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| XC Skiing | 6.00 Miles |
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| | XC Skiing | 6.00 Miles | 1 Hour 45 Mns | | 3.43 mph |
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| no partners | | Mrs. big_load and I blew off the severe wind chill warning to grab a perfect skiing day as we get only once every six or seven years. There was about a foot and a half of cold, fine-grained snow, half of which had lived through a week without melting and refreezing. Nearly the other half was only a couple days younger and had settled in nicely, topped off with three inches of fresh cold powder. We had a rare clear sky; blue, cold and blustery, with tracks drifting over in the open spots.
Only two other people braved the gusts, another skier, and a mountain biker with huge tires. The bike interfered surprisingly little with the track compared to postholes and snowshoe tracks, but the rider turned back before long. Maybe the wind was too much for his clothes, since he retreated at an odd point.
There's a fairly new historical sign up near the Newton Slate Cut, a 500-foot stretch of topless tunnel cut into a highly warped and tilted slate bed. It commemorates an 1857 snowfall in which the cut drifted completely over and blocked the train. Eighty volunteers slogged five miles through the woods from town to dig it out.
This trail is over 20 miles long and connects to countless miles of other trails and two quiet, hilly, heavily wooded state parks. It's a short walk through the woods from my house, so it's really handy when I want to get out in a hurry. |
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Route Editor
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