Dives

Nice set of rodent dives from Jack & Rudy on the trail this morning :)

Jack sensed the rodents under the snow first.
Rudy was quick to follow Jack's lead.
After landing side by side, it was time to search for those pesky rodents!

The prior photo is actually quite impressive from Jack. He tends to do low "rodent lunges" when he is going after rodents under the snow. But, today, Jack demonstrated he really can do the high arching fox like rodent dives that Rudy is known for. Rudy, of course, was quick to follow Jack's lead with one of his patented high arching swan dives. Both landed side by side in the intense search for rodents. Luckily, both came up for air with empty mouths :)

The highlight of the outing for Jack & Rudy was clearly the rodent hunt. The highlight of the outing for me was fresh snow that allowed us to get on backcountry trails we'd been avoiding due to recent warm and dry days. Today took us to the Sallie Barber Mine Trail. We were second tracks on the trail and Jack & Rudy demonstrated just how tight they can fit together when they want to share an existing track:

You cannot get much tighter together than this from the talented and
fast running kids.

We skijored up the frontside of Sallie Barber, then down & back up the backside and finally back down the frontside. This meant two passes by the mine. Pass number one (after the initial climb) was celebrated by rolling snow angels at the historic mine:

Quite synchronized from the snow rolling goofballs!

Pass number two was celebrated by cresting from the backside and flooring it on by the mine to continue back down the frontside.

No time for angels on this pass, we've got speed to get to!

Come along for a video view into the morning fun. This is one of our favorite stretches of the Sallie Barber Mine Trail with some fun curves and fast straightaways. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Since we failed to get fresh rodent meat, how about end of run treats instead?

"Ok, I'll take the treats!" declares focused Rudy.
"Well, I guess, altho I'm still bummed my rare rodent dive didn't work!" adds
cool Jack.

Sallie Barber is a bit shorter than our typical outings, but it was still so much fun to be on backcountry trails again: 7.4 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 111 days on the trails covering 983.3 miles with 90,100 feet of elevation climbed.