Hovering

Great views of Jack, Rudy and the snow covered Rocky Mountains from one of my favorite "take in the view" stretch of trail at Breckenridge Nordic Center.

Fast running Jack & Rudy with nice Rocky Mountain views ahead and
to our right. Wheeee!

This morning's outing took us to the upper elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center. The trails had been freshly groomed this morning; but others had been out before us, so while we were not first tracks most of the outing, the terrain was still in PERFECT shape. How perfect? Well, Jack & Rudy barely touched the ground all morning long. Cone along and see what I mean :)

Even though we are on the "upper elevation trails", the lowest of the terrain (near the trailhead) is still in a heavily wooded forest. So, it was catching air to hover on the well shaded Otter Slide Trail:

The fun kids hovering over the trail in the shade.

Next, at the mid elevations of the outing, you get a mix of trees and sun. Here we are on the mid elevation Heaven's Gate Trail. Different trail, same results!

The fast kids hovering again as we fly along in & out of the bright morning sun.

Then it was on to the highest elevation trail of the nordic center. This trail is at around 12,000 feet elevation, so the trees are pretty thin as we are near treeline. This highest trail is named Elk Dance: different trail, same results :)

Whee! Hovering again!!!
The highest elevation trail is also furthest from the trailhead. So no
humans had made out this far yet and we were first tracks on the
fresh groom!

Today's video highlight has to go with the prior photo. It was a beautiful bluebird morning to be first tracks at the highest point of Breckenridge Nordic Center. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

In order to get 9+ miles of skijoring on this network of trails, we have to redo stretches of the trails a few times during the outing. Jack & Rudy are all for the redos to keep going; but each redo comes with a turnaround point. Well, you know the drill with these two: turnaround, roll around!

"Ah, need to cool our jets before restarting!" says the silly kids rolling
in the snow to cool off before restarting.

Fun day hovering all over the place, right guys?

"All in a day's work! Now how about those end of run treats?" asks the happy
kids up on a mini snow wall.

A bluebird morning on the nordic groomie zoomies: 9.6 miles traveled with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH (I actually expected more than 22 - sure felt faster to me, but that is what the GPS reported).

2024/2025 Season to Date: 18 days on the trails covering 141.9 miles with 14,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Preston

With all our recent snow, the backcountry trail in Dry Gulch was a bit narrow this morning!

Jack & Rudy trying to fit shoulder to shoulder in the pre-existing single track.

The single track got so narrow at points that Jack & Rudy had to run single file (taking turns who was in lead). I rode out of track behind them this entire section of the outing in an attempt to widen the set trail for us the next time we want to use it.

Our goal was to use the backcountry trails in Dry Gulch to eventually connect onto the groomed trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. As we were completing Dry Gulch and about to enter the nordic center, moose tracks appeared all over the place! From Jack & Rudy's intensity at sniffing these tracks, I knew there were fairly fresh. Jack always points in the direction the moose went (Rudy is hit or miss on pointing the right direction :) But, both aligned the same way this morning, sniffed for a bit and then popped their heads up as if to say, "Moose when this way! We should too!" 

"Sniff, sniff, these are FRESH!" says the moose inspectors.

Unfortunately for me, we eventually had to go the direction Jack & Rudy were suggesting to get to the trailhead. Fortunately for me, another trail at the nordic center had been opened last Wednesday. This trail is a large loop in the direction AWAY from the moose tracks, phew. I convinced Jack & Rudy that we should do the loop going away from the direction of the moose. Once they got a few feet away from the tracks, they agreed. After all, they LOVE this upper loop!

Flying around the Preston Loop as we (or I) hoped that gave the moose
enough time to leave the vacinity before we arrived back!

