1000 Miles

Jack & Rudy are both 4 years old. Today the impressive kids surpassed 1000 miles of skijoring for the 3rd straight season. Quite a feat!!!

"Ready for 1000 more!" says always smiling Jack.
"Woo! How about 1000 more woos?" adds always wooing Rudy :)

Not only did we surpass 1000 miles of skijoring for the season; but today was our earliest date (March 23rd) that we've ever passed this milestone! Our previous "earliest date" was March 26, 2014 with Max and Zorro. I'd say the 4 year olds have officially matured into professional sled dogs!

Back to the day's outing. We did a fun mix of trails by starting in the backcountry and laying fresh tracks in a light layer of fresh snow on single track trails.

Laying fresh tracks on one side trail.

Further along and still laying fresh tracks but now in a narrow single track trail:

Still zooming along :)

After touring the backcountry for a bit; we dropped onto the groomed trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. I knew we needed at least 9.3 miles to surpass 1000 today, so making use of the fast groomie zoomie trails was the perfect addition to the outing to make sure we passed our goal.

Flying kids on the fast nordic groom. Zoom!

Yesterday, we had the excitement of mountain lion + coyote + fox tracks all simultaneously on the trail. What could top that, you wonder? Well, moose tracks upstage all other forms of wildlife tracks, hands down :) Today we came across a pair of fresh moose tracks on the groomed nordic trail. Wow!

Big moose print in the lower center of this photo.
Tons of moose tracks in front of us. Lots of moose tracks to Jack's right
as the moose apparently paused to snack on shrubs to the right.

Oh those distracting moose tracks! Come along for today's skijor highlight as we start being first tracks on the freshly groomed nordic trail. But, seconds into this clip and suddenly there are footprints all over the trail. Who made those tracks? Well, a pair of moose!!!! Watch as Jack & Rudy are a bit distracted by these very fresh moose tracks but keep powering forward. Then, just as the moose tracks exit the trail, we encounter a pair of skiers coming up trail. So, abandon the disappearing moose tracks and go flirt on by the skiers! Fun kids :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Remember that we were first tracks on the nordic trail until the moose beat us to this section of trail. Now, do the math on when the groomer ran this trail (after sunrise) and the moose had been on this trail at most 45 minutes before us (if not sooner). No wonder they were SOOOO distracting to Jack & Rudy - especially Jack, who LOVES to dip his nose in fresh tracks. If your volume is up, you can hear me talking about the moose a bit during the video too :)

1000 miles & counting for the season in addition to fresh moose tracks ON the trail. What highlight to report to retired mentor Zorro? Maybe all of them :)

"Cool! I taught those kids well!" says cool Zorro.
"So much fun today!" declares happy Jack.
"I'm King of the Mountain today!" adds goofy Rudy.

The perfect outing to surpass 1000 miles for the season: 9.4 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 25 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 118 days on the trails covering 1000.1 miles with 94,100 feet of elevation climbed.