Spreading Z

Can you spot Zorro's ashes in the following photo?

Look straight up from Jack and you'll find the spray of ashes
spreading through the air in the top of this photo.

One of our goals this season was to get out to French Gulch once to spread Zorro's ashes. Wonderful Z passed away last May and I really wanted to honor his memory by distributing some of his ashes in French Gulch. Why French Gulch? Well, it was one of Zorro's favorite trails as he, Max & I skijored this trail more than any other trail from 2010-2017. But, starting around 2017, this trail has been converted from a backcountry heaven to a plowed road leading to newly developed houses. As a result, our use of French Gulch dwindled starting in 2017 until we just plain stopped trying the trail from 2020 on. But, I was still determined to get one outing this season to honor Zorro.

How did we do it today? Well, a perfect combination of conditions. There was only light snowfall overnight (maybe 2 inches or so), so plows appeared to be taking the morning off. But, it snowed heavily and steadily from 5am-7am, dropping maybe 4-5 inches of surprise morning snow. So, we headed out to French Gulch just after sunrise, knowing the plows were still asleep not knowing what had happened in the early morning hours. Well, it was perfect!!!

Whee, look at these great conditions on what has turned into
a plowed road recently!!!

Jack, Rudy and I had a blast skijoring out French Gulch for the first time in years (we did skijor French Gulch a little in 2018/2019 as Zorro was training young Jack & Rudy). So much fun!

More great conditions. But, notice that "plow wall" to the right of Jack.
This trail will be plowed down to dirt again by tomorrow :(

At our turnaround point, Jack & Rudy were fascinated at my saying Zorro's name and then taking some ashes out of my backpack to spread around. They both patiently sat and watched as I spread their mentor's ashes around us.

Both wonderful kids focused on the line of black ashes you see starting
above my ski and going to the top of the photo.

We all miss the wonderful old man soooo much!!!

The black in the bottom right are some of Zorro's ashes resting
on the snow. What a wonderful tribute spent with my pals!

Ok, back to skijoring. Come along for what has now become a rare skijor in French Gulch. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The unexpected early morning snow was such a surprise that even the main road leading to French Gulch had not been plowed yet. Fun!

So much fun to beat the plows to the roads :)

What a wonderful morning to honor wonderful Zorro, right guys?

"So much fun to relive our time with Z!!!!" says the happy kids.

For the record, Zorro's lifetime stats on French Gulch (again, most with Max & I and a few with Jack & Rudy): 220 outings covering 1737.7 miles!!! Impressive Z!

Today's tribute skijor: 9.6 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 32 days on the trails covering 257.7 miles with 22,300 feet of elevation climbed.