BOOM

Laying fresh tracks in a light layer of new snow in the backcountry this morning! Whee!

Beautiful conditions, beautiful skijor partners!

After a few days off (my fault :), Jack & Rudy were ready to floor it this morning. They had the "pedal to the metal" pretty much all morning long!

Flying!!!

We found ourselves starting in the backcountry and then eventually dropping onto the trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. Along the way, we had two turnaround points of the outing. At the first turnaround, Jack & Rudy turned quickly and then had to wait for the slow human to cycle around on skis. That brings us to today's video highlight. Watch Jack is patiently sitting and Rudy patiently standing as they wait for my turnaround. But, then watch as soon as I say "Ok," (my release command for them to go) and the kids virtually shoot out of a cannon to launch me down the trail with them. Such power & speed in this fun video clip. BOOM!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As I mentioned, we had two turnaround events during the outing. On the second turn, Jack & Rudy were back to "normal form" rolling snow angels while I turned around.

There we go, this is the usual turnaround event.
Stop, drop and roll while I turn around :)

Then, to our surprise & delight, we found ourselves being first tracks on the freshly groomed main trail at Gold Run Nordic Center. Jack & Rudy know what to do with a fresh groomie zoomie trail:

The hover huskies catching air on the groomie zoomie trail!

The final treat of the day was, of course, climbing a snow wall to receive end of run treats:

Such fun partners! Such happy kids!!!!

A nice zippy morning covering 6.1 miles with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 31 days on the trails covering 194.9 miles with 21,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Fresh

It was a beautiful morning to enjoy a light layer of fresh snow all over the trails this morning!

Laying fresh tracks in the backcountry on a 1/2 inch or so of new snow!

Everywhere we went this morning was fresh, fresh, fresh snow fun!

Come along for today's video highlight as we are zipping along laying fresh tracks in the backcountry. Watch as Jack & Rudy really kick it into overdrive near the end of this clip. Zoom!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After laying fresh tracks in the backcountry, it was time to inspect fresh moose tracks crossing the trail and leading into the forest!

"Sniff, sniff, these are VERY FRESH!" says moose inspector Jack.
"It went *that way*, we should too!" suggest Rudy lifting his head to 
scan for the moose itself.

After thoroughly inspecting the moose tracks and scanning the forest, it was back to fresh tracks. This time we were first on the new snow on the upper most trail at Gold Run Nordic Center:

Laying fresh tracks in about an inch or so of new snow at our high point.

After zipping around the upper loop at the nordic center, it was time to cool off in the fresh snow before connecting onto the main trail:

"Rub a dub dub, fresh snow makes for the best snow angels!" says the silly kids.

Then, to our surprise, we were still FIRST tracks on the main trail leading back to the trailhead. This is a rare treat on the popular trail!

So fun to be first on the new snow on this popular trail!

Even when we finally ran into another skier, the trail was still plenty wide for us to lay fresh tracks along one side while the skier took the other side. Wheeee!

"Zooming through! Made you smile!" says always entertaining Jack & Rudy.

Finally, there was fresh snow to sit atop to accept end of run treats:

Cooling our buns in the fresh snow awaiting end of run treats.

Fresh snow all day, YAY! What a wonderful outing: 8.4 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 29 days on the trails covering 184.0 miles with 20,600 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Fast Packed

The fun kids catching air along a stretch of trail before the morning sun has fully risen:

The photo is a bit dark as we are shaded from the morning sun by a large
mountain behind us; but the kids are "catching air in the dim light" :)

Our outing this morning took us to the wide trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. I was hoping they might have been groomed yesterday or today; but no such luck. As a result, the trails were pretty hard and fast packed! That's not really an issue (except to my sore knees :) but it does cause Jack & Rudy to drift a bit further apart than they will run on less slick trails;

Jack the cannonball and Rudy the missile taking full advantage of
the wide but very hard & fast packed trail.

As they hear my skis scraping and grinding behind them on such hard terrain, they tend to separate like this as you need to give the human some avenue of safety when he cannot stop quickly. Nice guys:

The smart kids separating again to give me a clear avenue down
the slick middle of the trail!

But, even though Jack & Rudy may run a little more separated and out of sync on such fast packed trails, the end result is still the same. Come along and see for yourselves - wheeee! Oh, and note the narrow & thin snow coverage at around 25 seconds into this clip. This section of trail is very sun exposed all day and, at this point, the trail gets very narrow and thin. I simply call out an "easy, easy" to my pals to slow a bit through the narrow patch and then call out "ok" once past it and the smart guys floor it again.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Then, just to make sure I was paying attention, the comedians decided to roll separate snow angels today as well - running far apart lead to rolling snow angels far apart :)

"Rub a dub dub!" goes rolling Rudy at our turnaround point.
"I don't think I need to roll here." adds Jack.

But, don't worry, Jack was still Jack. The 8 year old has rolled at least one snow angel on EVERY skijor outing of his life (and usually many more than one). So, a few steps turning around from the prior photo and there is reliable snow rolling Jack:

"My turn! Aaaahhh!" goes always rolling Jack.
"Tasty snow too!" adds snowcone snacking Rudy.

Finally, back to the trailhead and who is ready for end of run treats?

"I see them! I see them! READY!" says Jack focused on the goody bag in my hand.
"Ready too, I'll wait patiently right here!" adds Rudy (patient & Rudy, hahaha).

Beautiful morning on hard & fast packed nordic trails: 7.2 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 28 days on the trails covering 175.6 miles with 19,900 feet of elevation climbed.