Crystal Amphitheatre, XC Ski

Date:12/15/18
Trip Leader: Alden Wright
Participants: Lisa Roberson, Tess Sneeringer, Bill Goslin.

I learned of this trip by participating Rocky Mountaineers trip led by Julie Kahl on this trail last fall. Lisa, Tess, and I drove together, and we met Bill at the little parking lot on the north side of the highway. This is the natural place to park, and no parking pass is needed. We skied up the groomed snowmobile trail for about half mile and then went off on the gated logging road to the right. There are a couple of logging road junctions—keep left. We were intermittently breaking trail in deep snow and following the tracks of other skiers. We saw a number of skiers with wide skis and skins. There was only a short section where we were going through brush on the road. There are nice views of the mountains on the other side of the highway. After 3 miles, we came to the creek drainage—this must be Crystal Creek—although it is not named on the maps. We stopped and ate lunch and took pictures, and returned. Strava showed a distance of 6.25 miles, an elevation gain of 900’, and a moving time of 2:20.