Sights

Nice shot of Breckenridge Ski Resort far across the valley from cool running Jack & Rudy :)

Impressive blue skies! Nice shot of the ski resort.
Cool running Jack & Rudy.

We spent this morning skijoring seldom used trails tucked away in the backcountry. Along the way, we had many sights to take in, such as views of the ski resort (from far away) as you see above.

Despite the gorgeous blue skies you see in the prior photo, we started the morning tucked away in the shade of the forest laying fresh tracks on lesser used trails:

Laying fresh tracks on this "unpublished" trail in the backcountry.

When you drift deep in the forests around Breckenridge, you often come across the ruins of old mining cabins. It's pretty amazing how many of the long abandoned structures still exist sprinkled throughout the forest.

"Has a roof. Has walls! We should move in!" declares cabin inspecting
Jack & Rudy.

Eventually we dropped out of the forest and into the awesome morning sun. I love this cool shot of Jack & Rudy following a solo snowmobile track we found taking across this vast open meadow:

Using the track to zoom, zoom zoom. Cool snow poofs coming off
Jack & Rudy's feet as we zip along.

Further along and another old mining cabin to investigate. There is a front door (straight in front of Rudy) and side door (follow Jack's line) to this cabin. Jack & Rudy thought it would be polite to plow a path to each doorway for others to use :)

"If we plow, others can visit too!" declares the hard working
powder plowing kids.

The best sight of the day? Well, finding our cool retired mentor Zorro at the trailhead to share 'end of run' treats!

"Glad you came back!" says focused Zorro.
"Cool day!" adds Jack.
"Chilling back here until the treats really come out!" says mellow Rudy.

A very peaceful morning on quiet, lesser used trails in the backcountry: 8.4 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 97 days on the trails covering 811.7 miles with 77,000 feet of elevation climbed.

27 MPH Wow

Jack & Rudy topped 27 MPH skijoring this morning - wow!

The "max speed" recorded on the GPS - 27.4 MPH. Wow!

Today was Jack & Rudy's top speed ever skijoring. The trails at Gold Run Nordic Center were perfect and freshly groomed. The temperature was below zero when we started and in the negative to single digits all morning long. These two conditions (perfect trail + perfect temps for Jack & Rudy) yielded this amazing feat from them. 27.4 MPH - wow!

What is really interesting is the parallel of this feat with Max & Zorro. Max & Zorro topped 27 MPH skijoring once in their career too. Now, Max was taller than Zorro with an incredible stride. I used to tell people that our top speed was 26 MPH (which Max & Zorro did many times) as I was convinced this was smaller Zorro's top speed. I knew Max was faster, but you go the speed of your team. Then one day Zorro blew me away and topped 27 alongside Max!

Well, I used to tell people that Jack & Rudy's top speed was 26 MPH (which they have done many times). Similar to Max, Rudy has an incredible stride but I was convinced that 26 was smaller Jack's top speed. Again, I knew Rudy was probably faster than 26; but you go the speed of your team. Well, today was the day Jack stunned us all and topped 27 MPH alongside Rudy. Impressive.

As I mentioned, the trails were absolutely perfect this morning with cool temperatures to keep Jack & Rudy from getting hot. It was great in the shade:

First tracks in the shade on the groomie zoomie.

It was great in the sun!

First tracks in the sun on the groomie zoomie!

It was the Jack & Rudy bullet train all day long!

Rudy the missile next to the Jack cannonball. Zoom!

Come along for the video clip where the GPS clocked us topping 27 MPH. We start out the clip in a gentle sprint. Then, partway through, Jack & Rudy really floor it and we take off! Zoom! What is really interesting is that this is the exact same stretch of trail where Max & Zorro topped 27 MPH 6 years ago! Clearly this is the "zoom trail" for our pack :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead to report the impressive milestone to Zorro!

"I knew Jack had it in him! You doubted me once too!" Zorro is telling me :)
"I was flying!" declares happy Jack.
"I'm impressed too!" adds fast, fast Rudy.

What a day! 10.6 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 27 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 96 days on the trails covering 803.3 miles with 76,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Dunk

Happy kids on this morning's wonderful skijor!

