As Jim and I drove past Marshall Lake, the smaller of the two lakes in North Park, I noticed someone making a snowman on the ice in the middle of the lake, it reminded me of my teen days. We would drive to North Park with our snow shovels and ice skates. At that time there was a small bridge which crossed over the water (ice) to a shelter with a fireplace on Marshall Lake. We would take our snow shovels and clear off the snow so we could go ice skating.
Now, there is an outdoor skating rink there where we took our children when they were young,
Ice Fishing was another sport back then. Jim would take the Cub Scouts Ice Fishing on the big Lake. We saw about four groups who seemed to be ice fishing when we passed the lake the other day.
Another sport was Cross Country Skiing. You could rent skis and there was a trail on the Golf Course. I learned to Cross Country Ski so I could take my Girl Scout Troop skiing. I could already Downhill Ski, but Cross-Country Skiing is a bit different, I’m not sure if the trail is still marked but you can probably still cross-country ski if you want – no rentals though.
All of this is just two miles from our Ecovillage.
Currently Jim is hiking the various paths in North Park with a friend. He has purchased a set of trekking poles to help him navigate the ups and downs of the paths.
– by Judy Robertson, Founding member & future resident of RCE, March 1, 2025