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.