Each spring, those of us lucky enough to live in or visit McCall get to experience the joy of shoulder season.
I say that without irony — though I know it's sometimes considered a four-letter word — because the shoulder season is the only time I can ski in the morning and mountain bike in the afternoon.
Earlier this week, I got to do just that with my daughter, who was home from college. As the sun warmed the pavement on our driveway, we stuck our skins to our skis and loaded them into the back of the car along with boots, poles, and sunscreen.
Then, we shoved off, heading up Goose Lake Road to the Brundage Mountain Resort parking lot. Pulling in, the face and bottom of Main Street filled our windshield. We saw more dirt and mud than snow, but higher up, it looked promising.
"Best snow of the year," joked my daughter as we crossed the gravel lot and plopped our skis down on the snow in front of Smoky's.
The snow we stood on was pitted and uneven. It didn't look good. Undeterred, we stepped into our skis and started up towards the goalposts on Main Street.
As we walked, we tested the snow with our poles and laughed at how bad it appeared to be.
"Maybe it's better in the snowcat track," I said.
So we moved over and found the soft snow in the track was indeed better. We kept at it and, just above the cutoff to Rodeo, decided to turn around. As soon as we popped off our skis, a groomer came barreling over the the top of the next rise, running full-speed to the bottom.
Perfect timing for some smoothish corn for the ski down.
We finished our transition, then skied the groomer wide track back to the car. Not perfect, but not too shabby either.
With the ski portion out of the way, we headed back to town for a quick change and dirt ride around Huckleberry Loop in Ponderosa State Park.
It was really the perfect day for a ride — sunny, warm, no breeze. We left the pavement at the entrance of the park, hit the dirt then the single track, and wound our way along the side of Pilgrim's Cove, stopping to lug our bikes over and under downed trees and around patches of snow.
Over and under logs, around snow patches for the first ride of the year.
All in all, we were able to ride a little over four miles of the loop — not bad for this early in the season.
We headed back to the house, sprayed down the bikes, wiped down the dogs, grabbed a beer, and sat on the front porch tired and happy. Another great snow-to-dirt day in the books with signs of summer all around.
Here's hoping you get a chance to get outside for some shoulder season fun this weekend.
See you out there!
