Sunday, March 18th, marked the 440th birthday of the German Artist Adam Elsheimer, whose 1609 painting of the milky way is thought to be the first naturalistic rendering of the night sky. It reminds us of these words from The Paradiso of Dante Alighieri, “As, pricked out with less and greater lights, between the poles of the universe, the Milky Way so gleameth white as to set very sages questioning.” On Sunday, all trails to the east of Alturas Lake Creek were groomed for skating with classic tracks on all except Wapiti and Sheep Thrills. At Park Creek all trails except for a few short connectors were groomed for skate and classic.