Helpful

Laying fresh tracks in a light layer of new snow on the popular Sallie Barber Mine Trail. What a treat!

There was not a lot of new snow (you can see the footprints behind Rudy to
judge that); but any time you can lay fresh tracks on the popular Sallie
Barber Mine Trail, it is a real treat!!!

Our outing took us up the frontside of the mine, then down & back up the backside and then back down the frontside. As I showed above, we were first in the fresh snow on the frontside; well we were first in the snow on the backside too. Sweet!

Zipping along laying fresh tracks down the backside of the mine trail.

Doing this route, means we pass by the historic 1800s mine twice. The kids always pause on the first pass. Usually they both roll snow angels to reward themselves for the climb. Well, Rudy had an unusually quiet day (for him) on yesterday's outing; so I was pretty sure he was going to break form today. Yep!

"Rub a dub dub!" goes always snow rolling Jack at the historic mine.
"Wooooooo! Did you miss this yesterday?" sings Rudy who could not
possibly have two quiet days in a row :)

Then there is the second pass by the mine after going down and back up the backside. Despite this pass coming after a steep climb as well, the kids almost always forego snow angels on the second pass to sprint on by. Hey, at least they are consistent :)

No need to stop on the second pass by the mine!

We had a lot of new snow yesterday and a little more overnight. Humans tend to follow one another single file on this popular trail, so the "set track" is pretty narrow after fresh snow until someone (such as myself) decides to ski out of track and widen the set track. That was the case this morning. I noticed the set track on the initial climb was going to be too narrow for Jack & Rudy to fit in together on the return (they can fit during a climb just fine, but not at high speeds going down). So, I skied out of track all the way up to give my pals a wider trail for the way down.

Did it work? Yep! Come along and watch as Rudy is running in the set track while Jack is running in my "up track" I set for him to use on the way down. Oh yeah, talkative Rudy is there in today's video too (at about 19 seconds into the clip). Watch how Jack in my track is, for the most part, able to keep pace with Rudy in the set track. I love when I'm helpful :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We were having a great time this morning and way ahead of schedule. So, as we completed the final descent from the mine, I turned us onto the French Gulch Trail (these trails share the same trailhead parking lot). Yesterday we had a nice & rare treat skijoring all of French Gulch. I knew it would have deteriorated since then as it gets driven by cars; but we tried it anyway. Success! We skijored out the first mile or so of French Gulch and then turned around to glide back before concluding the day.

Still skiable! Yay! But it's really one warm day away from being
un-skiable again. Oh well, we made the most of it!

Fun outing, right guys?

"Yes!!!!!" states the happy & focused kids awaiting end of run treats.
Speaking of treats, I helped today - I deserve a treat too!!! I'll have
to fix that later :)

Some rare fresh tracks on Sallie Barber with a little French Gulch add on: 8.4 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 68 days on the trails covering 526.0 miles with 50,000 feet of elevation climbed.