I'm a day late in reporting my first cross-country ski outing of the season. I've been suffering a calf injury and have held off trying to ski or even walk Discovery Park or Greenlake but snow conditions beckoned. I was going to try around the block but looked down the gentle slope (just off Tangle Town) and figured I could try heading down hill. Downhill, once there was no pain, led to a more extended adventure.
There was no trouble crossing Greenlake Way on skis. I mainly stuck to the grassy areas outside of the path. (as an aside, I would recommend hiking poles with rubber tips when skiing concrete and asphalt surfaces - less impact on the elbows and wrists and quieter). Since I started a bit after 8am, there were some folks down at the lake and some ski tracks but it was far from crowded. As I finished my loop and headed back uphill to my house there were a lot more people - both walkers and skiers. Kids and "adult" kids were sledding in different areas around the lake.
It was never cold, probably just about freezing and snowed or flurried the entire time I was out. Near the end of my trip, I hit a few damp patches of snow and my skis started to stick. I actually had to remove one ski and scrape off frozen snow.
It was a good first outing and now I will buy a SnoPark permit for the rest of the season (now, if that does not jinx the snow situation, I don't know what will).
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