Wyoming

Sydney and Brandon have been living in Lander for several years now and we had not been to visit them. Now that Jasmine has finished graduate school and we are free to roam a visit to Lander was high on the list of desired places to go this fall. So once again we headed east on I-80, that makes three I-80 transits since September.
I was incredibly excited to get to Lander. Syd and I have been best-buds since we were 5 years old, and they had just moved into their new house. We arrived in time for dinner on Wednesday. Syd make scrumptious enchiladas to kick off four days of good times with good friends. Friday, Syd and Brandon hosted a holiday party. There also was a group celebrating the completion of a 6 week biggest loser competition. The top four in the competition had all lost over 10 lbs, they all really got after it. It was a great party, Sydney and Brandon have a great friend circle in Lander. Syd and Brandon looking good and ready for their guests to arrive Friday.

Saturday we took our time getting going, but made it out in time for hike in Sinks canyon. We followed the river up the canyon admiring the ice forming over the flowing water. The trail ended at large frozen waterfalls.


Sunday, we made the most of our last day and headed to Tioga Pass for some skinning and to get in the our first turns of the season.
We love the winter.
Skinning in we heard several good whoomphs. One was big enough that I felt the shift underneath me. Brandon dug a snow pit to check the stability of the snow pack. It didn’t take much for the upper crust ~30cm to slide off the base at a 26 degree slope. There was also a rain crust on top which made skiing down a challenge for some of us.
And when I say challenge I mean a lot of face falls, one in particular where I discovered face slamming rain crust will leave a mark. See my forehead. It was a beautiful day to be out. Lou and I particularly enjoyed seeing portions of the divide we will be hiking in 6 to 7 months. Quite possibly we will be hiking on the same snow base we were skiing yesterday. Returning to Lander that evening Syd cooked up some chicken rice-good for the soul- soup. Before dinner we got suited up and walked the half block to the public pool and hot tub. Arriving at the door our hearts sank at the sight of the sign “HOT TUB CLOSED TONIGHT”. Drat. Thankfully the hot yummy soup warmed us up from the inside out.