Zoo

It was a zoo in French Gulch this morning as it seems like the entire town of Breckenridge brought their dogs to the gulch this morning!

Nancy, Zorro, Jack & Rudy were waiting at the trailhead as I put my skis on when
a dog came running up from behind me and into the group.

When I am on skis and we encounter loose dogs, I simply get everyone stopped and then get on my knees and wait for the human accompanying the dog(s) to eventually arrive and move them on by. Some people understand why I am stopped (I can't have a loose dog jumping in the middle of us while I am on skis - think about how many things could go wrong) and some people are, well, clueless!

Despite the zoo of activity, we still had a great time skijoring the gulch. We had many stretches of unoccupied, wide and fast packed terrain. Zoom!

Flying along the fast & wide trail!

We had numerous stretches where there were set tracks on each side of the trail with powder in the middle. The middle powder was too deep for anyone (typically Jack) to keep pace if he was in the deeper snow and the others were in the track. So, we figured out how tight we could get to fit in the narrow track.

You can't pack three sled dogs much tighter than that!

We had the chance to flirt with the occasional dog-less people we encountered on the trail.

"Hi, bye, coming through - made you smile!' says the flirtatious trio
passing on by this couple tending to a recently buried car.

Today's video highlight showcases all types of fun to be had. We start barely fitting in a narrow single track. Then, the middle powder disappears and we are suddenly on a wide, packed and ridiculously fast packed trail. Then we encounter the couple and their vehicles so we slow, flirt and pass on by. Finally, past all obstacles and it is a wide open fast packed trail to floor it - zoom!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Since we were in French Gulch, you are always on the lookout for moose. At our turnaround and Jack & Rudy got a sniff of something and had to peek over the snow wall. Moose expert Zorro clearly knew the scent was not fresh or strong enough for there to be a moose over the wall.

"We smell MOOSE - checking, checking!' says the moose seeking youngsters.
"Their noses don't know the difference between fresh and stale moose yet!" adds
'not fooled by stale moose' Zorro.

We got to finish the day off showcasing our smiles as we towed the human to the finish.

"We LOVE skijoring!" declares the happy trio.

Finally, we got to enjoy our well-earned 'end of run' treats!

"Ready! Dish them out!" says the happy & focused trio.

Despite a zoo of dogs all over French Gulch today, we found enough open and safely unoccupied stretches to have a great outing: 7.2 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 91 days on the trails covering 625.1 miles with 57,750 feet of elevation climbed.