This Preston Loop is one of our favorites during the season. It is often one of the trails where we hit between 24-26 MPH skijoring. But, it's still November and the trail is not perfect for full throttle yet. But it was VERY nice for a wonderful November skijor. Come along and see for yourself:

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Once we completed the Preston Loop, it was time to head to the trailhead in the direction of the moose tracks. I needed to catch my breath before starting this final leg as I knew it would be a wild ride. Well, catching my breath meant I stopped :)

"Stop, drop & roll! Let us know when you are ready to go find those moose!"
says the snow rolling sillies.

Well, as expected, it was quite the wild ride behind "moose juiced" Jack & Rudy on this final stretch of the outing. I came around every corner on the trail ready to hit the ground if a moose was in the trail. I could read Jack & Rudy's body language and the "scent of moose" was clearly in the air!

The kids catching air while on high alert in moose country!

Luckily, for me, we never encountered the moose. It was just a fast & furious ride behind moose juiced Jack & Rudy. What a way to earn your end of run treats:

"We were working HARD! Well earned treats are in order!" says the
fun kids atop another snow wall for receiving treats.

A fun romp in Dry Gulch and the sprint around Gold Run Nordic Center this morning: 7.1 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 17 days on the trails covering 132.3 miles with 13,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Singing

Some smile about how much fun they are having and some sing about it!

"I'm having a blast today; but he sure is loud!" says smiling, happy Jack.
"Woooo, I approooooove!" belts singing Rudy.

After spending the last two days skijoring fresh powder in the backcountry, we decided to open up the throttle on groomed nordic trails today. Jack & Rudy were in a groove, flying all over the place:

Beautiful bluebird morning as the speed demons catch some air flying along the trail.

You can see a few pre-existing tracks on the trail in the prior photo (both ski tracks and dog prints). The trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center had been groomed late yesterday, so a few had been out on the trails before us. But, to our shock and joy, once we got further from the trailhead than most humans ski, we found the groomed trail untouched! So, it was flooring being first tracks on a fresh groom for a while! Wheeee!

No humans had made it this far by themselves; but Jack & Rudy propelled
us to be first tracks far from the trailhead!

A little further along and still laying first tracks but with pretty views as well :)

First tracks on the fresh groom with stunning Rocky Mountain views
ahead and to our right.

It was around zero degrees (F) when we started this morning's outing. As I mentioned, Jack & Rudy were flooring it all outing long. So, the comedians decided they need to pause at the warming hut to use it Siberian Husky style:

"Rub a dub dub, rolling in the snow to cool our jets!" Yes, the nuts get
hot at zero degrees!

Today's video highlight can be summarized with two words: Zoom, Whee! Come along and watch the kids flying along as the propel me along the groomie zoomie trail.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead and, you guessed it, a snow wall for the comedians to climb to get end of run treats:

"Ready!" says the focused & happy sled dogs.

What a groomie zoomie day: 9.4 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and our top speed of early in this 2024/2025 season of 23 MPH (we typically hit 24 MPH regularly and top out around 26 MPH once the conditions get perfect).

2024/2025 Season to Date: 16 days on the trails covering 125.2 miles with 12,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Baldy

Do you think Jack is enjoying upwards of 2 feet of fresh powder on Baldy Mountain this morning?

"I'm having a BLAST!" exclaims ecstatic Jack.
"Me too, but why are we stopped?" adds Rudy.
That is the historic Iowa Mill in the background from the Breckenridge
mining days. We are stopped as I needed to wipe frozen snow off my
sport sunglasses so I could see (Rudy didn't like that explanation :)

This was our first skijor on Baldy this 2024/2024 season. This terrain is very steep in places and extremely rocky when bare. So, we need a lot of snow to cover the rocks and then I need a lot of powder to slow Jack & Rudy down on the steep descents. Well, 2 feet of snow falling overnight made Baldy a dream skijor!

We stuck to the main trail for most of the outing. A few other powder hounds had been out on the trail before us, so we had some very soft but set tracks to run in on the main trail:

Cruising along in an existing track. As you can see, very few had been out
so the set tracks were still very soft & fluffy!

We did venture off the main trail once to go snorkeling in deep, deep powder. Wheeee!

