Gift

Happy sled dogs finishing off another great run atop Rabbit Ears Pass.

Smiles all around (even me if you look close enough :)

We spent the morning on the Harrison Creek area of Rabbit Ears Pass. The past two days we have been abandoning set trails to skijor the solid spring crust covering the vast meadows atop Rabbit Ears. Today, though, we had to stick to set trails. The overnight lows only got into the mid to upper 30s and there was heavy cloud cover to trap the previous day's heat. As a result, what was a firm crust the last two days was sloppy & slushy this morning.

So, we had to keep to the snowmobile trails that had been continuously packed by machines for the past 6 months. The only drawback of this is that it can get a bit bumpy, choppy and bouncy in the tracks. Luckily the Harrison Creek trails are some of the lesser used at Rabbit Ears, so the trails were not too bumpy!

Sticking to the set trails. All the wonderful snowpack you see off trail was too soft to skijor today.

But, we did climb in elevation during the outing. At our highest point, the crust was finally firm! Yay, so off we went for some upper elevation "make your own path":

Synchronized Hover Huskies!
Love getting synchronized on a firm crust.

As we were heading to the finish of the day we found the most unexpected gift. A virtually unused groomed snowmobile trail. The trail had been groomed a few days ago, so it was not a "fresh groom". But, a day or two unused groom is almost as good!

It does not come out so clear with the overcast skies; but this is a
1-2 day old & unused groomed track!

Today's video highlight has to be the "groom gift". Come along as we top 23 MPH on a real trail gift for May! If you watch closely you can occasionally see the "groom corduroys" on the trail. It was very apparent in person, just hard to see in the dark overcast. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Fun shot to conclude the day. We were cruising up a section of Harrison Creek when suddenly everyone glanced back in unison to show me their happy faces. I did not say anything, the trio just decided to give me a synchronized smiling glance!

"Hi dad - we are having SO MUCH FUN today!" declares the happy trio.

Another great May Day: 7.1 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 113 days on the trails covering 649.9 miles with 60,700 feet of elevation climbed.