Moose

NOT what you want to see in the middle of the trail after rounding a corner at 20+ MPH!

 MOOSE! Yes, it's hard to see in this shot, but I wanted to show how hard I'm
driving left ski and right pole into the trail to try and come to a stop. The light
brown you see ahead in the middle of the trail are the bottom of the moose's
legs (better photos below once I got stopped :)

This was moments before the moose encounter. We alway take this corner at the nordic center fast, little did I know what we'd find around the corner!

Innocently zooming as usual, so I thought.

Okay, now I've got Jack & Rudy stopped. Here's the moose...

Dead ahead of Jack. 

Such deceivingly camouflaged creatures... Here's as zoomed as I can get in the prior photo without it getting too blurry:

MOOSE!

This was a juvenile moose. I started backing Jack & Rudy up and it started to come our way! So, I stopped for what seemed like forever and the moose stopped too. Rudy was, of course, screaming at the moose; but it just stood there. I tried to backup a second time and it came forward again! So, we just stood there for a while (okay, I stood, Rudy screamed and Jack kept trying to lunge forward). I've seen juvenile moose alone before when the mother is trying to wean them off being dependent. In the past, the mother had always been nearby, just trying to let the kid mature on its own. But, after Rudy screams, the mother usually shows up quickly - not today, though! I was starting to worry this was an orphan moose and was worried that it kept coming forward whenever I tried to back up. Well, FINALLY the mother showed up! I guess she decided the kid needed some advice on how to deal with Rudy screams (don't we all need advice on Rudy ;) The mother and kid started to go the other direction, yay! Once they got out of sight, I proceeded forward cautiously with Jack & Rudy until just around the bend in the trail and they were stopped again. This time Rudy screamed and the mother took a step forward. That was ENOUGH, I collected Jack & Rudy and retreated the other direction!

Hard to see the mom & kid; but this was as close as I was going to get!

A little context on the section of trail. We were at Gold Run Nordic Center and you can consider the nordic center as consisting of two independent networks of trails connected by a single trail. Just behind us was the upper network which would have given us lots of trail options to get around the moose. Just behind the moose was the lower network which could again have given us lots of trail options to get around the moose. But, we were in the single connector with no options but to use this trail. Anyway, we retreated for about 20 minutes before attempting to come back through this "only option" stretch of trail...

So, come along for today's video with some "cautious skijoring" from me as I scan the trail for moose. At about 20 seconds into the clip, you'll see all my "ski marks" from when I had to stop and reverse Jack & Rudy when the encounter happened. About 32 seconds in and all you see are moose tracks on the trail (we had turned around before here) - notice Jack & Rudy inspecting the tracks as as we go. About 44 seconds in and the tracks disappear - yay, the moose left the trail! Then around a corner and there's another skier coming up trail so we know the moose are clear and off we go.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Safely back to the trailhead and let's climb snow walls for end of run treats :)

"That was fun, but why did we retreat?" asks the happy kids.

We had a great 10ish mile skijor on groomed trails then an interesting 2 mile addition while we waited for the moose to leave: 12 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 122 days on the trails covering 1084.8 miles with 98,700 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Woo

Rudy was in "woo mode" on the trails this morning...

Turnaround point of the outing. Jack doing his usual snow angel roll
at turnaround. Rudy, well, "WOOO! CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?"
belts wooing Rudy. Turnaround, woo around from him today :)

We had a super fun day skijoring in soft & wide snowmobile trails around Walton Peak. Jack & Rudy were having a blast kicking up powder puffs in their wake!

Nice powder puffs behind Jack. Zoom!

Even I was generating powder puffs in the soft snow :)

Powder puffs behind Jack.
Powder puffs behind Rudy.
Powder puffs on my left ski! Wheeee!

Put it all together and you get this fun video clip of Jack & Rudy having fun and hauling butt in the soft and poofy conditions. Come along and watch for yourself:

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

I stopped a second time to adjust my headgear. Well, since we already had turnaround angels from Jack and woos from Rudy, this pause was deemed to be a wrestle event by the silly kids.

"Ahem, can we get restarted yet?" I'm asking. Notice my shadow, I am
done adjusting equipment and waiting for my partners to stop wrestling :)

Finally, a great shot of the happy kids running on by Nancy as we complete the day's outing!

Whee!

A little wooing, a few snow angels, a wrestle break and then tons of fast & fun skijoring: 12.2 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 36 days on the trails covering 297.8 miles with 25,700 feet of elevation climbed. 