Jack & Rudy blasting through roughly 2 feet of fresh, untouched snow
on a side trail. Powerful kids!

But, as I said, we did spend most of the outing on the main trail. Come along for today's video fun as snow is dumping all around us as we hop, skip and glide in the soft terrain. Yes, the video gets pretty blurry from snow collecting on the camera partway through this clip. I'm happy to report it was near impossible to keep the camera clear of snow for very long :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Now I get to pat myself on the back and show that I have some use (other than vetoing moose hunting) on the trails. In the prior video you see lots of existing tracks for Jack & Rudy to fit in side by side. But, occasionally there were stretches where all the previous humans had followed one another. We did an out & back on the main trail this morning. On the out direction, every time the trail condensed to a single set track, I would ski out of the track to pave they way for Jack & Rudy to fit comfortably on the way back. See, I have something to contribute!!!

Rudy in the set track from people out before us.
Jack in MY track I set on the way out so both could fit side by side on
the way back. Nice job human :)

All this fresh snow meant for some very frisky kids all morning long. Two unauthorized games of "tag & wrestle" broke out during the outing - 1 started by Rudy (that's typical) and 1 started by (usually perfect) Jack. Of course both joined in the "tag & wrestle" - it doesn't matter who starts it, both contribute :)

"Just try and touch me!" says play bowing Rudy.
"I'm going to flatten you!" responds silly Jack.

With all the new snow, the "snow walls" are starting to come together everywhere for Jack & Rudy to climb for end of run treats:

The fun kids climbing a snow wall to get even with my hands for easy
handing out of the treats.

Skijors on Baldy always trade off distance for elevation (it is very steep as I mentioned): 5.1 miles traveled with 1300 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 15 days on the trails covering 115.8 miles with 11,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Back

First time skijoring the back side of the Sallie Barber Mine Trail this season! Wheeee!

Jack & Rudy packed in tight to fly along in a set track on the
back side of Sallie Barber Mine.

We have done the popular, front side of Sallie Barber already this season. But, the back side is much steeper and very rocky in places; so, we need good snowpack before the back is safe to skijor. Well, we are in amidst of a multi-day Thanksgiving snow event this week and, thus, the back side has finally become skiable! Yay!

As we typically do, we start out going up the front side of this trail. When we get to the mine, Jack always rolls snow angels and Rudy either woos in happiness or rolls with Jack. Today it was woos from Rudy:

"Woo! I approoooove!" states wooing Rudy.
"Launching into my snow angel!" adds goofy Jack.
Notice that Rudy is walking towards me while wooing. By the time Jack
was fully into rolling his snow angel, he we eclipsed on the camera by
big dude Rudy, so this is the best shot of Jack's angel that I got :)

We then go down and back up the back side of the mine trail to finally fly back down the front side to end the day. Jack & Rudy love to fly by the mine on the second pass as they know the fast & fun return down the front side is about to happen!

Cruising by the historic mine as we prepare for the final sprint down
the front side of the trail.

It was a peaceful morning with fresh snow and active falling snow to glide along behind Jack & Rudy:

Wheeee!

How peaceful? Well, come along for today's video highlight as Jack, Rudy & I run & glide along the perfect trail!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, we ended the day, as always, sharing end of run treats with my happy pals:

"That was fun! Ready for treats!" says the happy pair.

Sallie Barber is one of our shorter outings, but Jack & Rudy really like this route: 6.8 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 14 days on the trails covering 110.7 miles with 10,100 feet of elevation climbed.

All Terrain

Rodent lunges and dives from the comedians determined to catch those pesky rodents under the snow!

Jack started this episode with a quick and DEEP lunge into the snow off trail.
Rudy will never be outdone on rodent hunting. He follows any Jack lunge
with a beautiful, high arching and fox like rodent dive!

