New Years Eve was approaching and we always try to get out and camp with our camper. Once again, this year we would do that. This trip we would do some skiing at Mission Ridge Resort near Wenatchee Washington. We have never skied Mission Ridge before so that added to the excitement of this trip.

We left at noon on Friday and made the 3 1/2 hour or so drive to the resort. Most of the trip was no problem but we did drive into a bit of a snow storm on the way. Nothing the truck could not handle and in fact I did not even put it into four wheel drive, just had to slow down.

We pulled into the parking lot for the resort a little before nightfall. There is a section of the parking lot that the resort specifically says truck campers can park for free. There is another section of the parking lot where other RV’s and truck campers can park but that is $20.00 per night. At least that section can be reserved. Both sections are dry camping only. We took the free spot. Heck, that was even closer to the resort facilities anyway. Only about 150 feet away.

We got our things set up and started a campfire. We had our dinner and relaxed a bit. Winds started up and soon we put the fire out and went inside for the rest of the night.

We slept pretty good. The winds did pick up more through the night and it did rock the camper a bit. We do not put the jacks down when camping. Our set up is pretty stable without them. It is just something we never have done.

We woke up and had our coffee and listened to the XM radio. I checked out the resort ski report online. Well, it was going to be a windy day. The chair to the top was not going to be open due to 100 mph winds at the ridge of the mountain. Yes that is right, 100 mph. The rest of the mountain would be open since it is on the lee side. Still, one other chair did close for a while for wind as well. The skiing was not too bad. Only being able to explore the resort on the lower runs was not too bad for us since we have never skied here before. It made us explore more.

We stopped skiing around 2pm as the weather was just not as much fun. Winds and now a bit of freezing rain and rain at lodge level. We went into the lodge to have something to eat and drink and eventually listened to a band that was playing that night. It was not a bad first day there. We made do with what mother nature provided us that day.

We eventually returned to the camper for the night. We woke up a couple time to the camper getting rocked by wind. The temperature warmed up a bit overnight as well. I knew we would wake up to lots of ice in the parking lot. That was an understatement. It was an ice rink. Today the weather was colder and no melting or rain would happen today. The mountain staff would do a great job on getting the parking lot in better condition before guests arrived. They used a groomers tracks to break up ice then put lots of sand down later on. The groomers would get the ski runs in good shape for the day as well. The winds were gone and sun would arrive today.

All the chairs would be open today, including chair 2 to the top of the mountain. There was a delay on opening chair 2 to get ice broke off of everything. It was blasted with the ice and wind. Soon enough it was good to go. Cody and I skied some of the lower mountain then met up with Joanne at the midway lodge. From there we got on chair 2 to the top to check out the top part of the mountain.

In 1944 a B24 crashed on this mountain. Sadly all 6 crewmen did not survive the crash. Part of a wing is on display next to a ski run along with a historical sign that Boy Scouts built. There also just happens to be a geocache there that we found as well.

We enjoyed our day of skiing. Far better than the day before. Soon we returned to our camper. We started up a campfire for the night and had our dinner. We slept well that night. Well, I was in a bit of pain as Cody forgot who had the right of way while skiing. That would be me as I was the downhill skier. I got crashed into and hurt my shoulder. That crash I was very thankful for a helmet. My head bounced off the ground pretty hard. If I did not have a helmet things would have been much worse. I strongly urge all of you skiers and boarders to wear a helmet. I know it saved me that day from much worse injuries.

We woke up to a beautiful New Years Eve day. The sun was up, it snowed a bit and it was going to be a fantastic ski day. Indeed it was. Today would be the last ski day for us. We would spend one more night here after skiing.

Cody and I skied a lot of the upper mountain. Joanne hung out mostly on the lower mountain area. Cody and I are more advanced skiers than her. Joanne had a great time skiing where she went. Today we wanted to try and find another geocache. It was in a harder to get to area. You have to be a pretty advance skier to get to the location. It took us four tries to get to the area but we finally did. Once there, sadly we could not get the geocache. I missed where it was posted they moved the cache outside of the cave. No way I could find it under 15 feet of snow or so. In the cave would have been okay. Oh well, it took us to a very fun area to ski. Cody and I had a blast skiing the tree area where there was plenty of powder to have fun with.

We returned back to our camper after having a really great ski day, our last day skiing here for this trip. We would start up the campfire and have our dinner. We watched people leave the resort while we sat around the warmth of our fire. The stars were out and it was a wonderful way to spend New Years Eve. A couple people came over to chat with us that were staying up there with their RVs.

New Years Day it was time to go home. We packed up and was gone by 8am or so. It was kind of sad to go, we had such a great time. The drive home was very easy, no road issues with snow or anything. We stopped to find one geocache but other than that, it was straight home.

Another outing for us that we loved. Exactly how we like to spend our New Years as well.

 

mission ridge new year 12/28 2018 – 1/1 2019