A lowland wonderland for winter running, curling, biking and birding
Not everyone’s idea of enjoying the winter outdoors requires a strategic layering of Space Age moisture-wicking fabrics, multiple fleeces and encasement in a Gore-Tex cocoon, not to mention affixing one or two planks to one’s feet.
Thankfully, there are loads of options for people who like to stay down low, away from the snow. You can hike the Issaquah Alps. Train for one of the many half-marathons, marathons or even ultramarathons taking place next spring and summer across the region. Pick up some mad mountain-biking skills through one of the Backcountry Bicycle Club’s Boot Camps. If you’d rather enjoy winter’s cold indoors, head to a local ice rink, lace up some skates and pursue your own personal blades of glory. Even better, head to the Granite Curling Club, the only dedicated curling facility west of North Dakota, to work on the ole hit and roll or perfect your hackweight takeout.
“The average person can pick up the basics of curling in an hour or two,” said Phil Draper, the Seattle club’s treasurer. It takes about a year or so of regular playing to get really competent. “It looks fairly easy to do, but like anything, that’s because the pros that you see on TV make it look so easy.”
Granite Curling is a private club with teams, leagues and tournaments (called bonspiels or spiels), but it offers open houses when anyone can show up to play. The next open house is 9 a.m. to noon Dec. 1.
“We’re trying to educate the public about the sport,” Draper said. “But it’s not like a bowling alley where you just come in anytime and rent a lane. That’s why we have the open houses.”
Curling coverage during the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games brought wide exposure and increased interest to the sport, Draper said. Still, U.S. interest pales in comparison to Canada, where there are some 1 million curlers. The U.S. has maybe 20,000 at most.
“The upside is that in the U.S., your path to the Olympics could be a lot shorter,” Draper added hopefully.
Go take a run
If spring marathons in places such as Wenatchee, Whidbey Island, Tacoma or Olympia or an ultra (a race longer than a marathon) like the Orcas Island Fatass or Chuckanut Mountain are likely to find their way on your list of 2008 New Year’s resolutions, now is the time to begin building that base mileage that will get you to the finish line.
“Plus, there still are lots of local races through the winter months to incorporate as part of your training,” said Martin Rudow, editor and publisher of Northwest Runner magazine.
Stores such as Capitol Hill’s Seattle Running Co. and Olympia’s South Sound Running, and clubs such as Redmond-based Eastside Runners, offer organized weekend training runs so that your weekly long runs needn’t be solitary.
Lots of races offer their own marathon training programs, too; check the individual race Web sites to see if the race you’re interested in does. Team in Training (www.teamintraining.org), which offers coaching and organized training runs while raising money for leukemia and lymphoma research and treatment, is another way to go.
Rudow cautioned that extra care needs to be taken for winter running.
“In icy road and trail conditions, you should curtail your running or move it inside to a treadmill; the injury reports from winter running I have heard almost all relate to slips on the ice.”
Given winter’s few hours of daily sunlight, reflective gear is key, too.
On your bike
So maybe curling and running really far don’t quite scratch the winter itch. No big whoop. There’s always mountain biking, a great winter activity. Because most mountain bike trails are in the woods, the forest canopy acts as an umbrella of sorts. Thus, winter mountain biking can be much more pleasant than winter road riding. Seattle’s Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club (www.bbtc.org) offers twice-monthly Boot Camps for those who want to learn how to ride over roots, rocks and logs; climb better; descend more safely, and more. If you’re already competent but want to get scary good, or just scary, Fluidride (www.fluidride.com), a Seattle mountain bike shop and training center, offers hard-core instruction on technical downhill, dirt jumping, free-riding and the like.
For the birds
Winter, of course, is when things heat up for birdwatchers, too. Skagit County has begun, or will soon begin, to be all aflutter with swans, snow geese, shorebirds, eagles and other raptors. The eagles like the Upper Skagit River between mileposts 90 and 100 on Highway 20; geese, swans and the like prefer the flats closer to Puget Sound.
The Skagit Wildlife Area (www.wdfw.wa.gov/lands/r4skagit) is a prime viewing spot. A few miles north at the Skagit Wildlife Area Samish Unit, a spot known locally as the West 90, raptors and owls are often spotted by the dozens. Several Puget Sound-area Audubon chapters offer outings specifically at these and similar birding hot spots.
Who knew there was so much fun to be had down low away from the snow?
Mike McQuaide is a Bellingham freelance writer and author of “Day Hike! Central Cascades” and “Day Hike! North Cascades” (Sasquatch Books). He can be reached at mikemcquaide@ comcast.net.