Cats and More

Turnaround time with the goofball kids, Jack & Rudy :)

"I'm having a blast!" says happy Rudy who just finished rolling
his 'turnaround snow angel'.
"Hold on, almost done!" adds silly Jack who ALWAYS takes time
to roll the longest and best snow angel :)

Our outing this morning took us from Dry Lake (just outside of Steamboat Springs) up towards Buffalo Pass. This is a really fun route but a little out of our usual range, so we do not do it very often. The climb from Dry Lake to Buffalo Pass is popular with both snowcats (transporting humans to powder caches near Buffalo Pass) and snowmobiles. As a result, the trail is often wide and well set from both snowcats and snowmobiles.

Wheeee, zipping along the wide snowcat trail high up near
Buffalo Pass.

Did I mention snowcats? Yep! We started doing this route with Max & Zorro and have continued it with Jack & Rudy. If you start out early, then eventually you will encounter snowcats (from Steamboat Powdercats) transporting backcountry skiers up the pass. As with Max & Zorro, Jack & Rudy LOVE to encounter the cats and flirt with the drivers and passengers who also LOVE seeing them on the trail too :)

"Hey, nice contraption! But, we'll take our human up ourselves!" says
cute & curious Jack & Rudy.

If you are wondering... Jack & Rudy are faster than a snowcat on flat and downhill terrain but a snowcat is much faster than us going up steep terrain. The path from Dry Lake to Buffalo Pass is very steep in areas; so, the snowcats always catch and pass us on steep trails. We have just paused to let the cat pass us above as the trail was very wide and a steep grade was just around the corner.

Notice anything different or unusual in the last 3 photos? How about a lot of fog visible against the trees. At our highest point, the fog was very thick; so thick that I couldn't really see the trail. Not a problem, though, as Jack & Rudy will follow the trail whether any of us can see it or not (most sled dogs have this incredible trail following skill). Anyway, all was fine until Jack & Rudy's "wildlife sensors" started going off. We were cruising along in the thick fog when they both snapped to "wildlife attention" and were scanning right, left, right, left, etc. 

Cruising in the thick fog as Jack & Rudy both lock off trail to the
left on some sort of wildlife.

What got their attention? Well, luckily we never found out. But, their actions told me it was either moose or elk nearby. You better believe my head was whipping right/left constantly as I squinted to make out anything in the fog. But, as I said, luckily the moose or elk stayed far enough off trail to not be an issue!

Today's video highlight is very fun. We start out on a surprise stretch of untouched trail with a nice amount of fresh snow. So, it's "laying fresh tracks" for us as we zoom along. Eventually, we round a hairpin right in the trail and connect onto some set snowmobile tracks. Once on set tracks, Jack & Rudy do their usual and take off. Fresh tracks to snowmobile tracks! Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

A lot of fun to report back to retired mentor Zorro!

"Uh-huh, but what about those 'end of run' treats in your hands?" asks focused Zorro.
"From snowcats to moose scent! What a day!" adds fun Jack & Rudy.

Fun, fun day! 10.3 miles traveled with 1400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 110 days on the trails covering 926.7 miles with 87,800 feet of elevation climbed.