Memories

A rare treat this morning: getting out before the plows and skijoring French Gulch Road!

Zipping along French Gulch Road - wheeee!

Only 2 or 3 cars (and no plows) had been on French Gulch Road before us in this morning's new snow. So, we started our skijor a couple of miles before the trailhead and skijored the road before connecting onto the actual trails. Fun!

For the most part, we have removed French Gulch from our skijoring menu. It used to be Max, Zorro and my FAVORITE trail. Years ago it was only skiers or snowmobiles you'd encounter on the trail. But, there are a handful of private cabins in the gulch and the owners have keys to the winter gate to drive the gulch. Unfortunately, over the years, a few of the cabin owners have started paying to have the gulch plowed! It started a few times a winter and has grown into getting plowed pretty much after every heavy snowstorm. As a result, we no longer expect much skijoring in French Gulch except for a couple of times a season when we get out before the plows.

Why was this one of Max & Zorro's favorite trails? Well, in addition to once being excellent backcountry terrain, the gulch is also home to a very active moose population. I'm pretty sure we saw at least one moose on every skijor in French Gulch (which was 100s of outings). Sometimes the moose were far away and sometimes right in the middle of the trail. Regardless of where the moose was, Max & Zorro would pick up the scent of moose and get excited. If the moose was far off trail, they would stop and climb snow walls on the side of the trail to get a view of the moose they smelled.

Well, today Jack & Rudy got one of their rare skijors in French Gulch. From Max/Zorro to Jack/Rudy, some things never change. I don't know how many photos I have of Max/Zorro in this position taken by Jack/Rudy this morning:

"Beep, beep - we smell moose to the right and we see them too!"
says the intense moose seekers.

I turned myself in the direction they were looking in the previous photo. Sure enough, I saw a moose walking through deep snow across the large open space that houses French Creek just on the other side of the trees to our right. I pointed my camera that direction; but the moose was too far away to show up on video; but all three of us saw it!!!!

On the rare occasion, like today, when you can skijor through the plowed section of French Gulch, you are always treated to incredible powder caches far back in the gulch. I have so many memories of plowing through deep powder with Max/Zorro on this trail. Here's Jack & Rudy's powder treat for the day:

Whee - it sure does get deep & fun if you can get through
the plowed initial terrain.

Now come along for today's fun video. We start out on great backcountry terrain running in the tracks we set on the way out this trail. Then, a few moments into the video and we pass by one of the private cabins. Well, the cabin owner had recently driven on the trail as you see in the video. Watch as Jack & Rudy transition from backcountry terrain to share a tire track without so much of a pause in the action. Fun kids.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

If you watch the video closely, near the end you'll see Jack & Rudy are having trouble fitting both of their bodies in a single tire track. Not a problem, as a few moments after that video clip, the kids realized they can each take a tire track and I get to really enjoy the safe powder in between!

"We prefer to run 'shoulder to shoulder' but we can adapt to any
conditions to keep going fast!" says the smart kids now taking one
tire track each. It was beautiful for me in the powder down the middle
as well!

Back to the trailhead to rejoice a rare skijor in French Gulch and many fond memories of Max & Zorro. Note that Jack & Rudy got the pleasure of skijoring French Gulch with Zorro; but the majority of our skijors in French Gulch was Max & Zorro.

"We remember doing this with wonderful Zorro too!" says the focused
kids awaiting end of run treats.

Ah, memories.... and a rare skijor in French Gulch nowadays: 8.4 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 43 days on the trails covering 361.2 miles with 34,300 feet of elevation climbed.