Endless

Fun shot of Jack & Rudy towing me to the finish as our retired mentor Zorro looks on approvingly :)

"Looking good kids!" says approving Zorro.

Today was "endless skijoring" atop Rabbit Ears Pass. Once we get into March, we start checking the snowpack at all our "go to" trails, hoping most are showing signs of maintaining snow well into May and hopefully June.

Well, Rabbit Ears Pass currently looks incredible and ready for run well into May - Yay!

Endless snow as far as the eye can see as Jack & Rudy are kicking
up snow poofs behind them as the fly along a snowmobile trail.

Jack & Rudy were in a real groove to go, go, go! How's this for proof of that?!?!

The hover huskies catching air along the zippy fast trail. Wheeee!

Come along for a cool video highlight from the morning. Suprisingly (to me), the GPS clocked our top speed at 22 MPH. It sure felt faster to me :) Guess that's what you get when hanging on for life behind the fast kids!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

March also signals the transition into warmer days. Jack & Rudy will roll snow angels to cool off at 10 below, so you know what they will do at 20-30 above!!!!

Cooling the jets! Ahhh!

That's all for today as we conclude with as usual sharing 'end of run' treats with retired mentor Zorro:

All smiles, all ready for treats!!!

Wonderful endless morning atop Rabbit Ears Pass: 12.1 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 99 days on the trails covering 829.0 miles with 78,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Keystone Again

Another fun, fun day skijoring Keystone Gulch Road, right guys?

"Yes!!!!!" agrees the happy, happy kids.

We skijored Keystone Gulch Road recently and, in that post, I was describing how rare it is for us to be over in Keystone to skijor. Well, here we are two weeks later and on Keystone Gulch again! It just happened that we had to be on the other side of the county for a second time this month. Well, when chores dictate, we'll use Keystone Gulch Road whenever we have to be that way. I cannot imagine another outing on Keystone Gulch this season; but I also never imagined two such outings in the same season! Come along for the photo & video highlights.

The lower portion of Keystone Gulch Road doubles as a service road for Keystone Ski Resort. As a result, you get a nice wide trail with plenty of snowmobile tracks to soften the terrain for fast going. When Jack & Rudy really get going, they become so aerodynamic. Check out the aerodynamics with their ears in this cool shot:

All four ears tucked in tightly to avoid any drag! Smart & fast guys!

Eventually this path transitions from a "snowmobile used service road" to an actual ski run on Keystone Ski Resort to connect the base of two lifts. This section of the trail is groomed daily for ski resort operations. Well, Jack & Rudy know what to do with a groomed zoom track:

Zooming along the fast & wide sprint track.

Come along for the video counterpart to the prior photo. Here we go, go, go! Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Despite fast going in the prior video clip, you'll notice Jack's ears are not as aerodynamic tucked in as the prior photo. Rudy, on the other hand, is the aerodynamic speed master and has his ears tucked in tightly for most of the video. What was keeping Jack from tucking his ears? Well, sometimes you want to listen in on the activities going on around you. In this case, we were skijoring in between the base of two lifts and Jack seemed to have his ears up to listen to the nearby people and lift operations. Nosey kid :) But, he was right to be nosey:

"Hey, a ski lift! Look at those silly people riding up. Why not ride up
behind a sled dog instead?" asks curious & nosey Jack & Rudy.

Yet another fun, fun day to go report to retired mentor Zorro. I have 'end of run' treats in my hand, everybody ready?

"Check! Me first!" says cute, focused Zorro.
"I see them, I seem them!" adds locked in Jack.
"Where, where? I'm over here!" declares Rudy.

A beautiful day for a nice long skijor out & back on Keystone Gulch Road: 11.9 miles traveled with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 75 days on the trails covering 612.8 miles with 58,050 feet of elevation climbed.

Half and Half

Taking a quick break to roll snow angels after carving our own track through the backcountry snow!

We just turned around to start back and Jack & Rudy need to "stop, drop and roll"
first to cool off before restarting. Fun shot of the ski & foot prints we just
carved in the fresh snow before turning around.

It was a great "half and half" day skijoring from Rabbit Ears Pass towards Buffalo Pass and then returning the same route.

The beginning and ending of the outing found us flying along miles of snowmobile tracks. Zoom!

Jack &  Rudy flying along in the snowmobile tracks.