Ok, rodent diving aside, it was a beautiful morning to go out skijoring in soft & fluffy new snow. The all terrain vehicles (Jack & Rudy) towed me through just about every type of conditions this morning. Come along for the fun:

We started out breaking trail and laying fresh tracks in upwards of 6 inches of fluffy powder in the Dry Gulch backcountry:

Whee - powder blasting! 

Then, the local open space & trails department grooms some of these trails in the Dry Gulch area with a mini groomer (a snowmobile towing a groomer sled the width of the snowmobile). After blasting through powder to start the day, we found one of the side trails freshly groomed by the mini groomer. So, it was pedal to the metal on a mini groom:

Zipping through one of the many old mining day ghost towns in Dry Gulch
in a fresh mini groomer track.

Then we took a turn away from the mini groomer track to do an out & back on another side trail. We broke trail on the way out so we could fly back in our own tracks:

Flooring it as we are reusing our "out tracks" on the way back.
Pretty morning once we got into the bright sun!

Finally, Gold Run Nordic Center opened for the season this morning. So, we completed the day being first tracks on a marvelous freshly groomed nordic trail. Jack & Rudy know what to do with a nordic groom:

The speed demons catching air as they hover over the fresh
groomie zoomie trail!

So many video highlights to consider using from today's wonderful outing. How about we go with breaking trail and laying fresh tracks in the backcountry? I love riding behind the powder plows, Jack & Rudy, on skis in fresh & fluffy snow!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a fun day. How about we celebrate with some well-earned end of run treats?

"I agree!" states happy Jack.
"Yes and you have my FULL and UNDIVIDED attention!" adds focused Rudy.

A fun morning experiencing just about all types of terrain possible: 8.1 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 13 days on the trails covering 103.9 miles with 9500 feet of elevation climbed.

Classic

A rare photo with one of my skis in the "classic ski track" as I fly along behind Jack & Rudy!

Right ski in the classic track. Shift my weight to the right leg and we FLY!
Shift my weight to the left leg to regain some control and braking :)

I use classic (versus skate) skis to skijor with Jack & Rudy. Why is the prior photo rare? Well, the ski in the classic track (my right in this photo) becomes an almost frictionless device. Jack & Rudy are trained to go as fast as they can propel me unless I verbally ask them to slow down. So, a ski in the classic track turns me into an almost weightless resistance object and Jack & Rudy GO! You'll never see me with both skis in the classic track, that would be pure suicide. But, I occasionally put one ski for fun knowing that I can shift my weight to the other ski if we start going too fast!

Back to this morning's outing. We had a blast skijoring the recently groomed upper elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center. While we were not first tracks on the recent groom, very few others had been out before us. Along the way, we get some really nice views such as the following:

Zipping along with miles of snow capped Rocky Mountains ahead and
to our right. Wheeee!

The recent groom allowed Jack & Rudy to run hard & fast (their favorite activity). But, zooming all day means you need to take a break at one of the warming huts along the route. What do Jack & Rudy, the Siberian Huskies, do with a warming hut? Well, see for yourself:

"Rub a dub dub, need to roll around in the snow to cool our jets!" says the
silly kids. Yes, Jack & Rudy view the warming huts as cooling devices :)

Then, at one point the kids came to a halt. Why? Well a moose had crossed the trail and exited into the forest. You must stop for moose tracks! 

"Moose went this way. We should too!" suggests the silly moosers.
I, of course, vetoed this proposal :)
Notice the snow on Jack's head. He first dipped his head in the tracks
to sniff them and popped right up as to say, "These are FRESH, we should follow!"
Nice try, Jack: VETO!

Since the bummer human wouldn't let us wander into the forest to find the moose, we might as well floor it again :)

Catching air on a perfect nordic trail.

Now come along for the video counterpart to the prior photo. As you can see, we were really zooming around the trails this morning!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead and time for some well-earned end of run treats:

"That was FUN! We sure earned our rewards today!" says the happy,
happy kids.

A nordic zooming day: 9.8 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 12 days on the trails covering 95.8 miles with 8700 feet of elevation climbed.

