Cariboo Hills Nordic Skiing with Vancouver Skiers

We’re heading for some Cariboo Hills Nordic Skiing with the Vancouver Skiers.  We leave the city over the Port Mann and the Mighty Fraser.  Frozen farmland is waking up, and there’s a pink ribbon along the horizon.  The sky brightens to eggshell.

Many animal tracks crisscross the trails.  What are they?  Rabbits?  Deer?  Moose?  Where are they?  It’s so quiet.   Stands of birch and a lime green moss on spindly evergreens tell us we’re no longer in our coastal rain forest.

Roly gathers with us to snack and chat around an outdoor fire: stoked throughout our three-hour visit.  My husband and I know only a few members, but we’re introduced to Vancouver Skiers’ hospitality in slow, steady warmth that percolates through the weekend.  Activity, gorgeous scenery and food: simple yet golden ingredients.

Groups munch-in for potlucks, or slide downhill to the Trails End Restaurant in the 108 Hills Guest Ranch, just down the ‘hill’ from our cabins.  Up early, we’re on the bus by 7:30:  in good time to ’99.  Others prepare Cariboo Hills waxes like Vancouver Skiers: Roz, Ross, Ed, Paul, Lilla, and her Nordic Racer team mates.  Ken and I, Helen, Connie and Wolfgang are going with non-wax skis on this sparkling, zero-hovering Nordic skiing day.

One hundred and fifty Cariboo Marathon participants include we ten Vancouver Skiers who push ourselves to achieve a goal: be it time, distance, improvement or just-to-finish-the-darn-thing.  Here are the results:  http://zone4.ca/results.asp?ID=5440&cat=all.

So many thanks are in order to the 100 Mile Nordic Ski Society volunteers who prepared the trails, and marshal the course with water, Gatorade, cookies, coffee, cocoa, and ‘cow-bell’ encouragement.  Peter’s marvelous chili, regular and veg, and the Kanim Lake Band’s bannock await at the finish line.

Later on, we discover that’s what each Vancouver Skier’s been doing at the Cariboo Hills 108 Ranch trails.  Enjoying the day for a particular duration, distance, technique, or just-being-outside-in-the-glorious-fresh-air.  We share stories later at ‘Happy Hour’.  ‘What stories?’…our gold rush trail tales:  http://theskiers.ca/about-us/

We’ve spa-ed (hot tub, sauna, swimming pool) and been inspa-rations for each other. Back to 99-Mile for one more circuit to unravel muscle knots the next day.  The snow glistens like a million diamonds, a galaxy of stars, a prism of white light?  Maya, Ken and Lorraine’s pose against the red cedar speaks a volume of golden  ‘Ahhhhhhs!’

Back aboard the bus, Donna’s donated ‘Ladies in Lavender’ and ‘The Help’, roll on, in tune with the Cariboo Hills.   Many thanks to Ross ‘n’ Roz for leading our troupe, and to all for a ‘warm club welcome’.  We appreciate the friendly Nordic skiing ambiance of the  Cariboo Hills Gold Rush Trail-ers!