Variety

Laying fresh tracks in the backcountry! Wheeee!

We were first on the day's fresh snow on this lesser used backcountry trail.
What a treat.

We had quite the variety of trail and snow conditions on this morning's skijor. To set the context, we woke to about 4 inches of fresh snow in our driveway while the ski resort reported 6 inches of fresh snow AND it continued to snow from the time we woke until and through our entire outing. 

To start the day, we went to lesser used backcountry trails on Prospect Hill. As you see above, we were first on the trail for this leg. We did an out & back on this stretch laying fresh tracks out and then running in our own tracks back.

After the initial out & back, we connected onto the "more used" but still backcountry trails in Dry Gulch. Upon entering this leg, we found that one other skier had been out & back on this trail before us. But, with a lot of fresh snow, it was almost like laying fresh tracks as well!

Zipping along in Dry Gulch with one set of out & back ski tracks in front
of us.

Let's take the prior photo for today's video highlight. Come along as we are second tracks in the backcountry with a nice helping of fresh snow. For most of this clip, Jack & Rudy are in "gentle run" but, then, as the clip comes to a close (the last 10-12 seconds or so) the kids really kick it into overdrive and we go zoom, zoom, zoom! Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

For our final leg of the outing, we dropped onto groomed trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. The groomer had already been out on the trails before us. So, we had two things: 1) a fresh groom in 4+ inches of new snow and 2) a new layer of freshly falling snow atop the groomed trail. This led to very soft and fun conditions for Jack & Rudy to run and me to ski:

Nice soft snow to go, go, go :)

Of course, the comedians, Jack & Rudy, are always good for a laugh or two (or more) on every skijor outing. The following photo really makes me laugh. We were cruising up a slight rise in the trail when Jack did a rodent dive off trail to the right. Meanwhile, Rudy was completely oblivious to Jack's dive as he was very distracted by something to the left. But, never fear, Rudy caught on to Jack's dive and refocused to the right to join in within seconds. Funny kids.

"Rodents to the right! Incoming!" goes rodent diving Jack.
"La la la, what's going on to my left?" starts Rudy in this sequence.
Then, "Whoa, what did you find to the right? Incoming!" joins rodent diving Rudy.

As I said, the comedians are always available for multiple laughs on every outing. I mentioned our first leg was an "out & back" in the backcountry. Well, that meant we had to turnaround at one point, right?

"Turnaround! Roll Around!" does the silly snow rolling kids.

Fresh snow, fun skijoring and 2 comedic interludes - a perfect day for Jack & Rudy :)

"Admit it, we made you laugh!" states the happy kids awaiting
end of run treats on a nice snow wall.

A really fun outing on a wide variety of trail conditions with lots of fresh snow: 7.6 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 75 days on the trails covering 628.7 miles with 60,800 feet of elevation climbed.