Nordic Trails (minus the snow) - Pagosa Springs, CO

Kind of un-wintry in Pagosa right now

Made time for a flash-trip up to Pagosa over the weekend. Heard they may get snow so I had to make the executive decision to work like crazy then dash up for some Sunday morning skiing. Rolled into town Sat. evening with some wild expectation that there would be skiable snow on the nordic trails in town which I had been wanting to check out all winter. Made my way to the Reservoir Hill trails just off the main drag and was shocked for some reason to find no snow whatsoever. Like the ground wasn't even muddy from the melt. Hah. Probably due to the 60deg weather we've been having, something I had not factored into this mastermind trip I had planned. Snow was required so now I'm screwed. That's life sometimes.

I figured I'd scout the trails real quick since winter will be coming our way again in another seven months. They were cool, no singletrack but they should have had loads of snow on them so it wouldn't apply anyhow. In fact the trail markers were way up on the trees reminding me that they were designed to be read while standing on several feet of snowpack.

Kip's Cantina - Provider of beers, food, and good company

I huffed along on trail no. 2 for a while, then got on no 7 for a bit, then zigged through some trees on think I was on no. 11. This would be fun on skis. According to the map there are 2-3mi loops in here. I kind of cut through some parts, and when I found myself on a vehicle access road I decided to run the trees along side instead. A little recon. action. Got turned around some but found my way back to the car after 'checking out' about 3mi of trail.

So, no skiing, but I now know that in a pinch my Garmont hikers work just as well for running as a pair of trainers, and jeans make a decent substitute for shorts, and a down ski coat works just fine in place of a zip-top except you will sweat like crazy, and running in the dark is a good substitute for not having a hat. And if your recovery beer is in a fridge 160mi away what you want to do is go back out to Hwy 160, hang a right, and drive a mile up the road to Kip's Cantina where you can have a beer with patrolman Sutt. Love Kip's.

Running however isn't really a good substitute for not having snow when that's all you've been thinking about.

  - Part II of Nordic Skiing Pagosa 



View Reservoir Nordic Trails - Pagosa Springs, CO in a larger map