US Ice trip Dec 2019

As I was heading to San Francisco in December (2019) to meet our daughter I decided to go early to see if I could get in some skating.  I have always wanted to visit Helena, Montana as it has a reputation for skating and ice sailing.  Spent two weeks travelling to there and the Eastern Sierra and had some great skating.  

Below are some pics from the trip

First skate - on a snow melt pond at the side of the road while travelling to Twin Falls ID

Swan Valley skate on a pond - bit soft! 

Swan Valley pond

Amazing ice on Clark Canyon Reservoir 

Clark Canyon - think green ice - massive area

Lake Helena - thick ice again - smooth!

Rest on Lake Helena

Frozen Creek near Canyon Ferry

Loving Lake Helena 

Pond area at top of Canyon Ferry 

Skated around a small boat harbour on Canyon Ferry - industrial skate just for fun

Frozen Boat Harbour

Huge ice on Canyon Ferry Dam 

Clark Canyon Res on the way back.

Skated to the Island on Clark Canyon Res - light snow on the ice but good for Nordic Skates

And back to the Island the next day 

Bit of a dodgy skate near Elko NV

Fabulous.....

Amazing ice on Caples Lake - had to snow shoe around the lake to get there

Bridgeport Reservoir - fab skate - huge area

Lake Crowley arm - good skate.

Back to Bridgeport the next day

Caples - amazing ice

Alkalai Ponds near Bishop - snow ice but good in the Nordic Skates