Baby Steps

We hooked Jack up with Zorro and I for his first ever little "mini skijor". Wheeee - he really gets it!

Jack giving it his all to keep up with Zorro.

Zorro and I did a 7ish mile skijor around Sally Barber Mine before arriving near the trailhead to hookup Jack for a short intro to skijoring. We purposely put ourselves on a section of trail with a downhill and flat grade so that Jack's only task would be to "free run" next to Zorro and try and keep up. Notice in the photo above that the gangline is taut from me to Zorro (e.g., Zorro is doing all the real work) whereas the gangline is 90 degrees to Jack (e.g., his sole mission was to "keep up" for this short distance :)

Come along and watch Jack's first little skijor with Zorro and I. So much fun to see Zorro towing me while Jack "gives it his all" to keep up for this short sprint. Pretty good for a first skijor run!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Okay, back to the real outing. Zorro and I skijored up, around and down the Sally Barber Mine Trail and added two side tours for distance and fun.

The first side tour was an untouched powder cache. We broke trail in 8-12 inches of snow along an untouched "power line trail" before turning around and retracing our freshly carved tracks.

Zorro hopping through 10ish inches of fresh, untouched powder as we break trail on an
unused power line trail.

The second side tour took on the narrow Trail of Tears. This is a fun, albeit very tight, trail that weaves you through dense trees. The trail had been used by others before us, so it was a packed fast track through the trees:

Zipping along behind Zorro towing me through the trees.

Back to the day's highlight: hooking up Jack for a tiny intro run... Finished skijoring and everyone has earned their "end of run pork treats":

"I earned mine, I earned mine!!!!" says happy little Jack.
"I get more! I did more!" proclaims cute & focused Zorro.

3 phases of fun with Zorro: fast & wide Sally Barber Mine Trail + fast & narrow Trail of Tears + trail breaking on a power line trail. Then, a short run to finish the day with Jack's first hookup. 7.1 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2017/2018 Season to Date: 11 days on the trails covering 77.9 miles with 7100 feet of elevation climbed.

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