Yay Snow

Yay for fresh snow to gallop through in the backcountry this morning!

The fun kids "kicking up powder" as they gallop through the
morning's fresh snow!

Now come along for the video counterpart to the prior photo. It is so much fun to get out in fresh snow on skis with Jack & Rudy. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Our outing this morning started by laying fresh tracks in the backcountry as you saw above. We then continued to lay fresh tracks going out & back on a side trail. Well, any "out & back" means we turned around at some point. So, of course, we had turnaround antics from the comedians:

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes always snow rolling Jack.
"WOOOO! I love fresh snow!" adds singing Rudy.

The nice thing about doing an "out & back" in fresh snow is that you get to make use of your out track to go fast on the way back!

Jack & Rudy making use of our "out track" to pick up the speed on 
the way back. Smart kids!

Then, the reward for all that fun but very aerobic skijoring through fresh snow was to drop onto the newly groomed trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. Jack & Rudy know what to do with a groomie zoomie!

The hover huskies catching air as they floor it on the groomie zoomie trail.

Finally, as we were nearing the end of the outing, we got to flirt with this fun family coming up the trail. Jack & Rudy were as entertained by the dad towing his kid as the family was entertained by seeing Jack & Rudy towing me :)

"Cool dude! We could tow that kid for you!" offers curious Jack & Rudy
as the family looks on in all smiles.

A wonderful "fresh tracks to groomed zooming" this morning, right guys?

"Yes. We had a BLAST!" says the happy & focused kids awaiting
end of run treats atop a snow wall.

Today's tally: 5.8 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 46 days on the trails covering 283.7 miles with 30,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Bluebird

A beautiful bluebird morning to get a postcard photo of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from us!

Beautiful view, beautiful sled dogs, beautiful morning!

While the morning was beautiful, we are starting to see the "end of season" realities. It's been a horrible snow year in Colorado (snowpack less than 50% of normal), so ground that we do not usually see until late April or May is already starting to show in early March. Yikes!!!

We did have a dusting of fresh snow overnight, as you can see by Jack & Rudy's
footprints. But, yikes, look at all that exposed ground to our left that is
typically not visible until late April or May. Yikes!!!

We did our favorite combination route this morning of starting in the Dry Gulch backcountry before dropping onto the trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. If you've been reading along this season, you probably recognize this location with Jack & Rudy rolling snow angels. It's called the Jumbo Overlook (for its views) and it is a natural point to turnaround from Dry Gulch onto Gold Run. Well, since I said "turnaround", you now know why I get so many photos like the following on this route!

"Turnaround! Roll Around!" goes the snow rolling sillies who have NEVER
failed to roll at snow angel (or 2 or 10) at the Jumbo Overlook :)

Once the snow angels were done, it was time to floor it on the fast & wide nordic trails. Whee!

The hover huskies catching air on fast & wide nordic trails!

Now come along for today's video fun as we glide to the finish of the day's outing. If you can take your eyes off Jack & Rudy, notice what a gorgeous bluebird morning it was!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

If you can also take your eyes off Jack, Rudy and the gorgeous morning, you'll notice Nancy on the side of the trail at about 35 seconds into the prior clip. It was a great day for her to get out and try to capture a front shot of us gliding to the finish. Success!

Smiles all around! "Hi Mom!!!!" says the flirtatious kids

Things may wind down sooner than usual this season, so let's enjoy it while we can, right guys?

"Yes! We don't want summer!!!!" says the happy kids giving me their
full attention for end of run treats.

A beautiful morning to get out for short skijor amidst dwindling conditions: 4.6 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 45 days on the trails covering 277.9 miles with 29,900 feet of elevation climbed.

What Is It?

We smell moose in the hood, can we venture off trail to find it?

The silly moosers trying to take me off trail to follow the scent of moose
that was clearly in the air.

Nice try guys, I vetoed the suggestion that we venture off trail into deep snow in search of a moose! But, I could tell by their intensity and their noses tipping up in the air that the scent of moose was clearly amidst. Unfortunately (for Jack & Rudy) we never saw the source of their noses' interest.

We did a short but fun skijor this morning starting on the backside of Sallie Barber Mine and skijoring up to the mine before coming down the frontside. As we approached the mine, Jack & Rudy floored it to get going down the fun frontside. Wheeee!

Zipping by the mine. Whee!

Once onto the frontside of the trail, it was pedal to the metal for the fast kids:

Zooming!

Eventually, though, all was interrupted by a dogstacle. This is my new word I came up with this season for loose dog obstacles in the trail - dogstacle.

"It's so small, is it even a dog?" questions curious Jack.
"Sniff, sniff, smells like a dog, but what use is something this small?" asks Rudy.

Ok, now let's put it all together into today's video highlight. Watch as we are happily cruising along the trail, winding through some fun curves, until we finally come upon the dogstacle and are forced to stop for everyone's safety.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

You have to laugh at how the dog's owners have NO idea they have "lost their dog" back with Jack, Rudy and I (this is common, sigh). They did notice eventually and called fluffy, but it sure took them a while to notice their dog was missing!

Oh well, one dogstacle can't stop us from having a blast, right guys?

"Oh yes! Fun! But, seriously, what was that little thing?" asks the
happy kids.

One dogstacle interruption aside and we had a great day flying around Sallie Barber Mine: 4.7 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH. 

2025/2026 Season to Date: 44 days on the trails covering 273.3 miles with 29,500 feet of elevation climbed.