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<span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">A girlfriend and I joined my running club for the annual xc ski trip to Yellowstone Park so thought I’d share some photos from the trip. If you like to xc ski, I highly recommend Yellowstone in the winter. We only skied on Saturday as she needed to get home right away on Sunday but next year I will stay for the full event and ski both days. I was worried how my foot would feel skiing after hurting it in yoga but I did okay while on ibuprofen. Actually, the hand I hurt skiing last weekend bothered me more than my bruised foot! I enjoyed every minute of this trip and can’t wait to do it again. Hope you enjoy the photos.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">We stayed in Gardiner which is at the north entrance of Yellowstone Park. Sat. morning we drove 5 miles to catch the snow coach at Mammoth Hot Springs and spotted this beautiful fellow standing right on Main Street. Nice rack, huh?</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><img alt="" src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j255/hooverfam/IMG_2795.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"></span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">The club reserved 2 coaches which hold 15 people each. Our shuttle left at 8:30 a.m. and the driver would pick us up about 2:30. There were two options for skiers. 1) Get dropped off in the Swan flat area about 5 miles in advance of the warming hut and ski in or 2) go all the way to the warming hut and ski the trails around there. We took option #2 since she has limited xc ski experience. I wanted her to have a good time and not get frustrated as it was difficult for her to even get to go on this trip.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><img alt="" src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j255/hooverfam/IMG_2800.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"></span></span><br><br><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';">Honestly, I was glad we made that decision as the wind was howling causing some lovely horizontally blowing snow at the first drop off. I felt concern for those opting to ski in due to the conditions but knew they had many years of experience between them. Thankfully, the skiers managed fine and had a grand adventure but it took them 3 hours (and several wrong turns) to make the 5 mile trip. They broke trail all the way and at one point the leader was up to her waist in snow. Yikes!</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><img alt="" src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j255/hooverfam/IMG_2803.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"></span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">The winds were much calmer near the warming hut because we were in the trees. Our driver stomped a path to the door and got a fire going while we dropped our backpacks and headed off on the trails. The temp was about 20 degrees, skies overcast and snowing intermittently. Perfect conditions! The snow was GREAT!</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">Here are a couple of pictures of the scenery along the way:</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><img alt="" src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j255/hooverfam/IMG_2848.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"></span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><img alt="" src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j255/hooverfam/IMG_2843.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"></span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">Being the first skiers in the area for a few days, we had to break a lot of trail and I love getting the first tracks. What a winter wonderland! I haven’t enjoyed that much powder in a long time.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">We made it back to the warming hut in time to join up with skiers from the 2nd snow coach and went off to find new trails. Again, we were breaking the trail and ended up a bit lost at one point because it was poorly marked. I’m guessing we probably added a mile or so to our route.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><img alt="" src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j255/hooverfam/IMG_2827.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"></span></span><br><br><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';">At one point we ran across a couple of port-a-johns – what runner doesn’t appreciate these?</span></span><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><img alt="" src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j255/hooverfam/IMG_2838.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"></span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">For the last run of the day, we went back to the first trails which now had pretty nice tracks. We’d stopped for a mini break on a seemingly solid part of the trail. I needed to adjust something so I popped out of my bindings. I stepped down with my left foot and sunk immediately up to my crotch in snow. You can’t really tell from this picture, but my left leg is fully extended vertically into the snow while my right leg is still on the surface. I couldn’t even feel the ground under my foot. What a trip that was!</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><img alt="" src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j255/hooverfam/IMG_2850.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"></span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">On the way back to our hotel in Gardiner, we stopped off at the 45th Parallel to swim in the Boiling River. It’s actually the Gardiner River but some of the thermal Yellowstone waters run over the travertine rocks and mix with the icy Gardiner River creating nice soaking pools that are quite popular. We probably spent 90 minutes soaking and reliving the magic of the day. Getting out of the water went better than I thought given the cold. We sent the men ahead to warm the cars and the women stripped, toweled, and tossed on clothes before making the hike back to the car. The trip back was much warmer than I originally expected.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><img alt="" src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j255/hooverfam/IMG_2796.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"></span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><img alt="" src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j255/hooverfam/IMG_2868.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"></span></span><br><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';">Me in the pink polar fleece hat</span> <span style="font-family:Wingdings;"><span style="font-family:Wingdings;">J</span></span></span>