"Having a blast!!!!" declares the happy, happy pair :)

We spent the morning touring the upper elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center. We've had on & off snow for the past 3 days, so were thrilled to find a fresh layer of new snow over the wide nordic trails to safely uncork the Jack & Rudy skijoring engine. Wheeee!

Pedal to the metal for Jack & Rudy. What a wonderful trail with a light
layer of untouched new snow as far as the eye can see!

Cornering with these two impressive kids is always a challenge for me! Jack & Rudy can take corners very tight and fast. I, on the other hand, really have to ride the skis hard to try and corner with them. Cross country skis are not designed for tight corners like Jack & Rudy :) I often find myself drifting out left or right behind them as I try to keep pace through corners!

Jack & Rudy far right as we are coming out of a tight right on the trail while
I am drifting far, far left despite riding the skis as hard as I can to keep with them!

As we were cruising along the trail, Jack & Rudy suddenly hopped off trail and started to "dig to China" in the snow. What were they searching for? Well, knowing these two, it was one of three things deep in the snow: an animal (small rodent), an animal part (deer/elk/moose carcass or limbs) or some food a person had accidentally dropped long ago and was now buried. I was shocked when they came up for air and had nothing in their mouths! So, must have been a live rodent deep down that scurried away :)

Where's Rudy's front half? He's digging DEEP!
Jack is joining in too (although not as deep as Rudy yet!).

That's an impressive dunk for neither of them to come up with anything in their mouths!

Ok, back to skijoring. This peaceful video clip is fun for me to watch because we usually do this particular trail in the other direction than we are going today. But, Jack & Rudy are quite flexible, they can flip directions and go any direction on any trail.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a peaceful outing as we did not run into another soul all morning long! Time to celebrate with retired mentor Zorro:

"Ready!" says wonderfully focused Zorro.
"Great day!" adds happy Jack.
"Serve them up!" declares slurping Rudy ready for 'end of run' treats.

Peaceful morning with Jack & Rudy surprisingly coming up empty on a deep dunk in the side snow: 10.7 miles traveled with 1200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 95 days on the trails covering 792.7 miles with 75,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Happy

Happy, happy kids to be out skijoring Baldy Mountain this morning!

"So much fun! Love skijoring Baldy!!!" declares ecstatic Jack & Rudy.

What is so fun about Baldy? Well, so many things! Come along and enjoy a few...

With its steep terrain, Jack & Rudy get to really FLY whenever we are heading down. Hang on human!!!

The "Jack & Rudy Bullet Train" - impressive!

Baldy is very popular with other backcountry skiers, so we almost always get to fly on by, wow the crowds and put smiles on the faces of everyone we encounter:

"Hi! Bye! Wheeee!' says Jack & Rudy flying on by the oncoming skier who
has stepped aside to watch the impressive skijor machine zip along :)

Then, if we ever want an extra workout, we can hop off the packed trails and enjoy the deep, deep side powder on Baldy. Here we are turning around after carving a trail in the deep powder. Jack heard me say "turnaround" but apparently Rudy thought I said time to "woo around" :)

"Turning, powder plowing!" demonstrates impressive Jack.
"I heard 'woo around', so that's what I'm doing!" adds silly wooing Rudy.

Back to the primary activity on Baldy - FLYING along the fast & steep packed trails. Come along and watch part of the wild ride:

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, no outing is complete without sharing end of run treats with retired mentor Zorro:

"You have our FULL attention!" declares the focused trio!

As Jack & Rudy expressed in the first photo above - what a fun day on Baldy! 7.2 miles traveled with 1200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 94 days on the trails covering 782.0 miles with 74,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Pause

When the musher stops for too long on the trail...

"Your fault we are still stopped!" declares frisky Jack.
"Is NOT! Your fault!" responds Rudy :)

Why the "long" stop? Well, a bit after we started this morning, I remembered something I needed to tell Nancy but had forgot before we hit the trails. So, I stopped to drop my poles, take off one glove, pull out my phone, send a text, put my glove back on and finally pick my poles back up to restart. Well this was clearly a far too long of an extended stop for silly Jack & Rudy. As usual, they rolled snow angels when I first stopped; but when I did not restart quickly, the "blame game" took over and they had to discuss whose fault is was that we stopped for sooooo loooong!!! Goofballs, I did not really take that long to send a text!

