Late April and Breaking Trail in 6-12 inches!

Midway up French Gulch - breaking trail in
6 to 12 inches of fresh powder!

It has been a wild and snowy end of April in Breckenridge - snowing at least an inch or two daily for at least a week straight. A good storm blew in Monday night, continued snowing all day Tuesday and left Max, Zorro & I with an amazing amount of fresh "April powder" to plow through Wed morning!

We found ourselves breaking trail in 6 to 12 inches of fresh powder for 2/3 of our outing today! Factor in the "spring effect" (heavier snow than in winter) and this was quite the Siberian workout - what a BLAST!

The Route: (1) start at BnB trailhead and skijor up French Gulch Rd to the French Gulch winter trailhead (2-4 inches of powder); (2) continue onto the French Gulch trail and skijor up about a mile to the forest service gate (4-6 inches of powder); (3) continue onward/upward to the last private cabin in the gulch (6-12 inches of powder). Take a short break at the last cabin and return down - it was still snowing, it was deep and we were the only tracks - so we were breaking trail most of the return route as well. When you are under 2 feet tall, this is the definition of a real trail breaking, powder plowing workout - a Siberian Dream!

Vital Stats: 7.2 miles; 95m total time; 85m moving time; 5.1 MPH moving average; 15 MPH top speed; 550 feet of elevation gain (and loss). Pretty good stats when you consider breaking trail in 6-12 inches for 2/3 of the route...

No tracks + deepening powder = FUN Siberian Workout!

Taking a short break - Max in "front leg deep" fresh powder.

Zorro has dug himself a nice little trench in the snow.
Notice the "snow wall" just behind his head - his trench is about
shoulder high.

Zorro digging a tunnel under my ski. Why dig a tunnel? Because you
can! (Zorro's motto ;-)

On the return approach to the French Gulch winter trailhead.
Happy husky faces, happy husky bodies, HAPPY HUSKIES!