Rudy

Rudy wants EVERYONE to know how much fun he had out on the trails today!

"WOOOO!" said with extreme enthusiasm so EVERYONE could
hear Rudy's pleasure :)

We are happy to report that the Harrison Creek Trail is officially in "in season" condition. The snowpack is wonderful with no early season obstacles anywhere! I love the following stretch of trail with the great views to our right.

Zipping along as views of the rest of Colorado below us are to
our right.

Ok, to be honest, I often miss some of the incredible views live. That's why I come home a rewatch the outing from my GoPro. Sit back in your chair (as I am now) and watch the nice views to our right coming in & out of view from the trees. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Our turnaround point of the outing started as follows....

"Turnaround... Roll Around!" demonstrates consistent Jack.
"Na, I'm mature today. Can we get restarted?" asks mellow Rudy.

But, as soon as Jack stood up to get restarted, Rudy got right between my skis and belted out the WOO you see in the first photo (followed by 3 more). So much for mature and mellow :)

Arriving at the trailhead and doing our usual - putting smiles on the faces of impressed onlookers...

"Hi... bye... made you smile!" says Jack & Rudy impressively running
on by the smiling snowshoer. She said, "Wow, impressive!" as we glided
on by. I responded, "Yes, whee!" Maybe I should have wooed instead.
I'll have to consult with Rudy on that one :)

End of the morning run and apparently the human was taking WAY too long to open the bag of end of run treats:

"Yawn! Could you be much slower?" asks always opinionated and
yawning Rudy.
"I'll wait patiently for you to open the bag." I get reassured by perfect Jack.

Only time for this quick/short blog today, but I told Rudy I'd pass along his WOO of pleasure: 10.4 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 28 days on the trails covering 225.8 miles with 19,700 feet of elevation climbed.

West Summit

Laying fresh tracks on a trail through the trees at the West Summit of Rabbit Ears Pass!

Freshies! Whee!

We don't usually skijor the West Summit of Rabbit Ears as the trails are very short. We typically go to the East Summit where the trails are long and we can skijor for 10+ miles. But, as we approached the West Summit (from the west) this morning, the fog was ridiculously thick. You could barely see the road in front of you. So, instead of driving further to the East Summit, we got out to skijor the short trails on the West Summit. 

The fog did not really penetrate into the trees. So, that is why the first photo looks so great. But, we had a few open meadows to cross. As we approached each meadow, I had no idea where the trail was. I just left it up to Jack & Rudy (who have incredible trail tracking skills) to tow me where they saw fit. Each time we magically exited the foggy meadow at exactly where the trail was visible into the trees again. Such great partners!

Where's the trail? I have no idea where it is supposed to go across the
upcoming meadow; but Jack & Rudy navigated perfectly!

Back to the trees though. It was a wonderful morning to lay fresh tracks amidst lightly falling snow through the trees. Come along for the video evidence of what I mean. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As I said, the West Summit trails are very short. So, I had to convince Jack & Rudy to repeat our initial loop so we could get some real exercise :)

On our second pass West Summit Loop. You can see our first pass
ski tracks in front of us.

A cold, snowing and dense fog morning on Rabbit Ears. What did Jack & Rudy think of that? Well...

"Rolling snow angels to cool our jets!" demonstrates the goofballs
just before we started our second West Summit Loop.

Back to the trailhead and my pals are at full attention for end of run treats!

"Ready!" announces the focused pair.

An entertaining day doing laps on the West Summit to get some exercise and avoid traveling the road in the dense fog: 7 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 27 days on the trails covering 215.4 miles with 18,800 feet of elevation climbed.

Trail Snack

Fun "shot from the front" as we approach Nancy to end this morning's skijor!

Happy, happy kids! Wheeee!

Today's skijor had a pretty entertaining first for us. We came across our first ever elk leg laying across the trail. It was complete with some tender, frozen meat still attached. Jack & Rudy thought this was the find of the century!!!

"Fresh frozen elk meat. Yum!" declares the two sampling their
delicious trail snack.

We have come across deer legs many times before (often with their own fresh, frozen and yummy meat). What I do is let Jack & Rudy have a little fun with the leg and then I tell them to "give" and I pick it up to toss off trail. Today's "give attempt"....

"No, I'm not finished yet!" says Jack as he tugs back on the leg.
"Hey, if you aren't going to 'give', then I'm coming back for more!" adds
Rudy (who originally listened to my 'give').

Today, I learned a very interesting fact. Elk legs are HEAVY, even when most of the meat is gone. Once I got Jack to "give", I went to toss the leg off trail like I've always done with deer legs. Well, the elk leg was shockingly heavy. My feeble toss only went a few feet off trail. Jack & Rudy quickly jumped off trail to grab the leg and pull it back into the trail to continue chewing on it.

