Moose Reward

A rare skijor in French Gulch this morning. Wheeee!

Jack & Rudy zooming along in a tire track carved in the deep snow.

Rare and French Gulch? Unfortunately, yes. If you've followed along the past few years, you've heard me talk about the demise of the trails in French Gulch. The entire gulch has fallen victim to over-development and rude homeowners who have no respect for the great outdoors.

So, why were we in French Gulch today? Well, Jack & Rudy asked yesterday. The French Gulch and Sally Barber Mine trail systems meet at the same trailhead parking lot. Sally Barber is beautifully preserved for backcountry skiing whereas French Gulch has been destroyed by over-development and tons of cars and plows. But, as we were finishing our skijor on Sally Barber yesterday, both Jack & Rudy lifted their noses in the air and glanced up French Creek and into French Gulch. What did they smell? Well, French Gulch is known for its active moose population!

Max, Zorro and I used to skijor French Gulch 1-3 times a week back when it was under-developed and had great trails. My pals love skijoring in moose country! With a bunch of new snow overnight, I decided to let Jack & Rudy follow their noses from yesterday and take me out French Gulch.

The moose population is definitely still there! We had 3 stops like the following to inspect the gulch for moose:

"We smell them, we smell them! Where are they?" declares intense Jack & Rudy
drifting off trail to peek into the gulch for moose.

Finally, on Jack & Rudy's fourth dip off trail to search for moose and BINGO! Two adolescent moose dead ahead (directly up from Rudy's head)! Moose! Moose!

"We found moose!!!" declares my intense partners.
The kids were facing us and are now walking away after Rudy
screamed at them :)

How did I know this was two child moose? Well, the "twice as big" mother was in the deep bushes to their right. Rudy did his usual "Hey Moose - Over Here" scream and the two kids moved to get closer to mommy. As the kid moose moved, so did Jack & Rudy to get a better angle:

Yes, this is a better angle :)

In the prior photo, the moose family was in full view to Jack & Rudy's angle and full view to my eyes. The photo shows nothing as the GoPro is on my chest and the first tree in the foreground is blocking the action. What action? Well, here's the view from my eyes (I pulled out my phone cam to zoom in):

Moose Family!!!!
Big mother in the bushes to the right. One kid's back barely visible
in the bushes behind mom and the other kid in plain view!

Yes, that moose to the left above is only a kid, about 1/2 the size of the massive mother! What entertainment, let's go tell Zorro!

"Yep, French Gulch = Moose, I knew that!" says seasoned veteran Zorro.
"We knew we smelled them yesterday (and AGAIN today)!" adds Jack & Rudy.

Unfortunately, this may be one of our few skijors in French Gulch this season. Once Christmas arrives, the over-development of the gulch becomes VERY apparent from that point through March. Sad! But at least Jack, Rudy and I were able to squeeze in one "French Gulch Moose Adventure" this season! 8.2 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 28 days on the trails covering 211.7 miles with 20,100 feet of elevation climbed.