I think that Nordic skates were created with a place like Nancy Lakes in mind. The Nancy Lakes area is a collection of small lakes and ponds, many of which are connected by short portage trails to create a loop. If you did the loop on regular skates, you’d end up spending most of your time putting your skates on and off between lakes. But with Nordic skates, you can clip in and clip out in a matter of seconds.

Yesterday there was up to an inch of snow on the lakes, and about 4-6 inches in the woods. This wasn’t ideal for skating, but it did open up the possibility of skating the lakes and skiing the woods - all without changing boots!

Tim, Ian and I took advantage of the conditions to do a 26 mile ski & skate loop that hit 22 lakes (both numbers are approximate). Two years ago, Tim and I did the normal Nancy Lakes canoe trail in under two hours. This time we were looking to do a bigger loop. We took ski blades, classic skis, and wore combi or skate boots. We basically encircled the entire Nancy Lakes area, except for Nancy Lake itself. The loop took five hours. The skating was good (even with the snow) and the skiing wasn’t too bad. We skated very quickly across the lakes, but sometimes got bogged down breaking trail on skis. Some parts of the route hadn’t seen any human traffic yet this season.

Its not often that these conditions occur, and we had a great time taking advantage of them. Check out my photos by clicking the photo below. Also check out Tim’s photos and video here.

The other day I was talking to a friend back East and he told me how they just had a beautiful Indian Summer.  Sunny October days, temperatures in the sixties.  I replied that we too were having beautiful sunny days, but our temperatures were in the twenties.  I guess we should call it Eskimo Summer.

I used to hate this time of year.  An Autumn of cool, rainy weather would always raise the hope of a early ski season.  But inevitably a high-pressure system would move in, the sky would clear, and the temperature would drop.  And it would stay like that.  Everything is cold and frozen, but no snow.  Very frustrating for someone who lives to ski.  

Recently, though, my interests have diversified, and I’m less of a ski-at-all-costs kind of guy.   I’ve embraced biking and running on the frozen trails.  I got studded tires for my mountain bike and it opened up a lot of new options.    I even found myself hoping that we wouldn’t get snow after the lakes began to freeze up, so that we could enjoy some ice skating.  I went skating at Potter Marsh both days last weekend and it was fantastic.  

I love the maze of ice created by the cattail vegetation.  You can skate for hours and never get bored.  And when the skiing jones kick in, I can always drive up to Hatcher Pass for beautiful skiing, which I did on Sunday morning.   (There is skiing nearby at Glen Alps, but it wasn’t very good the last time I went, and with all the other recreation options, I haven’t been back yet.)

As I was ice skating yesterday, I was thinking about all the ice skating trips I would like to do.  Nancy Lakes, Swan Lakes, Jim Creek.  Don’t get me wrong, as soon as it snows, I will be on my skis and loving it.  But yesterday, I was in no rush.  I could go for another week or two of snow-free lakes and trails.  

So, naturally, it snowed today.  Just enough to hamper the ice skating but not enough to ski.  Oh well, plenty of other options during our beautiful Eskimo Summer.