The rest day combined with the better rental board paid off, as I started to gain more and more confidence in the trees.  By the time we broke for lunch, the grins were growing on all of our faces.  We had been able to park so close, and there was so much snow coming down that we were able to ski/ride all the way down to the car to drop off our gear for lunch break.

My favorite time to be at a ski mountain is a weekday during a storm.  Everything is kind of subdued and laid back, making for a really relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere.  This day was no exception, and the low key lunch set the stage for the great afternoon to come.

Chris and I piled on more runs in the trees, even convincing Jocelyn to give the glades a whirl.  The mountain was nearly empty, and there were fresh tracks to be had everywhere.  I had a couple of Zen-like runs as we ended out the day, feeling in control and carving sweet lines through the trees and floating on gorgeous powder.

Chris and I cut as far east through the trees as we could, discovering practically untracked glades, and eventually popping out on the east catch line, and eventually making our way back down to the car.  After taking one of the last chairs up at 4:00, our day of epic snowboarding and skiing had to come to an end.

For dinner, we decided to head to the Deschutes Brewery pub downtown, to try some of the different beers versus what we had at the tasting the day before.  The brown ale on a nitrogen tap was fantastic, but sadly the nitrogen couldn’t help the stout and I still wasn’t much of a fan.

Steve’s Turns

Jocelyn’s Turns

<< Continue on to Day 5 >>