yosemite winter and cross country skiing

In early December, when we heard that it had started snowing in the Sierras, we made our way north to Yosemite for the weekend. Though we’d visited the park at the tail end of last winter, the severe drought meant that there was only a little bit of snow. It was a treat to get into the real winter spirit. Down in the valley it was cold and rainy but there was a few feet of snow in the higher elevations. We stayed in Camp Curry in one of the unheated tents. It was nice to not have to set up camp in the rain and have more space to spread out our things but Camp Curry has some drawbacks too. You aren’t allowed to cook anywhere in the camp, which means traveling to a picnic site a few minutes away. It was sort of an amusing adventure to cook all alone in the dark though, even if it meant carting all our stuff.

After nightfall, we went to the Ahwahnee hotel to warm up and check out the massive fires they have. It happened to be the night of the Bracebridge dinner, so the main halls were empty except for the costumed performers who made their way in and out of the dining room. We found a table for ourselves and played cards and ate chips until late in the evening.

In the morning, we woke up early and headed up to Badger Pass for a day of cross country skiing. We signed up for a group lesson but happened to be the only two in the group. While Shawn has been snowboarding for years, I’ve been skiing all of once when I was a little kid, so my snow experience was basically nonexistent. I fell a few time and struggled to get the hang of it but still had lots of fun learning. It was crazy to climb up the trail on skis but eventually we made it up to the Old Badger Pass Summit. It was super hard and by the end of the day my muscles were aching but it was really cool to explore in the snow. I’d really like to go on the skating tracks, where it’s much easier to glide along. One day we hope to ski all the way out to the Ostrander Ski hut. I could certainly use some practice first. Mostly I’m hoping for more winter weather so there are snowy places to visit.