Cross

Who is enjoying today's powder skijor?

"I am, I am!" declares happy Jack.
"WOOOO - me toooo!" adds wooing Rudy.

This morning found us laying fresh tracks to breaking trail in fresh snow in French Gulch. The kids, Jack & Rudy, were really blasting through powder when it got deep!

POW - blasting through some wonderful & deep powder.

Now come along for an interesting story from the outing. I do not have a lot of good video/photo footage and you'll understand why soon :)

We were cruising along in one shallower section of snow when Jack & Rudy got fully focused to our left. Only a moose can draw this much attention. But, I was scanning the trees and did not see a moose close by to our left:

"BINGO - moose to the left and we KNOW it!" declares the moosing kids.

Now the snow is not too deep in the prior photo, but that is due to sun hitting this short stretch. Note the next tree ahead of Jack to the right and here is how deep the snow got as we neared that tree to take a slight right in the trail:

Just moments after the prior photo and we are blasting through powder
again as we veer right by the upcoming tree.

As we came around the corner, all moose broke loose. A big mother moose appeared from our right (not the left where Jack & Rudy were looking moments before) to cross the trail. This was way too close and I threw myself in a snowbank and started reeling Jack & Rudy back to me by the gangline. I am shocked I got any video/photo footage of this as I was totally focused on throwing myself off trail (the best way to stop everyone) and then retreating as fast as possible. But, I got this glimpse through my gloves working to reel in Jack & Rudy.

Whoa! Where'd she come from? Why were Jack & Rudy looking left
when this beast appeared from the right?

I got Jack & Rudy very close to me and proceeded to stay perfectly still as the moose crossed the trail. Moose have very bad eyesight and they trigger off movement. She looked our way and then back forward when she did not see any movement. 

Still everybody, be very still!
Phew, she's crossing!

Why did the moose cross the trail? Well, after she moved up into the trees we then saw her kid was in the trees to our left. She was merely crossing the trail to gather her kid when she heard or smelled us coming. So, Jack & Rudy were right, there was a moose in the trees to our left; but none of us expected the mother to appear (too close) in front of us to cross from the right to left to gather the kid. Wow!

Well that certainly was an interesting skijor outing. What did Jack & Rudy think?

"We loved it all - even the moose crossing!!!" says the silly pair.

A fun day in French Gulch laying fresh tracks early on and then breaking trail further back with one too close for comfort "why did the moose cross the trail" episode: 7.4 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH (lots of deep snow to slow the kids to this modest speed for them).

2023/2024 Season to Date: 55 days on the trail covering 468.5 miles with 44,900 feet of elevation climbed.