the Way of the Turtle

1.8 Mile XC Ski at Black Creek Park
& A Mishap for the Dragon Lady
Saturday, January 17, 2009

Black Creek Park trail map (PDF)

I got fairly antsy after lunch so even though it was a bit chilly I talked Ann into going outside for some XC skiing. We thought about heading over the the Greenway but in the end decided on Black Creek Park instead (no snowmobiles to dodge.)

I wanted to keep things on the easier side, so we started out by skiing down the wide purple trail... pretty easy going, for the most part. Then we headed into the woods on one of the newer trails that runs along the base of the ridge. Narrower, with more twists and turns, but still not too bad, and it was nice to be in the woods instead of out in the open.

Unfortunately, Ann a ways ahead of me (I was stopping to take pictures) and decided to ski down a somewhat steep hill, not realizing there was a turn at near the bottom... and ended up smacking into a tree. Whacked her knee and gave herself a nasty shot to the sternum. I heard her holler and made my way over there as quickly as possible (I unclipped my skis and walked down the hill she crashed on) and then helped her up, took her skis and poles, and we slowly hiked out along the trail. Not a lot of fun... she was clearly in a bit of pain. Once we reached the edge of the woods, I left her to make her way over to the nearby lodge on her skis and hustled over to get the car so that she wouldn't have to walk as far.

So... no skiing for Ann for a little while. She's pretty bummed about getting hurt, but I've pointed out that it could have been a lot worse - she could have smacked her head or hit a tree with lots of pointy branches to poke holes in her. At least this should heal up before too long.

I also concluded that I need new XC ski boots... the ones I have (which are 12-13 years old) are way too tight in the forefoot, which doesn't cause much trouble when I'm skiing but gave me a few blisters when I had to walk in them today. I hadn't really noticed it over the last couple of years, when I only got out to ski once or twice, but this year has been a good one for skiing and it's definitely a problem-in-the-making.

JMH