But, to our surprise, we out-skied all existing snowmobile tracks and found ourselves, as you saw in the first photo, setting our own path in miles of untouched snow. What a treat!

Wow, look at the untouched powder cache we found to explore!!! Fun!

Today's video highlight is a glimpse into our fun carving our own tracks in miles of untouched snow. What an aerobic workout!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The only thing that can top "fresh snow"? Well, how about fresh moose tracks! As we were returning, we encountered some moose tracks on the trail that were NOT on the trail on our initial pass by this section of trail. So, somewhere in the 30-ish minutes between our out & back on this section of trail, a moose had entered the trail, walked for a bit and then exited the trail. 

"These are VERY fresh moose prints!" declares smart Jack & Rudy!

Back to the trailhead to enjoy 'end of run' treats with Zorro at the official Rabbit Ears Pass Marker. Typically, you cannot drive to this marker by late Nov until sometime in June. But, with our light snowpack in November,  we were able to drive Zorro to the marker and start/stop here and enjoy our treats at one of Zorro's favorite "points of interest".

"Ah, the rabbit marker! How about some treats?" suggests Zorro.
"Glad old man Z is with us at the fun marker!" adds Jack & Rudy who
each had many training/learning-to-skijor outings with Zorro which
involved pausing at or passing by this fun marker.

A very entertaining outing this morning: fast times on snowmobile tracks, aerobic times laying fresh tracks out/back in the backcountry and then fast times again returning on the snowmobile tracks: 12.3 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 14 days on the trails covering 103.8 miles with 9800 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Wow

Look what we found early this May 26th - a GROOMED TRACK near Walton Peak atop Rabbit Ears Pass! Wow!

Yes - that is a freshly groomed trail on May 26th! Wow!!!!

How did this groomed surprise happen? Well, the snowmobile trails on Rabbit Ears are groomed by the local snowmobile club, Routt Powder Riders, of which we are members. Now, technically the snowmobile season is over so the official trail grooming has ended. But, the actual snowcat groomer is still parked atop the pass as more snow has to melt before they can load the groomer onto a flatbed to be transported to its summer home. Well, it is healthy for a groomer to be run now and then. So, as a result, the groomer is taken out unannounced occasionally until the flatbed arrives. As I said, the grooming is not announced at this time of year as you do not want to draw crowds of 100s or 1000s onto the pass with little & fragile amount of snow left (plus this would violate COVID-19 protocols this year). So, if you are lucky, you happen upon the pass on a day when they took the groomer out for some exercise. As you see in the photo above, today was one such magical day when we happened upon the trails after the groomer had been out! Wow - what a treat!!!

What did this magic groom enable? Well, young Jack & Rudy ran the longest skijor of their careers this morning: 11.7 miles. If you told me Jack & Rudy's longest run of the year would come on May 26th, I would have snorted and asked what you'd been smoking :)  But, today it happened. Amazing!

Did we really have 11.7 miles of groomed terrain? Well, no, the groomer had been out for a few miles, but not 12. But, what happened when the groomed track ended? Well, we found a solo snowmobile track to continue following for miles and miles and miles. This was also a product of Routt Powder Riders as they had been out on the pass yesterday collecting trailmarkers as the official end of snowmobiling at Rabbit Ears this season. So, this solo snowmobile had gone on for miles yesterday collecting markers and giving us a wonderful packed track to follow as well!

Not as nice as the perfect & wide groomie zoomie above, but still a comfortable
and welcome snowmobile track to follow for miles and miles!

How much more entertaining could the morning have become? Well, how about some fresh smelling bear tracks to inspect?

Jack & Rudy's noses in bear tracks as you see another huge bear footprint to
the left of Rudy's left foot. Big!

Not to fear, though, we were in a vast meadow when we encountered the bear tracks. So, I could see all around us and verify there was no bear in sight. But, still fun for the kids to sniff.

Anyway, back to the groomie zoomie. If you are part of the "grooming team", then of course you know when the groomer has been taken out for some exercise. There was a group of about 6 who were "in the know" and enjoying the groomed track they had built this morning. We encountered them, one by one, as we cruised around the perfect terrain:

Passing by and entertaining one of the recipients of this morning's
perfect trail!

Finally, we came upon 4 of the skiers meeting to run the trail together. Jack & Rudy had a blast following this group for a few miles. We would give them a big headstart and then run and catch them from behind. Once we got close, we'd pause, give another headstart and repeat the fun follow and chase :)

There's four of our kindred spirits out this morning.
"Here we come!" demonstrate fast following Jack & Rudy.