Play

Our first breakout of "unauthorized play & wrestling" on the trail this 2024/2025 skijor season :)

"I double dog dare you to poke me back!" says frisky Rudy to Jack.
"I triple dog dare you to try and catch me!" responds sly Jack.

Ok, unauthorized play session aside, it was a glorious morning to skijor around the trail in Dry Gulch.

We started the day laying fresh tracks in the backcountry. Wheeee!

Laying fresh tracks in a light layer of new snow with my fun pals!

We then did a side tour "out & back" to visit some of the old mining buildings in one of the many ghost towns in Dry Gulch:

Second tracks to ourselves are we return through this ghost town.
Notice Jack & Rudy have no need for our "out tracks", they wanted to
lay fresh tracks every direction :)

Finally, we finished the day on a trail that will become part of Gold Run Nordic Center's groomed trails once they open for the season. They will be opening soon and they had taken one of the snowcat groomers out to survey the trail conditions this morning. While the snowcat tracks were fresh & soft, Jack & Rudy had no interest in them - it was more fun for them to run down the middle as they continued laying fresh tracks all morning long.

Snowcat tracks on each side of us as we glide along in the middle shallow powder.

What was the most fun of the outing? Hmm, how about laying fresh tracks in the backcountry to start the day. Come along for a video glimpse into this ton of fun :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Of course, all that work laying fresh tracks means you need to roll snow angels with some real gusto to cool off at turnaround time. Silly kids!

"Aahhh, rolling to cool our jets!" goes the comedians.
Nice view, too!

Back to the trailhead and it was the usual "smiles all around" as Jack & Rudy climbed a nice snow wall to receive end of run treats!

"We had a BLAST today!" says the happy, happy huskies!

What a beautiful morning: 8.4 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 11 days on the trails covering 86.0 miles with 7700 feet of elevation climbed.

Tuesday Freshies

Super happy kids coming back to me at our turnaround point on the trail this morning.

"Whee! We are having a blast!" says the happy Siberians!

It was a snow gorgeous, albeit cold for the human, morning to lay fresh tracks in French Gulch with light snowfall coming down around us all outing long:

Tuesday Freshies - wheeee!

We did an out & back in French Gulch, which means we got to reuse the tracks we set on the way out to go fast on the way back:

Jack & Rudy tucked in our out paw & ski tracks to go as fast as possible :)

This trail in French Gulch is actually a road under the snow. The road is closed to the public; but there are a handful of private cabins in the gulch. The owners have keys to unlock the gate at the trailhead so they can drive to their cabins. So, occasionally we will run into a 4WD vehicle going to or from the cabin. Today was such a day as we encountered a truck leaving a cabin partway through the outing. Not a problem, though, with such good snow. Jack & Rudy simply view tire tracks like a groomed trail and they go ZOOM :)

Rudy flooring it in one tire track while Jack is enjoying the side powder at first.
Notice my ski tracks to Rudy's left. I intentionally skied next to, but out of,
the tire track after we encountered the truck to pave a nice return path for
my pals (ski tracks for one, tire tracks for the other).

Now for today's video highlight to put it all together. We start the clip running tight in the tracks we set on the way out. Then, after two corners, we come up the driveway where the truck entered the trail. Jack & Rudy adjust to make use of the track to speed up. Powder Jack starts out running in the shoulder snow while Rudy is in the tire track. Finally, as the clip ends, Rudy finally moves left into the ski tracks so Jack can take the tire track and then we can really floor it :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead and nothing makes a Siberian Husky happier than having snow frozen all over your head and face :)

Look closely, both have snow frozen on their noses and forehead with
some fun snow beard icicles on their chins. Siberian bliss!

Great day laying fresh tracks in French Gulch although the wimpy human (ME) cut it a little short due to extreme cold temperatures: 5.7 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 10 days on the trails covering 77.6 miles with 7100 feet of elevation climbed.