Last week’s midweek cross-country ski in Teton Canyon east of Driggs treated us to a snow globe outing. For most of our time on the trail, a steady snow was falling.

Oddly, as soon as we headed home and drove into Alta, Wyoming, and on to Rexburg, the sky was high clouds with a few blue patches.

The Teton Canyon Road is generally groomed for skate and classic skiers, but is wide enough to accommodate snowshoers, fat bikes and snowmobiles (and lots of dogs). Snowmobilers are often hauling in ice climbers.

Most of the cross-country and snowshoe trails across the area have warmed up some since a week ago. Some will have received new snow, especially in the higher elevations.

With newer users out on the trails, groups such as Teton Valley Trails and Pathways and Harriman State Park are making efforts to educate people on using the proper path on groomed trails.

Some trails take a fair amount of effort and expense to groom for a variety of users, and all that effort can easily be wrecked by a few careless visitors.

For example, the Teton Canyon Road is great if everyone stays in their specific groove. Some hikers were tromping all over the ski tracks.

At Harriman State Park, trail users are asked to stay in their lanes specific to the gear attached to their feet. If you’re walking trails, snowshoes need to be on your feet.

“Please remember equipment is required under feet and to “know your groom.” Keep off of the classic track and skate lanes unless you have proper equipment,” the park said in a Facebook post.

If you want to ski the trails in the Island Park area, you can call the Ashton Forest Service Ranger Station at 208-652-7442 for a grooming report. The Forest Service usually grooms trails on Thursdays or Fridays. The Forest Service asks that you have a Park N’ Ski sticker to help cover grooming and trailhead plowing costs. You can obtain a sticker at a Forest Service office or online at tinyurl.com/5n9a4p8f.

The talk got serious during Christmas parties and phone calls to family and friends.

“What’s your plans for the coming year?” a friend asked.

My oldest daughter said she wanted to do a triathlon relay with me and another daughter. I would do the bike leg, she would do the half-marathon run and my youngest daughter would do the mile swim.

Another friend said he was planning to do the Logan To Jackson bike race this coming year. Another is planning a weeklong backpack in the Wind River Range. “We got sick last summer and missed our window.”

“I’m down for going to El Potrero Chico (in Mexico) this spring if we can make it happen,” a climbing friend said. I have been floating the idea of going to the limestone sport-climbing mecca with climber friends for years, but things haven’t fallen into place. Maybe 2023 is finally the year.

The end of the year and beginning of the new year seems to be an ideal time to line up adventures for the coming year. It’s a healthy thing to do because it pushes you and your friends to stay active, keep daily and weekly activities aimed at building toward bigger trips.

I bumped into one friend at the local climbing gym last week who told me he had a rock climbing trip planned in Greece.

“I have a lot of work to do,” he said. “I’m recovering from shoulder surgery. I hate to go to a big destination and not be in top climbing shape.”

That’s a good idea, but for me, I think my best climbing shape days are difficult to maintain. At my age, it seems I get out of shape in a week, and it takes me three weeks to get back in shape.

Lately, though, it seems my outdoor adventure calendar fills up rapidly, and it’s hard to jam everything in. Between the bike rides, climbing trips, backpacking trips and camping outings, there’s always kids having babies, children needing visits and reunions of one kind or another. It’s a good problem to have.

Jerry Painter is a longtime East Idaho outdoorsman and journalist.