Today's video highlight is one of our fun "follow & chase" moments. Come along as we have given the group ahead of us a headstart and are running fast to close the gap on them in front of us. These guys were VERY talented skate skiers. The video demonstrates just how (more) impressive Jack & Rudy are at running the groomed terrain!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Almost done with the incredible May 26th outing for Jack & Rudy and time add elder Zorro on to the team for a short finish to enjoy the groomie zoomie. Here we come, wheeee!

All smiles as we fly by Nancy with super happy Zorro leading the way!

"Hi mom, bye mom!" as we fly on by and continue the fast & final lap of the morning:

Flying on by we go. Zoom!

What an incredible May 26th. Finding the perfect "exercise the groomer" track atop Rabbit Ears, finding perfect snowmobile track to continue far past the groomed track, sniffing a delicious set of bear tracks and putting smiles on our faces to end the day on the perfect track with Zorro: 11.7 miles traveled with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH!!!!

2019/2020 Season to Date: 174 days on the trails covering 1193.2 miles with 109,900 feet of elevation climbed.

Look at that - 1193.2 miles for the season. I did not think we had a chance of hitting 1200 given the recent warm temperatures. But, here we are at 1193.2 with a real chance of surpassing 1200 tomorrow. Stay Tuned!!!!

Finale

Our final run of the 2016/2017 Skijor Season this morning.

A great 12 mile run on Buffalo Pass bringing us to 1433.5 total miles for the season!

1433.5 miles traveled with 152,200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 26 MPH.
"Every single mile was a BLAST!" declare my super happy partners at our turnaround
point of the morning.

With it being June 13th, you are probably wondering what kinds of snow conditions we found. Well, see for yourself below.

Nice at the upper elevations near the top of Buffalo Pass:

Whee we go along slightly choppy but "great for June" trails near the top of the pass.

The top of Buffalo Pass will blow you away. It was "snow as far as the eye can see" once you crested onto the open meadows at the top. As you can see, it was a bit choppy due to being on melting snowpack over uneven meadows. Choppiness just means you slow to a trot instead of a sprint; but we'll take any "toes on snow" in June!

3+ feet of beautiful, albeit choppy, snowpack to enjoy atop Buffalo Pass.

After those last two photos, you are probably wondering why this is our last run of the season. Well, the lower elevation approaches are narrow or down to dirt/mud for long sections:

Still enough snow for skis & toes; but barely. Another day or two and this patch will be all dirt/mud.

We had to hike 1 mile in (and out) to get to skiable snow and then had to take the skis off 6 times (3 up/3 down) to walk over a few extended patches of no snow. Not too bad for June 13th, though, and today's short video highlight shows you it was worth it as are on a great stretch of "all snow" and only slightly choppy conditions. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We had an additional bonus for our last run of the season: it got below freezing last night! This meant two things: (1) the terrain was frozen and fast packed all morning (instead of increasingly soft slush you typically get in June); and (2) perfect temperatures for Max & Zorro to stay cool and go as long as the human could hold up. The result? We skijored 12.2 miles for our last outing and reached Summit Lake atop Buffalo Pass!

The choppy snow we are on is the beach of Summit Lake. The smooth snow behind Max & Zorro
is the "still frozen" Summit Lake.

We were quite surprised to find Summit Lake still 100% ice covered this late in June.

A great outing for a season finale: 12.2. miles traveled with 1500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

Final 2016/2017 Season Stats: 172 days on the trails covering 1433.5 miles with 152,200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 26 MPH.

On to the summer doldrums... We hope to be back running on snow in late September or October at the latest.

Pray for Snow!!!

Flirt and Run

Doing our favorite things on the trails as Swan Valley this morning: flirting with the dog sled teams from Good Times Adventures and playing chase with the teams too! Wheeee!

Here we go... Paused on a side trail as a team comes up the main trail:

"Hi friends! We'll be following you soon!" says Max & Zorro to their 8 friends on the sled team.
We let this team pass and get a head start and then we played chase behind them on the trails.

Encountering a team paused on the trail as we continue to cruise on by:

"Hi my friends!" says fun Max who always backs off the gangline a bit to flirt during an on-by.
"Look at me - flying by you!" says silly Zorro who likes to floor it by stopped teams.

Coming to an intersection of trails and pausing to let the team go by:

"Hey buds! We'll yield the 'right of way'!" say Max & Zorro to the team coming by.

