Crust Fun

Sprinting along as we find a nice stretch of spring crust on which to uncork the skijoring engine!

Sprinting Zorro and flying Jack as we go full throttle on a nice stretch of solid crust.

This time of year, you need to get out on the trails early to find a crust solid enough to hold our weight. While you can see lots of ground spots in the prior photo, there is still plenty of white stretches. So, if you do get out early, there is still plenty of skijoring fun to be had!

Come along for today's short video clip as we have just come out of some dense trees (where we had to skijor slowly and cautiously) and find the wonderful wide open meadow. Zorro and Jack both realize the meadow crust is firm enough to floor it, so off we goooooo! Wheeeeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As nice as that video clip looked, it is May... Young Jack got to encounter his first trail hazard this morning as we came upon a melted out patch with no way to stay on snow and cross. Zorro knows to stop and wait for my instruction at such hazards. Yet, this was Jack's first such hazard and I am very proud to say he followed Zorro's lead, came to a stop and looked back to me for instruction. Such a good boy!!!

"Trail hazard, trail hazard, everybody slow down!" declares veteran Zorro.
"Whoa, this does not look right. I think I'll stop and ask for guidance!" says perfect rookie Jack.

Despite a few hazards like the photo above, we were able to put together a very nice May skijor run. On of our breaks for young Jack as I call out time to stop and turnaround:

"Fun, fun, fun!" declares happy Zorro.
"I'm loving life!" exclaims happy Jack.

End of the morning's run and time for the obligatory "puppy shot" as we picked up little Rudy to celebrate the end of a fun day:

"It was a great day!" declares Zorro.
"Yes, so fun!" states happy Jack.
"Thanks for coming back for ME!" adds cute little Rudy.

It is safe to say young Jack is REALLY enjoying becoming a real sled dog and running start to finish with Zorro. The runs may be short, but the happiness is immense.

"This is THE LIFE! I love it!" exclaims super happy Jack at one of our two short breaks.

A little creativity was required; but we were able to piece together a nice May run on solid spring crust: 2.2 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 16 MPH.

2017/2018 Season to Date: 50 days on the trails covering 326.2 miles with 31,300 feet of elevation climbed.

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