Remembering "The Ravine From Hell"...Good Times

If we had all the technological gadgets growing up that the kids have nowadays, you'd better believe I'd be posting pictures and videos every winter from "The Ravine from Hell." It was a sledding run that we used from when I was in elementary school all the way to my college years.

It was that good.

Earlier this week I went hiking above my house and the hill that once was is no more, partially, because there's a house bordering on the ravine, and secondly (and more importantly...) the person who bought the hill spent a small fortune setting up rock retaining walls, forever erasing the ravine.

When our family decided to develop the end of the road for building lots, it doomed our sledding hill. But in its day, it was beautiful. We would spend hours on the hill. Plastic sleds were good, but the best way to descend was atop a huge inner tube. My dad used to get them from Hill Air Force Base where he worked. After he passed away, we had to scrounge for tubes and we'd spend hours repairing them with bicycle tube repair patches--had to keep those thing inflated.

And the hike to the top of the ravine was brutal. It took so long, mostly because we traveled so far. It's hard to see, but that black circle is roughly where we'd end up (that small object in the circle is my car...). I'm no expert, but we'd like several hundred feet up the mountain each time.

After each snow storm, we'd go build the berms to keep us on the track. If we got going too fast, we'd fly off the top and head into non-track areas. There were several rocks, but the biggest thing to avoid was a power pole. In all my years, I can't remember if me or any of my friends ever ran into the thing. It most likely happened, but as with much of childhood, I seem to only recall the good times.

Looking back, it was a very dangerous sledding hill, but I don't remember our parents ever complaining or stopping us. We'd rid that hill for hours on the weekends, and even after school, if the storm was big enough.

Like much of my childhood, the physical markers where we played--sledding runs, empty fields, even back yards--are gone. With those same gadgets that would have captured the fun, kids now use them for personal entertainment. It's too bad--it's hard to beat a a sledding run called "The Ravine from Hell."

Good times.

 

There's A Horse In The Field...

"I think there's a horse in the field," I said to the kids after returning home from work.

"Yeah, there is." 

Directly west of our house is a field. It's one of those untouched pieces of land that's surrounded by homes. In the spring, summer and fall the weed-covered land is pretty much ignored, but in the winter, it becomes an amazing local hang out. It magically transforms into a sledding hill.

But this winter, the plastic sleds and inflated inner tubes may have to find a new place to fly. Of course, we have not claim on the hill. The land belongs to our neighbor who puts in so much time getting the hill ready for all the neighbors.

The newest neighbor is in a temporary corral, at least, it looks temporary. The whole thing could be packed up and the horse gone at any time, almost as fast as it arrived. I like having a horse so close. I imagine back in the day everyone had horses at their homes. We live in a town called "Farmington," after all.

Whether or not the horse stays or we have kids fly down the hill, time will tell. One thing I do know, winter is coming.

Ye Olde Sledding Hill...

Our Sledding Hill

We live on a hill, not a Swiss Alps hill, but a hill none the less. And thanks to my next-door-neighbor, we have an excellent sledding run in our backyard. Since the run lies exclusively on my neighbor's property, it's due to his kindness that we have our run.

I grew up across the street from where I currently live. A few hundred feet from our front door is a natural ravine. Growing up we sled and tubed down that ravine. My friends called it "The Ravine From Hell" and for good reason. It was a great place to sled when the snow flew.

Unfortunately for my kids, the ravine no longer supports sledding (due to landscaping and the proliferation of possible lawsuits...) but we do have the lower hill. Yesterday we got a long awaited storm and the kids flocked to the whitened mountain. Even my kids joined in.

My neighbor, who's hill it is, took the first run of the morning. It required several attempts for him to reach the bottom. His dogs, however, loved every run.