Category Archives: Cross Country Skiing

Images and accounts of cross country skiing in the Methow Valley.

Equinox- Not?

Every few days I say to myself, I really need to take the winter slide off of our home page because it’s nearly April!  And then I wake up to snow blanketing our yard, hiding our cars and making the daily, morning routine downright wintery again!  Hello sweeping the car off and making sure that the snowsuits still fit.

Maybe if I change the slide winter will take the hint?  Ah, but those glorious sunny and snowy days filled with skiing, snowshoeing and ice skating were so fun.  Its hard to erase those sweet memories just yet.

Winthrop’s Winter Wonderland

What started out as a harmless walk through town, over the Spring Creek Bridge to meet with (the loveliest) potential wedding clients– turned into, what felt like a virtual ad for the Winthrop-Winter-Wonderland.

I passed sledders, ice skaters, bikers and skiers on Spring Creek Ranch property.  Men and women ranging in age from 2 to 65, they were all moving and smiling and it was really cold out.  But, it was also beautifully sunny and that makes all the difference now doesn’t it?  I, myself could hardly keep my hands gloved and in my pockets where they were toasty warm.  Every time I looked about I just had to take a picture… until my right hand became kinda numb and so I missed out on photographing Spring Creek’s enormous weeping willow which looked like, it really looked like an ice chandelier.  The willow that graces the Ranch House yard, was encapsulated in ice, each branch was wrapped in its own sparkling icicle and with the sun pouring through it… I can only hope that the right atmospheric ingredients confluence one more time this winter so that I can try to snap a picture.  Numb fingers or not.

Wild, Winthrop, Winter, Wonderland?  Winterland…Wonderthrop…WinterWonderWinthrop?  Bare with me here, I couldn’t resist!

December, 18th 2012

As evidenced by running into (ahem), skiing into the groomer this morning, the Community Trail is very much open and glittering in todays sunshine and cold temperatures.  The thermometer at the North Cascades Smokejumper Base read 4 degrees when Daren arrived at work this a.m. so make sure that you bundle up!

Much thanks to everyone at MVSTA for all of their work.  Check their grooming report here.

Snow, Skiing … Weddings?

Weddings and winter.  Not so many weddings IN the winter, but these last few days have alternated between fixing Christmas lights and answering wedding emails, shoveling snow and helping each couple find the perfect photographer, caterer, florist- you name it. Outside is a world a washed in white, an endless bounty of groomed trails beckoning to be explored but at Spring Creek Central… we are looking ahead.  Always.

Thank you, thank you to Earth & Sky Studios for our beautiful ad for the upcoming Methow Valley News Wedding Magazine.  And congratulations are in order for Morgan and Casey (pictured above) who just told me they were expecting a baby!

Winter is here

With 2-4 inches of fresh snow expected overnight, I think that winter is officially here.  I’ve been out Nordic Skiing a few times already and with this fluffy new snow coming down I’m expecting that all the trails in the valley will be groomed and ready shortly.

Ski, snowshoe, ice skate and sled… right out your door at Spring Creek Ranch!