Clearly Cold

It was hard to get out of bed yesterday knowing the temperature at the airport was a balmy -26. We had returned from dinner over in Jackson the night before to find that our pipes were close to freezing solid. Poor Nate was down in the basement at midnight wrapping heat tape around our pipes, so I knew the morning forecast of frigid temps was probably a sure bet. But, it was a gorgeous bluebird day, the first in weeks, so I patiently waited for the mercury to rise before heading outside.

I slathered Maddy's paws with paw balm and headed to Teton Canyon. TVTAP does a fantastic job of grooming for skate and classic skiing around Driggs and Alta and Teton Canyon is my favorite place to skate. Wildlife encounters are pretty much guaranteed, dogs are allowed to run freely and I always run into lots of pals on the trail.

Maddy on the move

Skating the westside of the Tetons

It had warmed to a scorching 4 deg. when we pulled into the trailhead. Unfortunately, my wax job (or lack thereof) was NOT helping. That's the thing with wax-it's either right or really, really wrong. The track was so sticky and slow and trying to glide pretty much guaranteed that you would fall flat on your face, but I stuck with it anyway, used the classic track a bunch and enjoyed the first sunny day in the valley in weeks. We saw 4 moose and didn't freeze to death - a good day indeed!

Maddy didn't seem to care that her hair was all messed up and frozen. It's a good look for her, I think.