Cold

Cruising the Sallie Barber Mine Trail behind fun Jack & Rudy!

Whee we go!

One thing to notice in the prior photo: both Jack & Rudy are very ALERT in their body language and head & ear positioning. I know this "alert posture" from years of skijoring with these two. Both clearly caught the "scent of moose" wafting through the air. After noticing this posture from them, I was on high alert. But, alas, we never spotted the stinky moose who was clearly within "nose range" but not eyesight!

Today's outing was, well, FRIGID! It was -11 (F) when we started and -9 (F) when we ended. Along the way, we climbed up the Sallie Barber Mine Trail which means it only got colder along the way! With such cold temperatures, I was planning on a short run today. 

Typically when we skijor around Sallie Barber Mine, we will make 2 to 4 passes by the mine. Jack & Rudy like to execute all sorts of antics when passing by the mine, but usually they reserve one comical skit for each pass by. Well, today they clearly got the "mental memo" from me that we were only making one pass by the mine. So, it was a double comedy from the goofs today :)

First act: we paused to roll snow angels (Jack) and sing woos of pleasure (Rudy)
as we approached the mine.

Second act: flying by the mine (this is moments after Jack finished rolling
and Rudy finished singing in the prior photo).

So, the smart & talented kids knew to get in all their antics on the one pass by the historic mine.

We then completed the day laying fresh tracks down the popular side of the Sallie Barber Mine Trail. But, with such frigid temperatures, we had the fresh snow and whole length of the popular side of this trail to ourselves this morning. Fun!

You need temperatures around 10 below Zero to be first tracks on
the popular stretch of this trail! No complaints from Jack & Rudy and
I just tucked all my extremeties into warm equipment.

So, here we go for today's video highlight: laying fresh tracks in a light layer of new snow on a frigid morning that clearly scared everybody else inside!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, back to the trailhead and we found a mini snow wall to climb to get end of run treats at my waist level:

"Ready!" says focused Jack!
"Where is everybody, it's wonderful out?" asks nosy Rudy who loves
to flirt with crowds at this usually busy trailhead (that was empty today).

A quick, due to frigid temperatures, outing today; but any outing is better than none at all: 3.6 miles traveled with 300 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 37 days on the trails covering 271.2 miles with 25,300 feet of elevation climbed.