Just Enough

Just enough snow down the middle to safely skijor French Gulch this morning!

Jack & Rudy catching air as Rudy is running in a plow tire track
while Jack & I are in the soft snow between tire tracks.

I've mentioned a few times in the past that there are a handful of private cabins in French Gulch and the owners have keys to the access gate to let plows come out on the road/trail occasionally. But, the plows are not daily as we were laying fresh tracks two days ago in fresh snow in French Gulch and breaking trail yesterday in even more snow! We returned today with the goal of skijoring French Gulch again, if possible, or aborting to the never plowed Sallie Barber Mine Trail which has the same trailhead parking lot as French Gulch. 

Well, I saw that the plow had been out French Gulch. But, it has been very cold the last few days with not much sun poking through the clouds. As a result, there was a nice soft layer of snow down the middle of the trail between the plow tire tracks. So we started out French Gulch to see if the middle snow was enough for me to proceed safely on skis with my fast running pals. Well, as you see in the photo above, there was just enough soft snow down the middle to go, go, go!

Why do French Gulch for a third day in a row? Well, we had (close) moose encounters the last two days. Jack & Rudy will always redo a trail today if they saw a moose yesterday. So, out we went on yet another moose seeking voyage.

We are sad to report that we had no moose sightings today. We saw (and sniffed) plenty of moose tracks and paused a few times to stare intensely into the trees to try and find a body to put with the scent Jack & Rudy's noses were clearly getting. Our moose encounters the last two days were on the same section of trail. When we got to the heart of that section, it was time to search for moose!!!!

"Where's our moose?!? Who stole our moose?!? Two were HERE yesterday!"
asks the kids staring intensely in the trees for moose.

Notice the indentation to Rudy's right, that was a leg posthole where a moose had exited the trees and come onto the trail. We also saw TONS of moose tracks through the deep snow in the trees; but no actual moose sightings. Bummer.

Anyway, back to skijoring. It was an excellent morning despite the recent plow. As I said, just enough soft snow down the middle for me to ski safely.

Nice shot of the out-stretched kids flying along the trail as I
glide down the middle.

Now come along for a video counterpart to the prior photo. What a peaceful stretch of trail to uncork Jack & Rudy as I glide in the soft middle. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Jack & Rudy caught the "scent of moose" on three different points this morning. As a result, they were willing to turnaround and redo each smelly stretch many, many times. But, each redo comes with a turnaround. Yep, the turnaround comedians:

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes snow rolling Jack.
"Woo is me! I smell moose but can't find any!" adds wooing Rudy.

Eventually we had to come back to the trailhead, so time to entertain the crowds coming out as we were finishing!

"Coming through! Made you smile!" says flirting Jack & Rudy.

Back to the trailhead and only a mini snow wall to climb for treats today; but still high enough that I could hand them out without having to kneel down.

"Can you reach us?" asks the happy kids awaiting end of run treats.

Despite no moose sightings today, Jack & Rudy's noses got tickled enough with the scent of moose that we were able to go back & forth and back & forth and back & forth in French Gulch to rack up some nice mileage: 9.4 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 56 days on the trails covering 477.9 miles with 45,800 feet of elevation climbed.