Vetoed

Guess who was "ready to go" at the trailhead and let us all know just HOW SLOW we were in getting hooked up and started!

"Let's GOOOOOOO!" woos impatient Max as he is hooked and ready but I am still in the
process of hooking Zorro to the gangline.

Occasionally we get the following interesting trail dynamic in French Gulch. There are a small number of private cabins in the gulch and the owners of these cabins have keys to the winter gate that keeps all other vehicles out of the gulch. Every once in a while, you will find that one of the owners has driven a 4WD out to their cabin (usually they snowmobile to their cabins). When they do take a 4WD vehicle out, you get this interesting trail dynamic: a packed tire trail for each of Max & Zorro to trot in with a "ski trail middle" for the humans on skis:

Max & Zorro each choosing a tire track to trot within while I ski in the middle track.
Oh, and look at that sun, the makings of a beautiful day as the sun was rising over the mountain
this morning.

The "tire track dynamic" does not last for very long and then we were back to traditional skijoring on a backcountry trail.

Shoulder-to-shoulder trotting along the backcountry trail far back in French Gulch.
We have skijored out French Gulch faster than the sun is rising over the mountains, so we
are back in the morning shade in this shot.

Anyway, back to the title of this blog: vetoed...

About 2/3 of the way out French Gulch and we encountered quite a few fresh smelling moose tracks. Very entertaining for Max & Zorro:

Inspecting a fresh "moose trench." This is actually a "moose track" as a moose had recently
walked through the snow here. Notice Max entering the trench as we see moose legs build
trenches taller than Max! Moose sure are tall.

Done inspecting the moose trench and we continued along a little further until another set of moose tracks crossed over the trail. Look below and you can see the "ski tracks" to the left which is the real trail. But, a moose had recently crossed the trail from the left to right and continued off to the right. Max & Zorro voted that we abandon the main ski trail and follow the moose trail. I voted we *not* follow the moose trail and get back on the ski trail. Outvoted 2-1, I had to exercise my veto power and declare the ski trail as the way we would continue forward :)

"I vote for 'moose trail'!" exclaims happy Max.
"But, but - we won 2-1! Why can't we follow the moose?" asks puzzled Zorro.

A fun outing in French Gulch with fresh moose tracks to entertain the noses: 8.2 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2015/2016 Season to Date: 61 days on the trails covering 518.7 miles with 54400 feet of elevation climbed.