Fresh to First

Jack & Rudy catching air as we fly by the Hallelujah Warming Hut this morning!

"Warming? How silly and unnecessary!" says the sled dogs who have no
use for a silly warming hut :)

Today's outing had a really fun mix of conditions for us to enjoy. When we started the outing, we saw evidence that the groomer had gone out on the trails just before us. But, the network of trails we were on had the groomer turn away from our intended path within the first 5 minutes. After the groomer track disappeared, we were thrilled to find ourselves laying fresh tracks in 2-3 inches of new snow for a few miles:

Fresh tracks - wheeee! The "haze" in this photo is both actively falling snow
and blowing snow as there was a stiff wind all morning long.

Think of the trail network we were on as a figure 8. After laying fresh tracks along the bottom of the 8, we crossed the middle and found the groomer going up one upper side of the 8. Jack & Rudy tow me faster than a groomer drives on flat and downhill grades while they are about the same speed as the groomer on mild uphill grades. When we first encountered the groomer, we were on a mild uphill section of trail. With the groomer to catch, Jack & Rudy had a great time towing me up the trail and keeping pace with the groomer for quite a distance:

Cruising up the trail at "groomer speed" behind my Siberian Husky Tow Rope.
Don't worry about Rudy trotting in the classic track, my skis were in the
track too, so I smoothed out his footprints right behind him.

Eventually, we got to a very steep section of trail. This is only time a groomer can lose Jack & Rudy as we have to work hard on going up steep grades. The groomer driver clearly knew this as when we got to the start of the steep grade, he put his hand out his window and waved "bye" to us :)

Instead of climbing the steep grade, we turned around and followed the path the groomer had taken all the way back to the trailhead. You know what that meant, yep, we were first tracks on the freshly groomed nordic trail. Groomie Zoomie!

"We know what to do with a fresh groom!" declares fast running Jack & Rudy.

How about a "fresh to first" video to showcase the day's fun? Come along for a combo video with us laying fresh tracks for the first 30 seconds of the clip and then laying first tracks for the next 30 seconds. Oh, if your volume is up, you'll hear the stiff wind we were skijoring into and you'll also see the gusts of blowing snow. I guess that's why we did not encounter any other people out on the trails this morning - wimps :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Today's entertainment from the comedians? Well, how about synchronized digging and excavating the snow in the search for rodents?

"Dig, dig, where are those pesky rodents?!?" asks the sillies furiously
digging to try and uncover rodents.

Fresh tracks, first tracks, we loved it all, right guys?

"You bet! Now how about those end of run treats?" says the focused
and happy kids.

Speaking of wimps, I did cut today's outing short due to the intense winds; but at least I got out on the trails with my pals for a little while! 7.4 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 124 days on the trails covering 1068.6 miles with 105,000 feet of elevation climbed.