Look Out For That...

Cruising up French Gulch - in between team
organization meetings and/or fox hunting,
depends who you ask...

The highlight of Saturday's skijor outing should have been surpassing 200 miles on the season.

The real highlight of Saturday's skijor outing was, "Look out for that FOX!" - as a silly red fox popped on the cross country trail less than 10 feet in front of us, sprinted a few feet up the trail and then shot off the trail.

What do Max & Zorro think of a fox on the trail, you ask... "FOOOOOOD! MUST CATCH! MUST CATCH!" I am not sure if I really went airborne after they bolted towards the fox; but I sure felt like I was airborne! The fox incident lead to 3 states of affair: (1) I had two "super juiced" Siberian Huskies on the hunt for the rest of the day; (2) we had many "team organization meetings" to discuss the objective of skijoring as opposed the objective of hunting foxes; (3) my partners were possessed and I was determined to re-establish myself as pack leader at all costs (thus the team organization meetings ;-)

Despite the "fox possessed" Siberian pair, it was a fun & fast tour up French Gulch and to Sally Barber Mine.

The Route: Reiling Dredge trailhead up French Gulch Rd to & past the French Gulch winter trailhead; up French Gulch to the last private cabin in the gulch; sprint back down French Gulch to the Sally Barber Mine trail; up to Sally Barber Mine; sprint down to the Barney Ford trailhead.

Vital Stats: 8.7 miles (surpassing 200 for the season!); 1h 45m total time; 1h 25m moving time; 6.15 MPH moving average; 21 MPH top speed.

You read that right - an impressive 6.15 MPH moving average (especially given the elevation gains) and an impressive 21 MPH top speed! But, a surprising 20 minutes of "idle time" - did I mention our need for frequent team organization meetings to discuss skijoring over fox hunting????

Taking a break at the last private cabin in French Gulch.
Max & Zorro are convinced the fox MUST be under the snow here!

Nice shot from Sally Barber Mine looking over French Gulch.

Closeup of Sally Barber Mine.

Max raising his nose - "where'd that fox go?"
Zorro digging to China - "maybe the fox is under the snow here!?!!"