"Ha, nice toss wimp! We weren't done, so we'll just bring it back!" says
the trail snackers hopping off to fetch the elk leg.

Ok, lesson learned. We went through another round of "give" and then I rocked back and used all my strength to toss the leg far off trail. It still didn't go that far, but far enough that Jack & Rudy couldn't just pluck it up again :)

With that exciting elk leg episode, Jack & Rudy were juiced all day long and hunting for everything as they were skijoring fast to find the next trail treat. Here's Jack pulling off trail due to some snowshoe hare tracks in the snow.

"Rabbits went this way, can we too?" suggests Jack.
You can see one set of hare tracks in the left of the photo.
I let Jack lead us off trail a little ways, but we never caught a rabbit :)

A little later and we were jogging along when Rudy lunged off trail. As he did, a gross of grouse (or a flock of feathers :) spewed out of the nearest tree. Seriously, there were at least 5 grouse that flew off due to Rudy's lunge their direction.

Look up from Rudy and slightly left against the blue sky.
The white you see is one of the grouse flying away.

What a day of trail snacks and hunting! We really did skijor too! Come along for video proof that we really did skijor between all the wildlife entertainment!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead and a large group of people was preparing to get going. They all cheered at Jack & Rudy towing me and then quite a few wanted to get photos of the handsome pair. Rudy really knows what to do with an audience. He belted out a WOOOOO for the cameras and then a second (and longer) WOOOOOOO when everyone laughed and more people took out cameras to capture the woo child.

"WOOOOO! Glad to entertain you!" belts Rudy.
Quiet Jack simply flashed his beautiful smile and wagged his
bushy tail for the onlookers.

In between trail snacks & hunting: 9 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 26 days on the trails covering 208.4 miles with 18,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Not Interested

Cool shot of Flying Jack and Hovering Rudy on the fast nordic trails this morning!

Nobody is touching the ground! Jack is flying, Rudy is hovering. Wheeee!

Today's comedy outtake features Rudy dorking with Jack and Jack clearly stating, "Not interested."

It starts as we were cruising along the trail and suddenly Rudy wanted to scream in Jack's ear and try to bait him into playing...

"I said, TAG - YOU'RE IT!" yells Rudy in Jack's ear.

Sometimes Jack falls for Rudy's bait and sometimes he rises above it to ignore the twerp. When it is the reverse, if Jack tries to bait Rudy, Rudy ALWAYS falls for it. So, it's only Jack who can rise above the antics. Today, Jack simply shrugged Rudy off and moved to the other side of the classic track on the trail to separate from the pest and keep on running.

"Not interested, I'm sliding right to avoid you." responds Jack.

Put it all together and you get today's video highlight of "Rudy the pest" and "not interested Jack". Watch at about 10 seconds into the clip and Rudy dorks with Jack (you can hear him too if your volume is up). Jack simply moves to the other side of the classic track to separate from Rudy and continues running there until he decides it is ok to re-enter the main trail with Rudy. Classic "not interested" reaction from Jack :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

When Rudy was in proper form, we were flying around the trails today!

Airborne Jack & Rudy hovering over the fast trail.

Ok, time for end of run treats. Who earned theirs today?

"I know I did!" says cool Jack.
"Huh, don't know what you are talking about, I was perfect!" replies
amnesiac Rudy.

A quick fast day out on the trails featuring "Rudy the pest" and "not interested Jack": 7.2 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 25 days on the trails covering 199.4 miles with 17,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Zooming on by

Nice shot of historic Sallie Barber Mine as Jack & Rudy run on by.

Our first of 3 passes by the mine this morning.

Sallie Barber is a really fun trail but very short by Jack & Rudy's standards. So, when skijoring by the mine, we add a bunch of side trails to fully exercise the kids. The side trails, though, are very narrow. It takes a lot of trust in your team to skijor such narrow trails through the trees!

Notice my skis - there's not enough room to snowplow if I wanted!
But, Jack & Rudy always tow me gently & perfectly on this narrow trail.

We ended up doing 3 laps on the narrow Trail of Tears, then another lap on the nearby V3 Trail and also did 2 laps on the main Sallie Barber Trail. The reward for taking me gently through the trees? Well, the reward is opening up the throttle on the wide main trail. Zoom!

Zooming along the wide main trail.

Sallie Barber is one of the more popular cross country ski trails in Breckenridge. Jack & Rudy love entertaining the crowds by zooming on by. We get smiles, claps, cheers and gasps as we zoom on by :)

"Hi.... bye... made you smile!" demonstrates the kids zooming on by.

Come along for the video counterpart of zooming on by. We start alone on the trail galloping along and, then, when Jack & Rudy see an oncoming skier, they floor it to zoom on by. Fun kids!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

A very fun morning doing all kinds of laps around Sallie Barber Mine!

