Another Moonlight X Country Ski Adventure

Another full moon adventure. This time we headed out towards West Yellowstone. At around 10:30 pm we piled into Tom and Stasia's VW van with our supplies of beer and hot cocoa with schnapps and baileys. We got just past the gas station at the base of the access road when the VW pooped out. We pushed her to the side into the next drive way and hiked back to the gas station-Stasia hitched back to the house to get the next transportation. Tom, Sky and I hung out at the gas station. It was about 35 degrees last night with a glowing full moon, so no matter what we did-we enjoyed being outside. A few minutes later Stasia picked us up and we continued on our adventure. Nearing West Yellowstone we pulled over and parked by a trail head, then strapped our skies on. I was going to blame the pictures on my artistic talent (until I see that they did not turn out like I had wanted) but the batteries were low and the night vision was not working properly on my camera-so I apologize for the pictures. Anyway-The day had been warm and the temp dropped a bit, so the snow crusted over. Our first descent was a vertical ice hill down towards the river bed, and if you got going too fast you couldn't slow down (ya just had to ride it out!). Tom starts it off and stops just at the water line, Sky of course charges right behind-but not as graceful...his arms are swinging, poles in the air, he just cries out "AHHHHHHH" until he slows down to a stop by Tom. Me on the other hand, am a smart cookie and knew better than that as a beginner to the sport. I side stepped my way down a crusty hill with no metal edges until I was at a comfortable incline to descend. I really didn't want to end the season with an injury from X country skiing-I would never live that down. We crossed the river looking onto a massive field of rolly hills along the tree line to the woods. Tom and Stasia warn us that we need to watch out for bears....great! I think they were half serious and half kidding but all I could think was...I am the slowest one, I'm going to be eaten first! The challenge was on the way back because the first half was a slow incline, so coming back was down hill on ice with no turning ability. Sky and I had one really good crash each, I felt like I was tangled up in myself, it took a minute to get my skies situated and back on my feet. We got back to the car and I really didn't feel tired. We threw ourselves in the car and noticed it was 1 am. We drove back while finishing off the "hot cocoa", got home at 1:30 am and slept like a baby. I can't believe I woke up as refreshed as I did! There is one more full moon before the snow is gone, so the X country saga will continue!!