XC skiing in Pillsbury State Park

We went cross-country skiing in Pillsbury State Park. Pillsbury state park is New Hampshire state park. In winter, trails are open for cross-country skiing, snowshoe hiking, and snow mobiling. 

Actually back in summer, we went camping there and kayaked in the lakes. 

This time it was completely different scenery and did different activities. It was interesting how different it is now.

We skied 5 miles. 2.5 miles each out and back. It was nice. I felt my skiing skill is improved and I was able to ski faster than last time! The trail was not very steep: only +/- 300 feet elevation change in 5 miles. Even though it was not groomed, I didn't fall at all. The most fun part was that I skied ON lake where I kayaked on 6 months ago. When I skied on the lake, I felt hard ice below snow. Maybe fish are still under the ice. I read on the internet actually under ice in the lake is the "warmest place" in winter in the wilderness.

There was no skiers except for us. Instead we saw 10 snowmobilers. It seems snowmobiling is a big thing in New Hampshire. I know that motorcycle is  popular in NH, so it is understandable and I thought that it was kind of funny. The reason is that those things fit well with their motto, live free or die. It was like, live free and snowmobile. 

 

They snowmobile mostly in a group. Two to four snowmobiles stay together. They were polite and they slowed down for us skiers, so it was not dangerous at all. 

 

 

On the trail one guy stopped his snowmobile and he was drinking gatorade. 

He greeted us and asked, "How long did you go?"

Mr.N answered, "2.5 miles each, 5 miles total."

The guy said, "It's good workout, compared to me. Hahaha."

Mr.N asked, "How about you?"

He answered, "I have no idea!"

He just snowmobiling randomly. He explained that snowmobiling is not as cold as it looks like, because there are bumps and turns and need to use upper body. 

When we came back to the trailhead, a pick truck with a trailer came. Two guys came with snowmobiles loaded in the trailer. Wow. One of them was YAMAHA. Japanese brand made me happy. 

They took long to get ready. They didn't finish getting ready until we finished our sandwich in the car. Snowmobiles were still in the trailer when we left. Even with such preparation, NH guys are so into snowmobiling. 

Anyway it was a nice XC skiing. 

Mr.N noticed that I got faster and said, "I need to pick more difficult one for you"

Pillsbury州立公園にクロスカントリースキーに行った。冬の間もトレイルはクロスカントリースキー、スノーシュー、スノーモビール用に開かれている。

去年の夏にこの公園には一度来たことがある。その時はキャンプをし、湖でカヤックを楽しんだ。今回は同じ公園だが全く違う景色とアクティビティだ。

今回は７・５キロほどクロスカントリースキーした。高低差はほとんどなし。クロスカントリースキー、ようやく少しずつ上達して来たように感じる。やったー＾＾

一番楽しかったのは凍った湖の上をスキーしたこと。ここの湖で夏にはカヤックしてたのに今はスキーで湖の上にいる。ぎゃー。

我々以外にクロスカントリーしている人は一人もいなかった。スノーモビールは１０台くらい見た。トレイルはシェアしなければならないので時々彼らを避けなければならなかったが、皆すごく減速しれくれたので安全だった。ニューハンプシャー州はバイクやスノーモビールが人気だ。バイクはヘルメット着用が法律で定められていないので、ノーヘルの人がたくさん走っている。自由な州、ニューハンプシャー。

なにせ、州のモットーが　”自由か、それとも死ぬか”　なのだ！自由がないのなら死んだ方がマシ。というアメリカ建国当時のモットー。しかし今では自由だからと行ってノーヘル→死、といった具合になっているのも事実。

７キロほどスキーしたところでスノーモビールの人が一休みしていた。

スノーモビールの人：どのくらいスキーした？

N：５マイルくらいだよ

スノーモビールの人：スノーモビールに比べるといい運動だね！はは(￣∇￣)

N：どのくらいスノーモビールで走るつもり？

スノーモビールの人：まだ決めてない

私（えー？）

 

その後トレイルヘッドに着くとさらに二人がトラックで到着、スノーモビールを下ろしているところだった。！！！ヤマハだ！ヤマハってスノーモビールも作ってるのかー。ニューハンプシャーの奥深くでも日本の製品が活躍しているのを見て嬉しくなった＾＾