Finally, our favorite thing to do with the dog sled teams: play chase. This short video clip starts with us gliding along a slight upslope in the trail when a team connects to the trail (from the right) in front of us. This puts Max & Zorro into "another gear" as they floor it to tow me as we play "dog sled chase". Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

A beautiful morning to run and run and run on the trails at Swan Valley: 11.8 miles traveled with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2016/2017 Season to Date: 75 days on the trails covering 605.6 miles with 64,900 feet of elevation climbed.

Short then Long

Two days of running the trails at Rabbit Ears Pass - wheeee!

Zipping along the snowmobile trails at Rabbit Ears Pass.

We only had time for a short run on Tuesday; but then made up for it with new terrain & a long run on Wednesday!

Day 1: Fresh Tracks & Short Run:

We arrived at the trailhead late Tuesday morning to find 2-4 inches of untouched snow on the trail in front of us! What a treat to be able to lay fresh tracks for our entire short run on Tuesday...

Laying fresh tracks as we weave through the trees for the entire outing.

I was convinced I was going to have some great "kicking up powder" video from the day but instead was disappointed to discover that the GoPro had a large water spot covering the center of the camera case for almost the entire day's footage. So, I only got the fresh tracks shot above from the beginning of the outing and then the following "sprint to the finish" shot to end the day:

Sprinting back to the trailhead to end a short run for the day.

Stats for day 1: a quick 5.3 miles with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

Day 2: New Terrain & Long Run

We made up for Tuesday's short run with a great 11.6 mile run on Wednesday. We did the "5B Loop" at Rabbit Ears with a couple of "side excursions" to add a little extra distance to the day.

We had done 4 to 5 miles of each side of the loop in the past (as 8-10 mile out&back runs); but had never skijored the connector between the sides to make the complete loop. Well, today was the day to explore the new terrain between the sides and finally connect the loop...

"Interesting sounds & smells of wildlife along this new section!" say the 'hunt & jog' Siberians.
I love how they can take in the surroundings without breaking stride!

Zoom, zoom - love running 10+ mile loops!

Stats for day 2: 11.6 miles with 1000 feet of elevation climbed at a top speed of 20 MPH.

Tally for our short & long runs on Tue/Wed: 16.9 miles with 1700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2014/2015 Season to Date: 65 days on the trails covering 553.5 miles with 59,800 feet of elevation climbed.

Sled Dogs Galore

It was a day of "sled dogs galore" as we were running the trails with our local group of dog sled teams and multiple teams from Good Times Adventures.

An 8-dog team from Good Times getting started up the trail while Max & Zorro launch
into "follow the leader" as we join this team along the trail.

We met up with our sled dog friends from Sno-Magic Siberians and Snow Runner Siberians making for about 20+ friends at the trailhead. During the outing, I counted 6 different "8 dog teams" from Good Times Adventures on the trails with us. So, Max & Zorro plus 20+ friends plus 48 buddies from Good Times and we had over 70 happy sled dogs running the trails together today! What a party!

We were first to arrive at the trailhead and, since it is much faster to hookup 2 dogs to skijor than an entire sled, Max, Zorro & I took a quick run out & back on the Middle Fork Trail. Nothing like a nice warmup sprint before starting the real running ;-)

Zoom we go racing along the Middle Fork Trail for our warmup lap.

Today's video highlight comes from a fun sequence playing chase with one of the teams from Good Times. We saw the team on the trail and then gave them a head start before flying along the trail after them. Watch closely at the end of the video as we come around a corner and find bodies spread across the trail (the Good Times team dumped the musher and passenger off the sled). Don't worry, the dog sled team is stopped ahead of the dumped bodies; it was just shocking at first to encounter the bodies before the sled!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finished with our warmup lap and back at the trailhead waiting for our friends to get hooked up and hit the trail again with us!

"Hi guys!!! Come join the fun!" suggest happy Max & Zorro.

Pausing on a side trail to watch one of the Good Times teams come up the main trail:

"Hi! Can I join?!?" asks Zorro.
"Na, let's go forward on our own." suggests focused Max.

A fun day had by all:

"Yep - fun had by all!" say the happy pair at one of our turnaround points of the day.

Tons of fun running the trail with 70+ sled dogs: 12.3 miles with 1150 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2014/2015 Season to Date: 60 days on the trails covering 509.1 miles with 54,300 feet of elevation climbed.