1100 Miles

Look at what Jack & Rudy accomplished this morning!

"We could go for 1100 more!" says the proud & happy kids
acknowledging their impressive accomplishment.

Yep, we surpassed 1100 miles of skijoring for this 2023/2024 season this morning (1100.2 to be exact). That's 1100 miles and counting for 5 straight years for the impressive 6 year olds!

Today's outing took us to the trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. But, the nordic center closed for the season last Sunday, so there is no more grooming happening on these trails. For the curious, despite some really nice snow photos today, the majority of the nordic center is lower in elevation on Breckenridge Golf Course and these trails melt quickly in April. The two upper elevation trails are the "dogs allowed" trails. It is always sad when we see how much great snow is still on the upper trails but the route to these trails for the groomer would be over the quickly melting trails on the golf course.

Anyway, back to today. We had a light layer of fresh snow fall overnight and into the morning. With a layer of fresh snow, the leftover nordic trails are safe to ski again (they get too slick for me without fresh snow). So, we started the day on the highest elevation loop of the nordic center. Only a few people had been out on these trails since Sunday and all had stuck to the same narrow set ski track. We intended to repeat this upper section of trail three times (out, back and out again). When I saw the set track was too narrow for Jack & Rudy fit shoulder-to-shoulder, I skied next to it to create another track for the kids to fit. On our repeats of this trail, sometimes Jack & Rudy would make use of the two tracks and sometimes they'd slide far right to enjoy the untouched snow on the side of the trail:

Laying fresh tracks on the untouched right hand side of the wide trail.
Notice the (now) two set tracks to our left.

Laying fresh tracks in the prior photo, then taking a break to run in the set tracks for a bit:

Rudy in the original set track from previous days.
Jack in the new track I made with my skis on the first pass along this trail.
See, I can be useful!!!!!

Today's turnaround entertainment was snow angels, as always, from Jack and wooing today from Rudy - you never know what you are going to get from the silly redhead: rolling, wooing or both :)

"Rub a dub dub!" goes snow rolling Jack.
"Today I WOOOO!" sings wooing Rudy.

After some fun laps in the new snow on the highest elevation trail, we then connected to the next, main trail, to skijor to the trailhead. This trail gets LOTS of usage when the nordic center is open and even after it closes. As a result, I really needed today's light layer of fresh snow to skijor safely behind my pals:

Phew, a nice layer of "safety dust" snow on the otherwise well-worn trail!

Every outing eventually has to come to an end. Whose idea is it when we end? Well, since Jack & Rudy NEVER tire, it is me who eventually calls the fun to an end. Come along and watch Jack & Rudy running strong, as always, to the finish of this morning's 9.6 mile skijor. Oh, and a nice glide on by the dog on the side of the trail near the end of this clip.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Passing 1100 miles for the season, what a way to earn today's end of run treats!

"Ready for 1100 more and READY for those treats!" says the happy
and focused fun kids.

A nice layer of new snow to allow us to get a long April outing: 9.6 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 128 days on the trails covering 1100.2 miles with 107,800 feet of elevation climbed.