Anyway, once I finally got us restarted, we had a great time doing multiple laps around the historic Sally Barber Mine. We were thrilled to find ourselves first out on this very popular trail. So rare to be able to lay fresh tracks near Sally Barber!

First on the trail! A rare fresh tracks run at Sally Barber Mine!

We skijored 3 laps around the mine and did not run into another soul all day long - amazing! Here we are on our second pass as we are second tracks to ourselves!

Roughly the same location as the prior photo as you see our own first pass
tracks in front of us. What a treat!

On the first pass by the historic mine, I paused to check our time on the trail. Paused again? Well, at least this pause was quick :)

"You pause, we 'stop, drop & roll'!" demonstrate Jack & Rudy doing their
usual snow angel antics during any short pause.

On the second pass by the mine, Jack & Rudy had enough of my silly pauses today. They were NOT going to let me stop again :)

Propelling the human by the mine so he does not have the chance to
stop "yet again" :)

Our top speed today was 23 MPH. Come along for the video of the speed burst. We start out the clip moving quickly along with snow falling around us. But, watch as Jack & Rudy kick it into high gear near the end of the clip as they burst into super fast skijoring. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Another great day to report back to retired mentor Zorro:

"Ah yes, I remember doing the Sally Barber Zoomies!" says focused Zorro.
"Wheeee! We always accept 'end of run' treat stops!" adds cute Jack & Rudy.

A real surprise today being all by ourselves on the trails near popular Sally Barber Mine - 8.4 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 93 days on the trails covering 774.8 miles with 72,800 feed of elevation climbed.

React

Cool shot of some serious "snow poofs" flying up behind fast running Jack & Rudy!

That's a lot of POOF coming off the fast moving sled dogs!!!!

Every once in a while, it's fun to highlight the "work" I do out on the trails with my partners. While "propelling me" is Jack & Rudy's primary job, I do have to read & react to various situations. Come along for some of my reaction jobs this morning :)

With two fast kids in front of me, I always have to be aware of snowballs or slush bombs flying off Jack & Rudy's feet and into my face and chest!

Look straight up from Rudy and a little to the left. The white blob is a
chunk of snow coming off Rudy and into my face!!! Since the camera is
on my chest, a snow or slush ball up from the camera is coming right
at my head. Look out human :)

I also have to remember that Jack & Rudy are shorter than me. I like to stay directly behind them as often as possible, but I also have to be aware of our differences in height!

Low to the ground Jack just went under the tree branch on the right and he
is ducking more to go under the upcoming branch in front of him. I have
to remember to swing out from behind them to avoid branches taller
then them but shorter than me!!!!

Another read & react scenario for me. We were in known moose territory in and around Gold Run Nordic Center today. I need to read & react to Jack & Rudy's "moose detectors" to know when to scan the trail and trees for moose! When Rudy has his "outside ear" up, he's hearing something nearby. When Jack glances into the trees, he's scanning for something (i.e., moose) that he hears or smells nearby. I have to scan all the terrain for moose to react to!!!

"Beep, beep - outside ear listening for moose!" demonstrates talented Rudy.
"Scan, scan - I detect moose nearby!" says forest scanning Jack!

Next, I have to "hang on" when we top 20 MPH. Come along for the today's cool video of fast running Jack & Rudy. Also, note Jack really hugging the right side of the trail in this clip. There are multiple low hanging branches I need to swing left to avoid along the way :) Look out human!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, I have to remember that retired mentor Zorro always gets the 'end of run' treats first! Haha, this is not really something I have to remember. Zorro is always quick to remind me and Jack & Rudy politely wait their turn!

"Me first!" declares mentor Zorro.
"Us second!" adds wonderfully patient Jack & Rudy.

See, I really do have to pay attention and read & react out on the trails :)  10.3 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 92 days on the trails covering 766.4 miles with 72,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Dive

Cruising by the ruins of an old 1800s mining cabin in the ghost town of Preston.

