Sledding in April

It had been a long time since I had gone sledding down Haystack. Several years at least. So, when the rumor started circling that one night during Missions Conference there was a group that wanted to take one of our visiting missionaries up there, I said "hey, I want to go!" It's a little unusual to go sledding in April, because by that time of year, the snow has started to melt during the day and refreeze at night. Which means you are sledding down a hill without much snow and possibly ice instead. If you know anything about sledding, that is  really not the best situation.

But we've been having an cold spring this year. Actually it has snowed every day this week and it's now May! Ok, going back to my sledding story. One day that week, I drove a few people out to Haystack to "check out" the hill. They said it was great, so plans were made to go the next evening after the services. 

The next night about 1030pm, we set out. There were 10 of us going out there, though BD didn't go down the hill, since Luke was borrowing all his warm clothing. Because of the lengthening days, it was still a bit light out on our way out of town. The first few runs down the hill, the sky was darkening, but on the horizon it was still lighter blue and orange. Very pretty! and the moon was out in almost full form. 

It was an awesome time! We had a small, good group, which is better than a huge group. We had an great time trying to beat each other down the hill, crashing into the backside of whoever was in front of us, trying to jump the burm at the bottom of the road, and reminiscing on the old times of going down Haystack when funny things happend with other great people, etc. :) The hill is about 3/4 of a mile long, so we would jump in the back of the pickup truck and get a ride to the top. Somehow on the last ride down, my sled didn't get put into the back of the truck, so I was sledless. I could have just not gone down that time around, but since we had already decided it was the last run, I wanted to go. So, I made Ben go with me on his sled. He was the littlest person there, since he's only 13, but still we had a hard time staying on the sled, cause it was too small for two people. But we had a great time laughing our way down the hill and even beat some people! Well, only cause they stopped to try to scare us, by jumping out of the dark woods surrounding the trail. 

Was a little tired the next morning, but thankfully wasn't really sore at all. Normally, two days after sledding down that hill, I can barely move. You can move pretty fast down that hill and get some MAJOR air on the bumps. Yeah, the tailbone usually isn't very grateful the next day. 

I have to say sledding in April is nice, cause of the longer days and warmer conditions. It was about 15-20 degrees that night - wonderful for sledding! I've been down that hill at midnight in October, with no moon or stars to see and -10 - yeah, that's another story for another time. 

before

after

notice my hair - haha

you can kind of see the color on the horizon

the sledders minus one