View

 Beautiful view of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from us:

Beautiful bluebird shot of the ski runs and snow-covered mountains
across the valley. Nice view of Jack & Rudy laying fresh tracks too :)

As you see above, it was a gorgeous morning yesterday as we awoke to fresh snow and blue skies. A perfect combination for a great skijor outing! The only drawback? Well, it was 0 (yes ZERO) degrees F out. Brrr for the human!

We started the day on the main Dry Gulch trail and found ourselves laying fresh tracks in a light layer of snow:

Zooming along laying fresh tracks!

Eventually this trail will be groomed as part of the trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. But, as you see above, the snow is not quite deep enough for a groomer yet. As you see, this section of trail is open and sun exposed all day long. What is amazing, though, is that just 600 feet up and in the shade and there is PLENTY of snow to be groomed! But, the groomer cannot make it to this upper trail until there is enough snow on the lower part of the trail. So, we found ourselves using tracks set by other skiers. On one section of trail, there were single tracks on each side of the trail. Each track was too narrow to run "side by side" so Jack & Rudy each took one track and I alternated which I followed behind:

Interesting setup as the two set tracks are very far apart but too narrow
to share. No problem, Jack & Rudy took one track each towed me along.

Jack has developed this hilarious "moose detection" behavior. When he detects moose nearby, he will exit the trail in the direction of moose and "point" in the direction he wants to go. It is as if Jack is saying, "MOOSE! Must Exit Trail Here!!!!!"

Jack off trail in deep snow declaring, "MOOSE! Must Exit Trail Here!"
Rudy following Jack's lead saying, "Where brother? Where?!?"

If you look closely in the prior photo, you can see an indentation in the snow by drawing a line from Jack's nose to the edge of the photo. This indentation was indeed moose tracks! I let Jack & Rudy hop through the deep snow to inspect the tracks (since there was no visible moose right there :)

Jack & Rudy standing in the moose tracks.
Jack says, "Tracks go to the right, can we?"
Rudy states, "No, I think the moose is straight ahead in the trees!"

I did not follow neither Jack nor Rudy's desire to find the moose in the forest :) Instead, I aborted the search for moose and coaxed both back onto the trail to resume skijoring.

A beautiful, albeit cold, morning for fresh tracks skijoring and then meeting up with retired Zorro to celebrate the day's event:

Having fun as we prepare for 'end of run' treats!

Fresh snow and scent of moose, what could be better (except for the actual moose :)  6.9 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 29 days on the trails covering 222.5 miles with 19,800 feet of elevation climbed.