Cat Tracks

Happy kids flashing me some smiles as we pause to plan our path atop Rabbit Ears Pass!

"Ready, willing and waiting for instructions!!!!" say happy Jack & Rudy!

It was an interesting skijor this morning. I thought we got out early enough to enjoy the endless spring crust around Walton Peak atop Rabbit Ears Pass. But, temperatures did not get below freezing over night and the crust was barely firm to too soft when we started the outing!

The plan was to do a short crust run with the threesome before dropping elder Zorro off with Nancy and then taking the kids out for more. But, as we started with Zorro, I could feel and see the crust softening QUICKLY! The following photo looks incredible, but this a rare shot from the short run with the threesome:

Looking perfect, right? Well, looks can be deceiving, the crust was actually
soft to too soft for most or our initial leg!

After seeing just how soft (and softening) the crust actually was, I had to devise a new plan for the morning. First, not wanting to ask elder Zorro to run in soft snow, we looped around to drop him off with Nancy. He was perfectly happy for his stint to be cut short with the soft conditions.

All smiles as we glide to a stop to let elder Zorro off
the team for the rest of the outing.

Then, with just Jack & Rudy, we abandoned what was the "main trail" around Walton Peak and followed somewhat recent snowmobile tracks into the trees for miles. Why do this? Well, the snowmobile had recently packed the snow a bit by running over it, so it was actually more solid than the crust. This was the perfect decision as Jack & Rudy could fit in the firm snowmobile track AND I got to do some "skijoring through the trees" training with the youngsters!

Winding through the trees as the snowmobile track is just firm
enough to hold Jack & Rudy!.

I had to stop a couple of times to pick a snowmobile track to follow. With more than one pause, you knew the following was going to happen at least once :)

"You stopped - we ROLL!!!!!" demonstrates the silly, snow rolling twins.
What goofy faces on both!

At one pause, I heard a text on my phone. I looked and it was Nancy reporting that a snowcat had just come by her & Zorro and headed out our way. So, we turned around and followed the snowmobile tracks back through the trees until running into the cat track. Once finding the fresh & wide snowcat track, it was young Jack & Rudy's first time experiencing skijoring in a cat track!

"We get it! Hop in the track and go, go, go!" says the smart kids.

With the warm conditions this morning, the snowcat track made for a somewhat packed albeit soft trail. Both Jack & Rudy had fun learning to run in soft cat tracks. Come along for a glimpse into the fun. Note the slush you can see flying off Jack & Rudy's feet (and into me). Fun albeit VERY soft cat tracks!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What an interesting "learning day" for the kids. After a short stint with Zorro, Jack & Rudy got three interesting and valuable lessons today: (1) When to trot gently over soft crust (as going too fast would cause you to punch through); (2) How to follow solo snowmobile tracks through the trees; and (3) How to hop in and make use of a snowcat track! 6.9 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 159 days on the trails covering 1084.5 miles with 99,000 feet of elevation climbed.