Scouting

This weekend started with a Youth Rally at the holiness church in Twin Falls. Afterwards, I went with the young people to the home of a local parishioner for food, food and more food. Of course, I don't turn down food these days lest I be stuck eating only what I make! But I had a good time and enjoyed the opportunity to become better acquainted with the people. Below are some pictures from the area:

You know the economy is bad when they're giving away stock!
There's something about seeing mountains peek through the fog that fascinates me.

The Snake River Canyon

Yo, this bridge has mad "Ups"
(Some of you will get it - clicking on it might help.)

...after discovering the black and white feature on my camera.

I dare you to push him!

The Pastor's boys were kind enough to let me stay in their room. (OK, so they did provide a bed along with the stuffed animals.)

On Saturday, I got up early, excited for all the plans I had for the day. I started by heading to Scout Mountain in Pocatello. You may remember that I hiked this a couple months ago and thought it would make for a nice cross country ski trek. (If you don't remember, there are some pictures in the "December 2008" post along with my profile picture and the mountain at the top of the blog.) There's allegedly an ATV trail that runs along the bottom to the back side, then takes a more gentle approach to the top. (I'd tell you more about it, but... ) Below are pictures from the trek:
They aren't very creative with their road names. And yes, the connecting road was 002. (Neither work with Mapquest.)
The road (001) to Scout Mt is closed for the season, but a popular place for XC skiing. The trail starts at a campground at the end of the road. In this picture I am on a trail, rounding the final peak before the real ascent.
It's also the same spot where I came upon some rather large paw prints. For perspective, the very fresh paw prints are following a snowmobile trail, which I was now following. It was at this point that I removed my headphones and transferred the pepper spray from my backpack to my pants pocket. Maybe you have a better idea of the animal, but my guess is a very large mountain lion. (The previous mountain lion tracks I saw were about 1/4 the size.) Click on the picture for a closer look.
Finally, after 4.5 hours of skiing, post-holing, crawling and climbing... the top! Just out of frame is a 30' shear snow drift that would have been fun to go down, but I did not see how I would get back up as thoughts of an avalanche came into my head. The irony is that I would think of such a thing... at the top. After finding shelter from the wind, a good PB&J sandwich and a change of socks, I was ready for the trip down, or so I thought.
8,700 feet has to be close to the top of the world.

Heading down was when the adventure really began. For those wondering how many times I fell, I ran out of fingers and toes. But it became quite routine and predictable - very comical too if only you could have watched. Due to the steepness, rock outcroppings, small saplings, a hard crusty snow and no edges on XC skies, the downhill switchbacks went something like this: Figure out a path, stand up and aim, get out of control, fall, turn back, repeat, and repeat, and repeat. In the meantime, I was able to perfect the faceplant, the double fisted snow pound, the sideways tumble, the right foot out and the left foot in and numerous other humorous positions requiring contortionist skills to undo. How does it happen so fast and take so long to undo? I was planning to take some pictures of my various falling stances, but by the time I got to the bottom and dared take my camera out, I could only think of getting home. To my delight, the hot tub jets in my apartment complex did wonders for my sore (and cramping) latissimus dorsi muscles. (Don't worry - I didn't know I had them either.) So much for plans of night skiing too! (Maybe next weekend.)