Saturday, January 11, 2020

Fly, Control, Pass

All smiles as we get some well-earned 'end of run' treats this morning!
"What a fun day; but READY for treats now!" declares the happy, happy trio.
We went to the trails in Swan Valley this morning to flirt with and run alongside the dog sled teams from Good Times Adventures. It was a wonderfully flirtatious outing! Come along for the highlights.

Our first flirt as we came around a corner to find this team coming across a perpendicular trail. And, yes, I am on the ground holding my pals to let the team go by (you try holding three sled dog monsters while on skis :)
6 of the 8 dogs on the team in front of us. My pals were VERY excited to encounter the first
team of the morning. Hold on human!!!!!
Then we had a couple of flirts like the following - encountering a team paused on one trail as we fly by on a parallel side trail. Zoom.
"Hi friends! Bye friends!" say my flirting partners.
Look closely and you can see one of the two red lead dogs next to the big red snowmobile
and then you can see one of the black/grey team dogs directly to the right of Jack.
Here we are paused on another stretch to let yet another team pass by on a perpendicular trail. There are 8 dogs on this team although the leader on our side is white (or very light grey), so you have to look hard to see the leader. The contraption in front of us is a snowmobile pulling a groomer sled that they use to smooth and soften up the trails in Swan Valley.
"Hey groomer - OUT OF THE WAY!!! We want to play chase!" says the focused trio.
Unfortunately this team was gone before we could get around the groomer to
play "sled dog chase".
Finally our favorite maneuver on the trails - passing another team!
Perfect partners staying safely to the right with me as we flirt and pass on by
the team stopped to the left.
Today's video highlight is, of course, the fun pass on by. The video starts with us flying along the fast trail until I notice (through the trees) a team paused around the bend to the right in the trail. So, I shorten the gangline for safety and then approach cautiously until the humans with the team notice us. Once they see us coming, I release Zorro, Jack & Rudy to pass on by perfectly! Once passed, it is back to a full gangline and restarted fast speed along the trail. Such great partners I have!
[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

A little of EVERYTHING today - passing by teams on side trails, yielding to teams on perpendicular trails and passing teams paused on the same trail. What fun: 6.5 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 64 days on the trails covering 442.1 miles with 42,100 feet of elevation climbed.

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