Flirts

"Hello from the historic Sallie Barber Mine!" says the happy sled dogs.

"HELLO!"

We did a "different than usual" skijor tour around Sallie Barber this morning. We started the day by climbing to the mine from the quiet, backside trail. As is usual with the silly kids, it was necessary to stop, drop and roll in the snow after the initial climb to the mine. We typically do the initial climb from the frontside. But, as you see, climbing from the front or the back yields the same snow rolling results:

"Ahhh, rub a dub dub, cooling our jets after the initial climb!" says the
snow rolling goofballs.

Then, for another different twist, we went out & back on the narrow Trail of Tears starting at the mine. This trail is barely 2 Siberians wide in the summer and gets even narrower with snowpack. Sometimes Jack & Rudy can still fit shoulder to shoulder in the winter; but often they have to switch to single file skijoring to fit on the narrow single track. They still jog and tow me at a nice pace in this configuration, just not nearly as fast as when both are able to pull side by side :)

Jack taking the lead to tow me on the narrow Trail of Tears while
Rudy takes a break jogging behind him (they do switch to take
turns doing the work in the lead).

Finally, it was time for us to complete the day on the popular frontside of the Sallie Barber Mine Trail. Jack & Rudy love flooring it on this trail and flirting with the crowds we often encounter.

"Hi! Coming through!" says the fun kids. Rudy always gives onlookers a
flirting glance when he is on the inside lane when we pass. Jack is typically
all business flying by whether he is on the inside of outside lane.

Did I mention Rudy loves to flirt when he is on the inside lane? A little more proof:

"Whee! Made you smile!" says silly Rudy giving another flirting glance
from the inside lane as we glide on by.
"Yes, made you smile; but 'focus forward', 'focus forward' - maintain speed!"
adds all business Jack.

We'll go back to the first "on by" photo above for today's video highlight. Come along as we weave through a couple of curves in the trail before flooring in on an open straightaway to eventually fly on by the oncoming snowshoer. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead and a much better snow wall to climb for treats than yesterday, yay!

"We love climbing snow walls to get treats!" says the happy & focused kids.

A quick, but very fun, outing at Sallie Barber this morning: 4.6 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 30 days on the trails covering 229.5 miles with 22,000 feet of elevation climbed.