Fun trail, cool old mining ruins to our left.

I was mentioning to Nancy the other day that it has been a while since Rudy has done one of his patented rodent dives on a skijor outing. Over the first few years of young Rudy's life, he's become known for his beautiful and high arching rodent swan dives (see the "rodent dive" tag for all of Rudy's past dives :)

Well, today Rudy reinforced that he is still the rodent dive expert as he produced one of his beautiful dives:

Pretty Rudy doing a high arching rodent dive off trail.

There was only one problem with today's rodent dive. The form was perfect, but the target of the dive was Jack, not a rodent!!!! Silly Rudy, Jack may be smaller than you, but he's not a rodent!

The target of Rudy's rodent dive: Jack in the snow off trail!
"I'm no rodent kid!" states Jack!

Oh that silly Rudy!

Outside of a misdirected rodent dive, we had a zooming fast day whipping around wide & narrow groomed trails in and near Gold Run Nordic Center. Wheeee!

Catching air on the groomie zoomie!
Good thing Rudy is so big so that you can see him behind Jack's
big bushy tail :)

Come along for a fun combo video from the outing. The video clip starts with us zooming along a wide groomie zoomie trail. Then, partway through the clip, I switch to Jack & Rudy zooming along a narrow groomie zoomie trail. Wide trail, narrow trail - same result: Zoom!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Another wonderful day to report back to retired mentor Zorro as we get ready for 'end of run' treats:

"Glad you are back! How about those treats now?" says focused Zorro.
"Zorro first and then US!" adds wonderfully patient Jack & Rudy.

Great trails this morning a return of rodent diving Rudy (even if the target of his dive was a little misdirected :) - 9.2 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 91 days on the trails covering 756.1 miles with 71,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Trail Snacks

Incredible trail conditions at Breckenridge Nordic Center this morning!

Awesome trail conditions and cool "snow poofs" behind Jack & Rudy's
feet. Wheeee!

We got out early this morning since we are entering a very busy 3 day weekend and were thrilled to find only a few people had been out on the freshly groomed nordic trail before us. With a fresh groomie zoomie, Jack & Rudy knew what to do...

Zoom! Nice shot of Jack & Rudy cruising along as you can see maybe 3 skiers
had been out on this section of trail before us.

Today we got a great foreshadow from Jack & Rudy of things to come. Both decided to roll snow angels at the trailhead before we got started.  

"We've got plans for later!" Rudy tells the camera :)
"Aahh!" adds goofy Jack.

They do this now and then and I like to joke it is their version of pre-run stretches. But, today they rolled snow angels early to keep Jack's streak of "rolling 1+ snow angels on EVERY skijor of his career" intact so that we could focus on other things at our midpoint break of the outing. 

What was the plan for the break? Well, getting tasty trail snacks from a delicious piece of elk head and antler along the way :)

"Fresh frozen elk antler! Yum!" says antler chewing Jack.
"Fresh frozen elk brain! YUM!" adds Rudy.

Now, it is not uncommon to find a deer, elk or moose antler out in the forest. The animals shed them regularly and leave them for fine-tuned and inquisitive noses like Jack & Rudy to find. But, antlers are shed one side of the head at a time. Yet, in the photo above, we see a full antler rack (both sides) AND there is a piece of head in between that both sides of the rack are still attached to. Yep, that is a piece of "elk head" between the antlers that Rudy is inspecting. So, this was not a shed antler but a dead and beheaded elk (with most of the head now missing). Most likely a product of a mountain lion. As Rudy said above, "Yum, elk brain!" egad! Oh, for the curious, the structure behind Rudy is the front wall & door of one of the warming huts on the trail at the nordic center. Jack & Rudy fished this head & antler out of the deep snow to taste and put on display in front of the warming hut!

As I usually do, when we encounter animal parts, I pick it up to toss off trail. Jack & Rudy were thrilled that I was picking up the rack & piece of head. Clearly I was going to bring it home, right?

