Saturday, April 3, 2021

Spring

 Happy kids looking back as we turnaround on the trail this morning!

"We are having a great time!!!" exclaims the happy pair.

We got to explore the 2 "signs of Spring" on this morning's outing.

The first? Well, look at the prior photo and notice that Jack & Rudy are standing on a solid crust atop the snowpack. One of the most fun things about skijoring in April and May is the Spring Crust. Warm days well above freezing cause the top of the snowpack to soften and then freezing nights re-solidify this top layer into a firm crust. When the crust is firm enough, we can abandon set trails and skijor the crust any direction we want. 

Whee we go gliding atop the spring crust as we weave
across vast meadows.

While the photos look great, the truth is the crust was just barely firm enough to hold our weight. In fact, if Jack & Rudy tried to go too fast, they would punch through. The smart kids realized this after a couple of steps and adjusted their speed to a light jog all morning instead of trying to floor it like they usually do. Perfect decision as the crust was able to hold our weight just fine at a light jog; so we were able to skijor the crust all morning long.

Gently jogging along the crust as the slopes of Breckenridge
Ski Resort are in view across the valley.

I mentioned the 2 "signs of Spring" above. The first was the spring crust. The second? Well, bear tracks! Luckily we do not have to worry about bears most of the skijor season; but in April/May the bears start to wake up and we find evidence of them mulling around the forest. Here is a photo of today's bear tracks. Note that a bear is far too heavy to walk atop the crust. You see bear postholes in the snow and a bear body hole right in front of Jack & Rudy (I assume the bear took a break in this body hole after getting tired from postholing :)

"Sniff, sniff! Tasty bear tracks!" declares Jack & Rudy.

Come along for today's fun video clip of the completion of the morning outing. We are cruising across a nice crust when we see Zorro & Nancy ahead. "Zorro! Here we come!" is what all three of us were immediately thinking as we oriented ourselves to complete the day right at Zorro's feet. Love to connect with our retired mentor to end the day!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Once with Zorro, it is time for 'end of run' treats for all!

"I approve!" declares Zorro inspecting my treat bag.
"We trust Zorro!" adds Jack & Rudy patiently waiting their turn.

A gentle jog on a just barely firm enough spring crust this morning: 6.8 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH (told you we had to keep the speeds to a jog to not punch through :)

2020/2021 Season to Date: 128 days on the trails covering 1045.5 miles with 87,700 feet of elevation climbed.


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