French Gulch Usual

All the "usuals" in French Gulch this morning :)

Here we go....

It was fast on lower French Gulch where we had about an inch or so of new snow on the popular "wide & packed" trail. Zoom.

Uncorking it along the fast lower trail.

Then, it was "laying fresh tracks" to "breaking trail" in upper French Gulch.

No humans have made it this far recently, so we'll happily set the trail. Wheeee!

Finally, it was "moosie" many times during the outing. At one point, Max & Zorro hopped up a tall snow wall in unison - only the "scent of moose" could cause them to do this. I almost fell over when they hopped this high, fully expecting Bullwinkle to peek over the wall back at us! Luckily, he did not poke his head out of the trees in front of Max & Zorro!

"Moose up this way! Our noses KNOW it!!!!" declare my moose seeking wall hoppers.
Yes, the snow wall was at least 5 feet tall and they both scaled it without a flinch!

Once I determined that there was not a moose just over this wall, I convinced Max & Zorro to move along the wall a bit until it was only about 3 feet tall. Then, I scaled it with them and took a good scan into the trees to make sure there were no immediately nearby moose. Note: it was with great effort that I scaled the 3-foot wall versus Max & Zorro hopping up the 5-foot wall - just ask my partners :) With "free from moose" established, I decided to let Max & Zorro have a little fun following their noses a little ways into the trees. Low and behold, just steps off the trail and look what we found...

"Fresh moose bed - not so big!!!!!" exclaims silly Z, even though you could easily fit 4, possibly
6, Zorros in this moose bed!
"You check the bed, I'll see if it is still nearby!" declares moose scanning Max.

"How do you recognize a moose bed?" you might ask. Well, imagine an indentation in the snow that looks as if a huge boulder was dropped and then removed. The "boulder indentation" is actually a "moose indentation" - same thing :)

The French Gulch Usuals: fast down low, fresh tracks up high and moosing along the way: 8.7 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2016/2017 Season to Date: 43 days on the trails covering 326.8 miles with 33,450 feet of elevation climbed.