Surprise Accumulation

Who is having a great time skijoring this morning?

"We are!!!!!!! So much fun in the fresh snow!" exclaims the happy kids looking
back to me when I asked who was having a good time :)

The forecast was for a few inches of new snow last night and into the morning. Well, we got a lot more than that! We had 6 inches in our driveway and Breckenridge Ski Resort reported 12 inches of fresh snow on the mountain. With more snow than expected, we headed out to French Gulch to use the new snow on this trail. As we transitioned from town onto the dirt road leading to the trailhead we saw that only a single car had driven out before us and the road was perfectly skiable! So, we hopped out and skijored the road to the French Gulch trailhead and then skijored out & back in French Gulch. Fun to be able to start far down the road:

Zipping along French Gulch Road amidst active snowfall as we
near the trailhead to continue onto the French Gulch Trail.

The conditions in French Gulch were a little interesting for long stretches. This trail is shared with 4WD vehicles that can access the handful of private cabins in the gulch. The road had not been recently plowed by any of the vehicles (YAY!!!!) but it had been driven. So, we had two set single tracks (the tire tracks that other skiers had been using as well) that were the width of a vehicle apart. When the single tracks were too skinny to fit two sled dogs, Jack & Rudy would automatically separate and take their own track:

The smart & flexible kids showing they can each use their one narrow
single track while I get to glide in the powder down the middle.

Despite being very flexible with conditions, Jack & Rudy do prefer to run closer together. So, of course, whenever they could come together and fit in the trail, they did:

Rudy in the left track while Jack runs in the ski tracks I set for him on
the way out this trail. I always try to widen a single track in one
direction in hopes we can then fit together on the return direction.

Now onto our video highlight of the day which shows just how tightly Jack & Rudy can fit together when needed. We start out in a gentle jog, packed together into a single track, along a flat stretch of trail. Then the terrain takes a downward dip and Jack & Rudy accelerate nicely while still fitting tightly in the narrow single track. Impressive kids :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Of course, French Gulch comes along with the bonus entertainment of MOOSE!!!! We did not see any moose today, but Jack & Rudy clearly caught the "scent of moose" three times and had to dip off trail and climb snow walls to look for moose. Despite what their noses were saying, we failed to spot a moose (but we know they were nearby :)

"Our noses say MOOSE are in the forest this way!" declares the moose
inspecting kids.

Finally, we got our handler & driver (Nancy) back with us today. It's so enjoyable to have a handler's help so we can have our end of run treats out in the snow versus in the Jeep!

"Yay, back to treats from snowbanks!" says the happy kids.

A surprise amount of new snow this morning allowing us a fun skijor in French Gulch: 9.2 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 65 days on the trails covering 547.6 miles with 53,800 feet of elevation climbed.