Weather, snow conditions, and schedule combined to make this day the one for me to go cross-country skiing. Several last minute phone calls netted no other participants, so I struck out on my own, driving out of Salem in dense fog, which disappeared at Mill City, giving me bright sunshine to drive into the Cascades. With the light snow conditions I decided it would be best to go clear to the top, and ski out of the Ray Benson Sno-Park. The parking lot was empty, and the trail leading out on the south side had not been broken, so I started out making my own tracks.

I soon encountered tracks, probably made yesterday by some skiers out of the east end of the lot, and gladly followed along. My original plan was to ski to the Island Junction Shelter, but as no track had broken, I followed along to the Brandenburg Shelter. It was an absolutely perfect day, several inches of fairly fresh powder, bright sunshine, with outstanding views of Mt Washington and surrounding peaks.

The inside of Brandenburg Shelter looked cold and dark compared to the bright world outside, so I sat down to enjoy my lunch outside, leaning against the wall in the warm sunshine. With no one to talk to, I was provided with the perfect opportunity to play with my latest gadget---a pocket AM-FM radio with TV & NOAA Weather channels. Checking out the TV channels, I caught the end of 'Mr. Rogers' on Oregon Public Broadcasting. Next I listened to the NOAA Weather forecast for Central Oregon from the Bend station, which I found not nearly as 'warm and fuzzy' as 'Mr. Rogers', but could be helpful on future backpacking trips.

Leaving the shelter, I retraced my route back to the parking lot. The warm temperatures made for some fast snow skiing conditions in the set tracks, a perfect end for the day.