"We had a BLAST!" says the happy, happy kids.

8.8 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 24 days on the trails covering 192.2 miles with 16,600 feet of elevation climbed.

Switch

Uh-oh, moose in the neighborhood!

Jack & Rudy BOTH catching a "scent of moose" to our left!

Over the years, I've learned how to read the kids' wildlife sensors. When I see a sensor fire on the trail, I read it for what level of wildlife has caught their attention and how I need to react and prepare. In the photo above, this is Jack & Rudy catching a "scent of moose" but no visual sighting of the moose. When any of their moose sensors goes off, I am on HIGH alert the rest of the outing and ready to throw myself to the ground to become an anchor if a moose appears! No moose today, but the sensors were ON and there was certainly one nearby in the trees.

Sometimes people ask me which of Jack/Rudy runs on the right side of the team and which on the left. Well, I let them choose what side they want. As they have matured into professional sled dogs, their default configuration has become Jack on the right and Rudy on the left. I don't enforce this, it is just what they choose. I'd say about 75% of the time it is Jack right and Rudy left; but they'll switch it up now and then for reasons known only to them :)

Cruising along this nice trail with views in the default Jack on right
and Rudy on left.

Every once in a while, we'll redo sections of a trail. Sometimes because we are ahead of schedule and sometimes just to re-enjoy a great section of trail. This is the one time I can guarantee Jack & Rudy's alignment. They will always switch sides if we redo a section of trail. Apparently it's a different feel to run the same trail from the other side :)

Same location as the prior photo; but this is pass 2 on this segment so
Jack & Rudy have switched sides.

Today's video highlight is "pass 1" along this nice stretch of trail. Come along as we start with Jack & Rudy towing me up a slight rise in the trail and then they floor it as the trail flattens out into a sprint run. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the first photo, the kids' moose sensors were ON for a significant amount of time this morning. Around the corner and uphill from the first photo and we encountered where a moose had crossed the trail and sauntered off into the trees (the same trees Jack & Rudy are sniffing towards in the first photo):

"Sniff, sniff - very fresh!" declares the moose track inspectors.
Look at those deep post holes the moose has put in the trail before
exiting into the woods. Lots of scent of moose today but no actual sightings.

Finally, I have a mugging to report during end of run treats at the trailhead :)

"HAND THEM OUT!" demands my muggers!

Fun day on the fast trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center: 9.9 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 23 days on the trails covering 183.4 miles with 15,800 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Night/Day

Love this cool shot of seemingly conjoined Jack & Rudy in a fast sprint tuck!

The conjoined hover huskies.

Naturally, for every "sprint tuck" there is a corresponding "sprint stretch" - still conjoined!

The conjoined Jack & Rudy skijor missile!

It was practically "night & day" between the light we had on this morning's skijor outing. We started in the sun in front of Rabbit Ears Peak. We then followed a great trail that goes along and then behind Rabbit Ears Peak. Once behind the peak, it was very dim as the morning sun had not come over the peak yet. The prior two photos are us skijoring behind the peak, thus the low lighting. Here's how different the lighting was from behind vs in front of the peak:

Same trail as above, just in the morning sun versus shaded from the morning sun.
What a night & day difference in lighting :)

Today's video highlight? Well, a beautiful minute of skijoring in the morning sun behind Jack & Rudy. Come along for a fun, fun ride. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Despite incredible trail conditions, we did have to pause once. You cannot ignore fresh moose tracks crossing the trail and heading into the trees!

"Moose went this way! Can we too?" asks the moosers.
If you look closely between Jack & Rudy, you can see the tracks continuing
in front of them and into the trees. Oh, my answer was, "No, we are
not following fresh moose tracks into the trees!!!"

Morning sun, morning shade, made no difference to Jack & Rudy - they had a great, great time in all lighting :)

"Ready for end of run treats!" declares Jack.
"Don't forget me!!!!!" adds intense Rudy.

Beautiful morning: 9.6 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 22 days on the trails covering 173.5 miles with 14,800 feet of elevation climbed.

All Terrain

Check out this awesome shot of airborne Jack & Rudy on an incredible groomed trail!

The hover huskies! Wheeee!

"Where oh where is this trail?!?" you must be asking. Well, it is at the base of Walton Peak (atop Rabbit Ears Pass). Our local snowmobile club grooms these trails during the winter. As we were driving by this morning, we saw the groomed trail from the highway. We immediately u-turned to get on this fresh groom. When I saw the perfect trail, I was thinking, "Oh wow! We are going to flying today!" But, it turns out they had only brought the groomer for a little practice run. The groomed track only lasted for about 1.5 miles. But, as you see above, Jack & Rudy knew what to do with this 1.5 miles!!!

When the groomed trail ended, we were as equally surprised to find untouched trail in front of us! We all happily exited the groomed track and kept onward laying fresh tracks.

