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.

 

Repeat

Catching air in the backcountry! Wheeee!

Fun sled dogs, fun times, fun day! Whee!

After having our favorite network of trails FINALLY skijorable yesterday, we HAD to return today! It was a very similar outing to yesterday with one exception. Come along for the ride.

As usual, we started on unmaintained backcountry trails to tickle our toes in soft powder. Along the way, we pass by some of the remnants of the old, historic mining town of Preston. This town was once bigger than Breckenridge in the 1800 mining days but was abandoned in the early 1900s as is nothing more than a collection of old mining and mining town relics at this point.

Zipping by one of the old mining cabins once in the town of Preston.
There are tons of old cabins like this littered throughout the forest near
here as Preston was once such a large town.

After galloping through the Preston townsite, it was time to connect onto the groomed trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. Before doing that, though, Jack & Rudy had other plans to cool off first :)

Both fun kids wanted to hop off trail to roll in the soft & untouched powder.
Yesterday was 1 degree (F) when we started the outing, today was 10 (F). As
you see, 10 is "hot" and makes you want to get into deep & cold powder ro
roll and cool off!

Ok, the one difference between yesterday and today? Well, unbeknownst to me, I bumped the camera on my chest after the snow rolling break above. As a result, the camera was pointing at my feet the rest of the outing, so I have no further footage. Oh well, trust me, it was as nice & fun as yesterday all morning long.

Today's video highlight goes along with the first two photos (before I bumped the camera). Come along for today's fun skijor in the backcountry as we approach and enter the old townsite of Preston.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead and Nancy's camera was still pointing upright :)

The great kids on a snow wall to receive end of run treats. What a fun day!

An almost identical skijor as yesterday except for most of the video footage being lost: 8.4 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 25 days on the trails covering 159.2 miles with 18,500 feet of elevation climbed.