Kicking up Powder

Is it me or is Zorro really PINNED to my chest :)

"Just in case you forgot, PIN - I get the 'end of run' treats FIRST!" says Zorro
pinning himself to my chest at the end of this morning's run.
"Funny big brother!' adds cute & patient Jack & Rudy :)

We started this morning with the youngsters, Jack & Rudy, on "new" backcountry trails before adding elder Zorro for a fast & fun sprint to the finish.

What do I mean by "new"? Well, technically we spent most of the morning on the upper elevation trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. But, the nordic center stopped grooming the trails over 1 week ago and we've received upwards of 12 inches of snow since then. So, what is usually groomed & fast trails was, instead, fresh powder backcountry-like trails. There was only one set of existing tracks in the new snow on these trails. Jack & Rudy took one look at the set track and said, "Pfft, we don't need no stinking set track - fresh tracks for us!"

The solitary set track in the past week's new snow to our right
as Jack & Rudy lay fresh tracks powering along the untouched
powder down the middle!

We were cruising along in the fresh snow when all of a sudden the photo below happened. Jack & Rudy stopped on a dime and spun their heads back to the right. "Uh oh,  Moose!" I thought as we were in known moose territory. I have commented this year how young Jack & Rudy have matured to separate moose from every other form of wildlife and their "moose detectors" are quite refined. But, the kids are still both young 2 year olds and, as you see, other wildlife still draws their attention. I should have known that, since they stopped and glanced instead of stopped and launched right that it was not moose. Yet, I still stopped on a dime with them given their attention off trail.  What did I find when I turned to look right. Two squirrels playing chase in a tree to our right. Squirrels!?!?!? Oh you silly 2 year olds :)

"One for you, one for me!" says the squirrely kids.
I should have read the body language as "just wildlife, not moose", but I
was still on guard when they first stopped like this :)

Back to skijoring... As I showed above, we were laying fresh tracks all morning on the upper elevation trails. At times we even got into some deep powder, maybe 8-10 inches (or more). Fun shot of Jack & Rudy "kicking up powder" in 10 or so inches of snow:

POW go the powder twins as we continue to make our
own trail and ignore the silly set track to our left :)

Today's video highlight goes along with the prior photo. Come along as we are kicking up powder powering through the morning's untouched snow. Powder Power!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Eventually we came down from the upper elevation trails and onto the lower trails near trailheads and parking lots. As expected, the lower trails had seen a lot of traffic the last few days. No more fresh tracks but instead a packed trail to uncork the skijoring engine.

Packed & fast - off we go!

Of course, the reason we dropped onto the lower trails was to meet up with Zorro & Nancy. Once we met, time to add Zorro into the team and go back up the trail a bit and then turnaround and fly back to the trailhead.

Whee - the happy skijoring power three!

A fun day of "backcountry fresh tracks & breaking trail" for the youngsters with a packed & fast trail to end the day with Zorro: 6.6 miles traveled with 450 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 129 days on the trails covering 873.9 miles with 79,800 feet of elevation climbed.