13 below for 2013

The thermometer in the Jeep registered 11 degrees below zero at the trailhead this morning. We were starting our outing a little after sunrise and starting up a "cold trail" with the sun still behind the mountains. So, although we did not "see it" on a thermometer, I can pretty much guarantee that:

It was 13 degrees below zero (or colder) for our initial outing of 2013! 

A Siberian Treat ... a human freezer :-)

Our goal was to do a 10+ mile outing for the Dogs Across America Challenge. We have no hope of winning this challenge as some serious mushers with full sled dog teams are planning to enter; but it was still fun to get our little "2 dog skijor team" in the mix. Our tally for the day:

A nice 10.6 mile run up & down Boreas Pass with a fun top
speed of 19 MPH.

I learned one valuable lesson today - the GoPro camera does not like temperatures in the negative double digits! The lens repeatedly fogged and cleared (and fogged & cleared, etc) all day long. I have some anti-fog inserts for the camera that say to use in "extreme cold temperatures" - I have now found their definition of extreme is in the 10 below range. So, no good videos today, just some nice frame dumps from the few un-fogged sections of the outing:

A pretty shot of the trail as we enter an aspen grove the trail cuts through.

Approaching Bakers Tank on Boreas Pass - this marks the "3 mile point" of our 5.3 mile route
up before returning down the same 5.3 mile path.

It sure looks pretty along the trail - hard to believe something so pretty could be
soooo cold!

Our route was 5.3 miles up Boreas Pass and then 5.3 miles back down the same path: 10.6 miles, 950 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.