"Bringing the rack home? Thanks dad!" says happy Jack.
"Don't forget the brain food!" adds focused Rudy :)

But, to my partners dismay, I tossed the head+antler far off trail instead of bringing it home :)

With the trail snacks now gone, it was time to get back to skijoring. Come along for a fun video clip of the trail at our highest elevation point. There was a light layer of wind blown snow covering the trail up high. This meant that Jack & Rudy could enjoy laying fresh tracks in a light layer of snow as we zoomed along. Fun time!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Great skijoring, tasty frozen antlers and fresh frozen elk brain - so much to report to retired mentor Zorro:

"Did you bring some brain food for me?" asks Zorro.
"You tell him YOU threw it off trail! Bad dad!" declares Jack & Rudy :)

So much fun this morning: 11.1 miles traveled, 1100 feet of elevation climbed, top speed of 24 MPH and a little fresh frozen elk antler+brain along the way :)

2021/2022 Season to Date: 90 days on the trails covering 746.9 miles with 70,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Take Down

Hmmm, this doesn't look like skijoring...

Is that Jack winning a wrestle match and pinning Rudy in the snow?

Wait, is that Jack pinning Rudy? Jack, my mellow, reliable and mature leader of our team? Yes, normally super Jack lost his marbles at our turnaround point of the morning. Oh Jack, what will I do without a reliable leader?!?!? Oh, by the way, Rudy LOVED getting pinned by Jack. Oh those silly & wild 4 year olds!

With fresh snow this morning, we went to our favorite fresh snow/powder trails on Baldy Mountain. Despite the photo above, we actually did get in some great skijoring in the fresh snow. We spent the majority of the outing on the main trail on popular Baldy, so were not first tracks but still had plenty of powder to enjoy:

Now that's more like it! There's my team! Wheeee!

As is usually the case on Baldy, we took a few detours from the main trail to enjoy untouched powder on lesser used side trails. Fresh tracks fun:

Fresh tracks side trail!

As is also usually the case on Baldy, we had the opportunity to fly on by oncoming skiers/boarders and put huge smiles on their faces as they watched the wild sled dogs propelling me on by. 

Good thing nobody saw the action in the first photo above :)

Here we go, flying along the main trail on Baldy. I love this trail with fresh powder to give me a little control and safety behind my fast partners. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the first photo... I'm going to report the unauthorized wrestle twins and wild (not mellow :) Jack to retired mentor Zorro:

"Well, I didn't teach that!!!!!" declares cool Zorro.
"Hehe, haha, I pinned Rudy!" says silly 'proud of himself' Jack.
"Hehe, haha, I loved getting pinned!" adds sillier Rudy.

A great fresh snow day skijor on Baldy when Jack & Rudy were upright - 7.7 miles traveled with 1200 feet of elevation climbed. I don't know our top speed due to a GPS malfunction; but it was certainly over 20 MPH and probably 23-24 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 89 days on the trails covering 735.8 miles with 69,400 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Play and Run

Stopped to...

"Stopped to take in the nice views of Breckenridge Ski Resort." I said.
"Stopped? Ok, 'stop, drop & roll'!" adds the goofy kids.

Stopped to play 'tag, tackle & roll' - oh those silly 4 year olds!!!!

"Tag, you're it!" laughs Jack.
"Come back on the trail and I'll tag you back!" responds frisky Rudy.

Ok, so stopping on this morning's skijor clearly brought out the silliness in Jack & Rudy. With that in mind, we better not stop the rest of the day :)

Nice skijoring a mini groomed side trail - wheeee!

Mini groomer tracks down the middle with lots of side powder to
use for speed control on the shoulders.

Flooring it on freshly groomed wide trails - zoom!

xx

Then, single tracks side trail again - catching air on the fast track!

Going, going, going!!!

Finally, topping 25 MPH skijoring another freshly groomed wide trail. Come along for a video highlight of the fast, fast fun!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Silly kids playing at any stop on the trail. Impressive kids zooming whenever we were moving on the trail :)

"I taught them to zoom, not play!" mentor Zorro is telling me.
"You stop, we play! Guess you should never stop!" explains goofy Jack & Rudy.

A very impressive skijor from Jack & Rudy today (when we were moving :) - 10.5 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 25 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 88 days on the trails covering 728.1 miles with 68,200 feet of elevation climbed.