Fresh snow all to ourselves.

I knew we would eventually meet up with backcountry ski tracks since we were on popular Walton Peak. Sure enough, we spent the majority of the outing in narrow backcountry single tracks. A few times, the single track was too narrow for Jack & Rudy to fit side by side (they took turns who got to lead). But, when wide enough, it was shoulder-to-shoulder fun in the single track:

Where does Rudy end and Jack start? Good question :)

There are multiple backcountry paths to approach the top of Walton Peak. Near the top, though, all paths converge and we had a wide backcountry track for a short distance.

Backcountry, but wide from heavy traffic.

Not everyone makes it to the top of Walton Peak, but Jack & Rudy did :)

I'm paused to adjust my gear.
Jack is rolling snow angels because, well, I'm paused :)
Rudy is inspecting the communication equipment on top of Walton Peak.

So, the day went as "groom, then fresh tracks, then single tracks, then wide tracks and then single tracks again to the top of Walton Peak." We did an out & back, so that meant we got the reverse on the way back: "single, wide, single, fresh, groom". Once Jack & Rudy got back onto the 1.5 mile zoom track, they took off once again. Come along for a glimpse into the sprint to the finish on the grooomie zoomie! 

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a fun day doing all possible types of terrain, right guys?

"We had a blast!!!" declares the happy, happy kids.

An entertaining "all terrain" day covering 9.2 miles with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 21 days on the trails covering 163.9 miles with 13,900 feet of elevation climbed.

Snowpack

Gorgeous bluebird morning to skijor the trails atop Rabbit Ears Pass.

Nice wide snowmobile trail to cruise along behind Jack & Rudy.
Nice shot of the ears (rock formation) atop Rabbit Ears Peak for which
the pass is named in the upper left of this photo.

The snowpack is really starting to come together for the season at Rabbit Ears. We started the day from a popular trailhead and, thus, you see all the snowmobile activity in the prior photo. But, after a few miles and the tracks started thinning out. Eventually we found this single track to follow along the Old Columbine Trail. 

Cruising along and catching air.

Come along for the video counterpart to the prior photo. Such a peaceful morning to follow this track for miles and miles!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Only one thing can pull Jack & Rudy off trail from such perfect conditions. Yep, you guessed - moose tracks!

"Sniff, sniff, moose went this way!" declares track inspecting Jack.
"Sniff, sniff, no I think he went this direction!" adds inspector Rudy.

Aside from the fresh smelling moose tracks, the other highlight of the morning was the developing snowpack enabling wandering off trail. Before today, all skijors we've done at Rabbit Ears has been on snow covered but established summer roads at the pass. But, once there is over a foot of snowpack, it is allowed (and safe) for snowmobiles to drift off trail. While Jack & Rudy are perfectly happy to break trail on their own, it is also fun to find a solo snowmobile track going off trail and wandering through the endless meadows. See for yourself:

Cruising along in a soft, solo snowmobile track going off trail. Wheeee!

We conclude the day with a great shot of happy & impressive Jack & Rudy towing me to the finish of the day's outing.

Happy kids towing me along - wheeee!

A beautiful morning for a mix of on and off trail skijoring: 8.2 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 20 days on the trails covering 154.7 miles with 12,900 feet of elevation climbed.

Views

Beautiful bluebird morning to take in the views skijoring along Boreas Pass.

Nice view of fast moving Jack & Rudy in front of me.
Pretty view of the snow covered Rocky Mountains to our left.

We started the outing early this morning in the shade of Boreas Mountain, but the sun had just peeked over the top of the mountain to shine on the mountains across the valley from us, as you see in this nice photo:

Jack, Rudy & I in the shade of the mountain while Breckenridge Ski Resort
is visible in the sun across the valley.

On the way back down, the sun was everywhere. Such a pretty morning!

Jack & Rudy rounding a corner and Breckenridge Ski Resort comes
into view across the valley again.

As you can see from the photos, Boreas Pass Road is still open to 4wd vehicles. It will close to vehicles for the winter on Nov 28th. But, we've had a very cold week, so the traffic on the road has not done too much damage. Come along and watch Jack & Rudy towing me along the fast packed Boreas trail. Whee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The comedians, Jack & Rudy, had this skit to offer at our turnaround point high up on Boreas Pass :)

"Turnaround... Roll around!" demonstrates silly Jack.
"Turnaround... Woo aloud!" bellows wooing Rudy.

Back to the trailhead and we were again back in the shade. Nancy's camera is a cheap toy we got years ago, it does not handle "low light" very well...

Fun kids awaiting end of run treats.
Not a very crisp photo from the cheapo camera in low light :)

A beautiful bluebird morning to run up & down Boreas Pass: 9.4 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 19 days on the trails covering 146.5 miles with 12,300 feet of elevation climbed.