Rumors

We heard rumors yesterday that the Sallie Barber Mine Trail may not have enough snow yet to skijor.

Well, the rumors were unfounded. See for yourself:

The hover huskies topping 22 MPH as the catch air along this wonderful
stretch of trail with a dusting of new snow.

This person had told us yesterday that Sallie Barber was skiable. Then, when I told him I skijor it at 20+ MPH with two powerful Siberian Husky Sled Dogs, he replied, "Oh my, it's skiable but I don't think skijor-able!" Well, he was wrong - YAY! I know this trail very well from skijoring it for over 13 years; so I knew the three places to slow us down and watch for rocks. Other than those three patches, it was pedal to the metal behind Jack & Rudy all morning long!

On the first pass by Sallie Barber Mine, I paused momentarily to check our time out on the trails. I only intended to slow enough to check the watch on my backpack arm; but Jack & Rudy took it as a stop. Well, you know what that means...

"Stop, Drop and ROLL!" goes the silly kids rolling snow angels in front of
the historic Sallie Barber Mine.

We came up the front side of Sallie Barber then down the backside and then turned around to come back up the backside to finish back down the frontside. On the second pass, I did not slow down, so Jack & Rudy flew on by :)

"Already rolled angels here, let's floor it instead!" says the fast running duo.

Now come along for one of my favorite stretches of this trail system. We have a fun left for me to lean into then a fun right and then it opens up into a Siberian Husky Skijoring Speedway! I can see the speedway from a little further up the trail to know if there are loose dogs or moose around the corner (which there often is). Jack & Rudy know if I say "easy" into the first left that we are not going to floor it, so they slow down. If I stay silent into the left, they go "Woo Hoo, all clear - FLOOR IT!" Oh, and watch closely at about 12 seconds into the clip and you'll see Rudy give Jack a "love tap" (and hear it if your volume is up) he's so happy to be back on this trail system again (it was our first time this season).

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

If you followed along yesterday, you saw a rare occasion of Jack starting an unauthorized play session on the trail. I also mentioned that Rudy is the one who starts about 80-90% of these antics. So, here is how Rudy's mind works: 1) Jack started it yesterday; 2) I start 90% of these; therefore 3) I get to do this 9 times without getting in trouble :)  Seriously, if you have met Rudy you believe me that this is how he works.

"Have at you! I've got 8 more free ones to go!" declares instigator Rudy.
"I didn't start it, but I NEVER back down!" responds Jack.

Back to the trailhead and, oh boy, we found a snow wall to climb for end of run treats!

"That was fun! Glad the rumors were FALSE!" exclaims the happy kids.

A great first outing of the season at Sallie Barber Mine: 7.4 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 20 days on the trails covering 160.0 miles with 15,500 feet of elevation climbed.