Bluebird

A beautiful bluebird day atop Vail Pass this morning.

Zipping along as we have great views, great terrain and great sled dogs!

Yesterday was so much fun at Vail Pass that we returned this morning. It was much warmer today than yesterday so we went for a shorter run. But, even with rising temperatures, the spring crust was solid enough to hold us for most of the outing!

But, wait, what is that in the previous photo in the distance in front of Zorro? Let's get a little closer to see...

Yikes! Look at that open and flowing water to our left! This is the gully that will eventually
take the melting snow off Vail Pass and into the rivers below.

So sad to see the gully opening up and flowing with water. Summer has to come eventually, I guess.

Luckily there was still enough snow and crust to open it up. Come along and watch the fun as we come out of a left turn and uncork the skijoring engine into an all out sprint. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Temperatures may have been rising, but it was still toes on snow:

"Great day for a short & fast run!" say my happy partners at our turnaround point of the outing.

Unfortunately this may have been our last run on Vail Pass this season. While the snow was still nice up high, the entrance points are melting quick and will be down to dirt soon. Plus, look closely at the video and photos and you will realize we are running on snow over meadows (not roads). Snow on top of bushes gets softer faster than snow on top of roads or dirt. As a result, these meadows will become too soft to run any day now.

We'll see you again next season Vail Pass. As for today: 5.7 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2016/2017 Season to Date: 152 days on the trails covering 1273.3 miles with 135,100 feet of elevation climbed.