Ice fishing and XC skiing

My dad came up last night and we did some ice fishing today out on Glen Lake in Castleton.  We ended up with 29 perch and 1 crappie before it started to rain/snow on us.  I also skied around the lake with Hillary, Stout, and Hubb for awhile in the middle of the day.  It was a perfect day at about 32 degrees and no wind.  Now we have some fat snow flakes falling at the house.

Christmas and Ice

The family traveled up to Jay, Maine for a few days then headed down to the Saratoga/Albany, NY area for a couple of days to see family and exchange some presents.  I was able to get out for two icy runs on the rail trail through Jay, ME with the dogs.  Stout still has his back two paws wrapped up after some deep cuts in his pads and one pad ripped off from the sharp ice.  After two days without much activity it felt good to get out for an hour XC ski in Castleton with Hillary and Hubbard.  Thanks to an inch and a half of new snow this morning we could classic ski on the ice base that remained on the rail trail and VAST trails from the college.

Backcountry nordic ski with the dogs in the backyard

We are fortunate to have endless trails right out our backyard with elevation gains over 2000 feet.  I got out for a 2.5 hour ski on the 3-pin waxless skis.  When the trail started to get steep I put on my homemade skins and forged on to the top of Herrick Mountain.  The dogs were delighted to finally turn around and let gravity do some of the work.