Like Z

What's better, moose views or mountain views? Depends on who you ask :)

Jack & Rudy being lured off trail to peak over this snow ledge in the
search for moose. Meanwhile, I paused with them to take in the pretty
mountain views.

This morning took us on a skijor on Boreas Pass. My original plan was to go 4-5 miles up Boreas and then turn around and come back down. But, we have had a lot of recent snow and, as you go up Boreas, the set trail gets thinner and thinner (due to fewer people making it so far without sled dog assistance). As we were nearing Baker's Tank (which is only 3 miles up Boreas), the set trail was becoming so narrow that Jack & Rudy could barely fit side by side:

Rubbing shoulders to fit in the narrow set trail.
The snow outside the set track was somewhat punchy, so neither kid
could run there.

By the time we reached Baker's Tank, the set trail was too narrow for Jack & Rudy to fit side by side. So, we had a choice: continue past Baker's Tank in single file skijoring or turnaround. Well, I chose turnaround with an alternate plan. Wait, did I say turnaround? Yep...

"Turnaround - roll around!" goes snow rolling Jack.
"Turnaround - woos abound!" belts wooing Rudy.
Also, a nice shot of historic Baker's Tank from when Boreas Pass was the
railroad into Breckenridge in the 1800s and early 1900s.

Now look at how nice and wide the trail was down lower as opposed to the narrow single track in the prior two photos. Oh, and nice view of the ski runs of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from us too:

Ah, nice and wide here with pretty views.

I mentioned an "alternate plan" above, what was that plan? Well, we came back down from Baker's Tank until we got to the much wider set trail as you see in the prior photo. We then went back & forth and redid some nice stretches of trail 5 times. Of course, each redo required turning around. While most turnarounds got snow angels and/or woos from the silly kids, one did get this nice happy face shot instead:

"This has been unusual! We keep redoing stretches of trail! But,
we are still having a great time!" says the happy kids.

Now come along for one of the nice stretches that we redid twice. We start out cruising along as we approach and pass on by a snowshoer who paused, smiled and waved (I waved back). Then, if you can take your eyes off fun Jack & Rudy, look left through the bare aspen trees and you can see the ski runs of Breckenridge Ski Resort on the mountains across the valley from us. On first redo of this stretch of trail, we passed by and entertained two oncoming skiers. By staying well below Baker's Tank, we were near the trailhead and, thus, encountered quite a few other skiers and snowshoers on all our redos.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, back to the trailhead and this moment almost brought tears to my eyes. Our wonderful, but departed Zorro, was the smallest of all 6 Siberian Huskies we have had in our pack (you'd never know it from his skijoring passion and power; but he was on the smallest end of the breed standard). Being small, Zorro developed this habit of climbing on my leg with his front two legs to prop himself up higher for end of run treats. I always loved feeling Zorro climb up on my leg. Well, today Rudy did a Zorro-like climb on my leg for end of run treats. Of course, big Rudy does not need any propping; but the action and feeling a Zorro move on my leg was astonishing and heart-warming!

"I remember our mentor, old man Z, always did this, I'll try too!" says Rudy
who you can see has his two front paws on my leg to prop himself higher for treats.
"Silly Rudy, he's already HUGE!" adds cute Jack.

A fun outing of "lower elevation redos" on Boreas with a Z like conclusion from Rudy: 9.7 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 68 days on the trails covering 576.2 miles with 56,100 feet of elevation climbed.