Tons of Fun & then Harassed on Boreas Pass...

Went for a sprint up & back on Boreas Pass on Wed. The first 5/6ths of the tour was EXCELLENT, the last 1/6 was not!

The Route: Start at Boreas Pass Winter Trailhead cruised 5.1 miles up Boreas Pass Road, took a short break, then trucked back down Boreas Pass Road to the trailhead.

Vital Stats: 10.2 miles total, 2.5 hrs total, 2 hrs moving time, 5.1 MPH average, 16 MPH top speed! Why a whole half hour of "stopped time", read on...

The Conditions:

• Packed snow with less than an inch or two of powder from the trailhead to Bakers Tank (i.e., a "sprint track" for 2/3rds of the route).
• Increasing, untouched powder from Bakers Tank on (increasing from 2 to 5 inches) - a fun "fresh tracks" run at the upper elevations.
• TONS of uncontrolled and aggressive dogs as we re-approached the trailhead. Lots of time spent stopped, holding Max & Zorro as we waited (& waited & waited) for horrible dog owners to catch up with their loose, growling dogs to move them by us. It was not possible for us to "on by" ourselves, multiple sets of loose dogs charged into us.

In all, a very fun run with a "sprint track" at the lower/more traveled elevations and a "powder track" at the higher elevations. The horrible people letting aggressive dogs run loose was only a few encounters and it just gave Max, Zorro & I a chance to bond off the side of the trail.

Sprinting back towards the Boreas Pass Trailhead.
Note the packed powder conditions - we are in a 16mph cruise in this stretch!

Sprinting towards the "winter gate" at Boreas Pass Trailhead.