Hi Friends

Happy faces all around on this morning's skijor outing:

"Yes, yes, having so much fun!" declares happy Jack & Rudy.

Notice the fresh tracks behind Jack & Rudy in the prior photo and the trail of untouched snow in front of us! We were first on the South Fork Trail in Swan Valley this morning and laid fresh tracks up one side of the trail and then fresh tracks again down the other side of the trail.

The following photo outs silly Rudy. I often the mention the attention span of a Rudy (or lack thereof) or Rudy in "la la land". Well, in the following photo the tracks to our left are our "out tracks" on this trail. Notice anything? Well, look closely and the ski tracks are going straight as well as one set of dog tracks along with the skis. But, the dog tracks closest to us are wavering. The ski tracks are mine of course and the straight line dog tracks are Jack's. Jack is our uphill motor and always goes straight line up with me. The wavering tracks? Well, that's Rudy in a moment Rudy la-la-land. He seriously has these comical moments of "la la, let Jack do the uphill work" as we cruise along the trail. They never last long, but just the occasional moment of seeing Rudy being, well, Rudy :)

Rudy "la la tracks" to our left while we have now focused Rudy
burning up fresh tracks with Jack in the live action.

Today's video highlight? Well, laying fresh tracks on South Fork in Swan Valley. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After doing an "out & back" warmup lap on South Fork, it was time to dip onto the trails shared with the dog sled teams from Good Times Adventures. Quick explanation on what is in the photo. The dog sled tours run with 8 dogs and a sled with a group of guests and one guide. One or two people at a time are on the sled with the 8 dogs. The rest of the group is in the "guest sled" you see in front of Jack which is being towed by the guide on a snowmobile. This way groups of more than 2 can go on a tour and take turns being on the dog sled. Back to the photo - notice how perfect mellow Jack & Rudy are as they are stopped to let this team cruise on by. I love how both people in the front of the guest sled are more interested in cool Jack & Rudy and the crazy guys on skis than their tour group :)

"Hi friends! Nice to flirt with you!" declares perfect Jack & Rudy.

A little further along and we encountered another team stopped on the trail. As we approached, the guide in front waved us on, letting us know it was ok for us to continue to pass on by. I was ready for a signature perfect pass by Jack & Rudy but the swing dogs had other ideas. Notice the guide is with the two lead dogs of the team but the dogs right behind the leaders (the swing dogs) are coming towards us. As a result, I had to instruct Jack & Rudy to move far left. So, while we all passed just fine, it was not picture perfect as we swung far left into the deep snow to get by. Oh well, still fun!

"Here we come on by!" says flirting Jack & Rudy.

Back to the trailhead to join Zorro and celebrate the day's fun outing:

We ALL had a great time today!

A nice fresh tracks warmup lap on South Fork and then some great encounters with dog teams on the trails: 9.6 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH

2020/2021 Season to Date: 83 days on the trails covering 669.6 miles with 58,500 feet of elevation climbed.