Saturday, March 9, 2019

Moose Encounter

We had such a fun time skijoring the fast groomed trails at Gold Run Nordic Center this morning!
What do you think - are Zorro, Jack & Rudy having a good time or what?!?!
The prior photo was at our turnaround point on the trail. My partners were having so much fun this morning. After a week of nonstop snow with deep snow skijoring, we had a great time getting back on fast trails to open up the skijoring engine. Look at how happy the three are in the prior photo and consider this - the day's real excitement had not even happened yet!

What excitement, you ask? Well - MOOSE ENCOUNTER ON THE TRAIL!!!! We were skijoring the main trail at Gold Run where there is a secondary trail to the right on the other side of the trees. As we came to the intersection of the main trail and secondary trail, look who were coming onto the main trail from the secondary - a mother moose and baby!!!
Oh my, oh my! The baby is on the main trail right in front of us with the mother still on the
secondary trail following her kid.
I came screeching to a halt once I saw the pair of moose. My pals, on the other hand, were lunging forward trying to keep us moving. I dropped to the ground to anchor us and Rudy started yelling at the moose (while all three were still trying to move us forward). Once the mother heard Rudy, she came onto the main trail and put herself between us and her baby. Yikes...
Mother now between us and the kid. Rudy "moved with her" to the other side of the team
(and continued to talk). I am sitting on the ground with my skis perpendicular to the
trail to try and keep us still!
Rudy kept talking and all three kept bucking and lunging so the mother put herself completely in front of the kid and then nudged the kid to go away from us on the trail. Imagine the excitement and energy from my moosers when the mom & kid started walking away!
"HEY!!! Where are you going! We are back here!!!!!" say the intense moosers as the mother
is pushing the kid to walk away from us.
We found a great use for the trail groomer today. I saw the groomer coming towards us on the secondary trail, so I sat on the ground (despite the protests from my partners) until the groomer transitioned onto the main trail and followed the moose. With a groomer between us and the moose, it was safe to continue and follow the groomer to the trailhead.
"NOOOOOOO! It's blocking the MOOOOSE!" screams Rudy :)
"But... we know how to pass a groomer!" declare intense Zorro & Jack.
What do I mean by Zorro and Jack's last comment? Well, come along for today's video highlight. We are flying along the freshly groomed trail when we catch the groomer from behind. We slow to a walk until the groomer notices us and stops. The driver motioned to me it was ok to pass and I direct the team to the left to pass cautiously until we are in front and then we open it up again. See, we know how to pass a groomer and get to the moose!!!!
[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

A fast & fun day with a too close for comfort moose encounter! 6.1 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 70 days on the trails covering 375.0 miles with 33,500 feet of elevation climbed.

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