Blustery

First on the trail to lay fresh tracks in the new snow on the Sallie Barber Mine Trail this morning!

Fresh tracks fun!

Our outing took us up the front side of Sallie Barber, down the back side, back up the back side and then down the front side. This meant we passed the mine twice. As usual, Jack & Rudy put on a different show on each pass.

On pass number one, I paused to check our time out on the trail so far. Well, I paused...

"Stop, drop and ROLL!" goes Jack with gusto.
"Stop, turn and SING!" belts out wooing Rudy.

If you look closely at the prior photo, you can see Rudy's frozen mustache and beard around his wooing mouth. Well, it was a very cold outing this morning. The temperature was 5 degrees F when we started the outing. That's not actually too bad; BUT there was a constant wind with blustery gusts taking the wind chill to somewhere near 20 below. As a result, I made the executive decision to make today a short skijor outing! The temperature had no impact on Jack & Rudy (as you see in the photos) but it sure did on me!

I did not need to pause for any reason on our second pass by the mine, so the kids flew on by this time:

Zipping by the mine with blowing snow from a strong gust
of wind visible in the upper right of this photo. Brrrrr!

Needless to say, we did not encounter any other people out on the trail until the very end of our outing. Come along for today's video highlight as we swing around two fun corners and then take off on an open straightaway. The tracks you see in the video are our own tracks set on the first pass by this section of trail. 

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Now go back to the video one more time. Pay close attention to the tracks we set on the way up at about 19 seconds into the clip. What happened on the right side of the trail on the way up? Well, the kids sensed some delicious rodents under the snow and decided to investigate.

Rudy investigates rodents by doing beautiful, high arching swan dives (as a fox does). Such pretty form:

"Rodents under the snow! Incoming!" declares rodent diving Rudy.

Jack, of course, is just as interested in finding rodents as Rudy; but he has a different technique. I call Jack's rodent investigation technique a "rodent lunge" - not a high arching dive but a low lunging dive:

"I'm with ya bro - incoming too!" goes rodent lunging Jack.

Very different technique from the comedians but the end result is identical!

Dive or lunge but the result is the same. Deep in the snow trying
to find those pesky rodents!

Finally, back to the trailhead for our usual end of run treats:

"You cut the run short, not us - so you still owe us the usual
amount of end of run treats!" states the happy kids.
Yes, I agreed and dished out the treats generously :)

A fun but short & frigid outing this morning: 6.8 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 59 days on the trails covering 502.1 miles with 48,100 feet of elevation climbed.