Interesting

This morning will be our last visit to Elliot Ridge for the 2022/2023 Skijoring Season.

What do Jack & Rudy think of that?

"Must thoroughly roll in this snow if this it is for here!" declares silly Jack.
"Woo is me! I don't want summer!" bellows wooing Rudy.

You might look at al that snow in the prior photo and wonder why I declared this our final outing at Elliot Ridge. Well, come along and see why...

For every beautiful stretch of snow like the following:

Great stretch to open up the throttle.

There was an ugly stretch like the following (and even worse in areas).

Yuck! But, notice I am still on skis. Jack & Rudy are amazing partners.
All I have to do is call out "Easy, easy" and they will slow to a gentle trot
until I give the ok to speed up again.

Then, for one long stretch of trail, we had what was probably our most interesting skijor configuration ever. In the following photo, there appears to be enough snow to skijor. But, the snow was super soft and Jack & Rudy were sinking deep in the snow if they tried to run on it. That's not good for them, especially for multiple miles! But, the snow was good enough for me to ski in. So, I instructed Jack & Rudy to "over the right" onto the dirt and then gave them an "Ok, let's go." They were both puzzled at first. After a little verbal encouragement and praise from me and they got it!

"We can trot in the dirt while you glide in the snow. Interesting, but
we got it!" goes the smart kids.

Along the way, we encountered elk tracks in the snow and moose tracks in the mud. Snow is more fun than mud, so here's a photo of the elk tracks :)

"Sniff, sniff - fresh!!!" declares the elk track inspectors.
Notice the line of tracks in front of us. We excitedly followed these elk
tracks for a little distance but, unfortunately, never caught sight of an elk.

Finally, some well deserved end of run treats from my perfect listening partners today:

"We love to listen and adjust!" declares the happy, smart kids.

Some good, some ugly and some interesting adjustments to soft snow; but the ugly will grow from here on out so this was our last run of the season on this particular set of trails: 7.4 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a mild top speed of 17 MPH (it was never safer to go any faster).

2022/2023 Season to Date: 154 days on the trails covering 1356.2 miles with 123,800 feet of elevation climbed.