Smiles all around during a quick pause on the trail this morning!
"Having a GREAT time!" declares the happy trio.
We went to the trails at Swan Valley this morning and did our usual pattern on these trails. That is, we do a quick out & back on one of the side trails before coming back to the main trail for the real highlights of the outing.
Flying by a silly SLOW sign during our warmup lap :)
"Hey, we are PAST the sign, so it doesn't apply anymore, right?" says the speedy trio.
The highlight of these trails is, of course, running & flirting with the dog sled teams from Good Times Adventures on the main trails. Good Times' contract with the forest service allows them to run sled dog tours through March. So, you can view this year's February 29 as an extra day to run & play with the dog sled teams on the Swan Valley trails!!!
Here we are at a trail intersection as we pause to let an 8 dog team go perpendicular in front of us:
"Hi friends!" says my flirtatious trio.
If you look closely, you can see at least 3 of the team dogs giving flirting
glances back :)
Rudy cracks me up in the following photo. We are at a Y in the trail stopped on one branch of the Y while an oncoming team takes the other branch of the Y. Rudy started out next to Zorro watching the oncoming team. Then, as the team proceeded up the other side of the Y, Rudy backed up, lined himself with the team and tried to get us going parallel with them. It was as if Rudy was saying, "If I line us up with the team, maybe dad will let us go along with them!" Funny Rudy!
"Hi more friends!" says Zorro & Jack watching the team go up the other side of the Y.
You see the two wheel dogs and the dog sled in this photo.
"Lined up to go with you!" adds silly Rudy :)
Watching the teams pass by trail intersections is fun; but the most fun is running with them! Here we are following a team ahead of us on the trail. It helps that the musher is wearing a bright yellow coat. Look in front of the bright yellow to see the dark blobs of the sled dogs in front of the musher.
"Here we come!" says the sprinting trio.
Today's video highlight goes along with the prior photo. We start out FLYING along the fast trail knowing that a dog sled team is far ahead of us. Eventually we come to a bend in the trail and I see the team stopped around the bend so I bring us to a stop too. We always wait and see if the musher group in front is going to wave us "on by" or not (typically, they do and we get to execute perfect passes). But, today the group did not wave us on. So, I cut out the section of video with us paused until the team restarts again and we proceed to fly & follow them on the trail. Wheeee!
An extra day of "sled dog flirting" this leap year, so we made the most of it! 6 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.
2019/2020 Season to Date: 109 days on the trails covering 738.6 miles with 67,900 feet of elevation climbed.
An absolutely perfect "pass on by" from young Jack on his first skijor encountering dog sled teams on the trail! Flawless!
Note the dog sled and 8 dog team behind the people as Zorro & Jack execute a flawless "pass on by".
Today was young Jack's first skijor on the trail with dog sled teams from Good Times Adventures. Zorro (and of course Max for years) loves running these trails and encountering the dog teams. I knew Jack would love it too. He had been to these trails last winter as a puppy to drop off & pick up Zorro & I skijoring these trails, so he has seen the dog teams before. But today was his first time getting out on the trails with them. And, yes, he LOVED it!!!
Today's video is the counterpart to the perfect pass photo above. Come along as we are flying along the fast trail and come upon a stopped team. This was young Jack's first ever pass by a dog team. Watch as I shorten the gangline "just in case" but no need. Just a little verbal "go" encouragement from me and Zorro & Jack pass on by perfectly. Nice job young Jack and nice leadership veteran Zorro! Believe me, Zorro's first attempted "pass on by" did NOT go this smoothly :)
We are paused on a side trail to watch another 8 dog team go by the trail in front of us.
"Hi friends!" say Zorro & Jack.
They have so much fun getting behind a sled team and playing chase. With a little motivation to catch the team in front, Jack hit his top speed of his young life this morning: 23 MPH. Zorro, of course, has done 24 MPH solo and topped out at 27 MPH when teamed with Max. Keep growing & maturing Jack and we'll be up to 25-26 soon!
Draw a straight line from Zorro to the trees and you can just make out the musher and dogs
we are chasing on the trail. It sure felt like we were closer than this photo implies!
Our usual outing on these trails is to run 8ish miles first, going deep into the backcountry, before searching out and joining the dog teams on the closer in trails. With 8ish miles first, Jack needed to cool off :)
"He's fun but such a goof!" states happy Zorro.
"Cooling my jets! Rub a dub dub!" demonstrates silly Jack.
Jack's first run along with the dog teams from Good Times. A flawless day! Impressive: 9.9 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.
2018/2019 Season to Date: 30 days on the trails covering 161.5 miles with 14,400 feet of elevation climbed.
We went to the trails at Swan Valley to do two of our favorite skijor activities today: search for moose and run with dog sled teams.
Unfortunately, despite lots of searching we spent the majority of the day alone on the trails.
Oh well, we still had a ton of fun running over 10 miles for the day...
Outstretched Max & Zorro sprinting fast to the finish as we complete our 10.4 mile
run for the day.
We started the day on the Middle Fork Trail at Swan Valley. Moose are frequent sightings along this trail; but today came up empty. Max & Zorro's "moose radar" did go off twice as they clearly caught the scent of moose; yet we did not come across any fresh tracks or moose sightings. It was not from lack of searching, though....
Zooming along Middle Fork hoping to catch a glimpse of moose before they hunker
down in the trees for the day.
The "moose radar" was firing, so we continued further out Middle Fork than the established snowmobile trail for a little trail breaking while searching for moose:
"We smell them, where are they?!??!" ask my searching partners...
After failing to find moose on Middle Fork, we came back to the Parkville network of trails and did three loops in search of dog sled teams from Good Times Adventures to run with on the trails. Clearly it was a quiet day at Good Times as it was not until halfway through the third loop that we FINALLY found a team to run with!
"Finally - our buddies!!!!" say Max & Zorro as we finally encounter one of the teams from
Good Times on the trails. We let this team go by and then ran with them for about 1.5 miles
before we called it a day as we had been out for over 10 miles.
Love all the glances we are getting from our buddies as they cruise by.
A lot of searching (for moose and sled teams) with very limited success. Oh well, still a fun day had by all:
"Searching is almost as much fun as finding!" state my happy pair looking back as we paused
on the trail to try and hear sled teams to go find.
A day of searching covering 10.4 miles with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.
2014/2015 Season to Date: 83 days on the trails covering 719.8 miles with 76,400 feet of elevation climbed.
Today was the real deal - Max & Zorro running wheel in an 8-dog sled team!
Beginning a lean into a hard right. Max, Zorro & their 6 new buddies all airborne sprinting
machines! It is just me on the sled at this point (i.e., the sled basket is empty), so not much
weight to slow down 8 sled dogs! We hit 20 MPH somewhere on the trail and it may well
have been into this hard right :-)
Our friend Wes from Good Times Adventures invited Max & Zorro to come run in a full hookup with their sled dogs. Now, Max & Zorro have run in a 2 and 3 dog sled hookups before and, of course, they have skijored over 2000 miles in their lives; but today was the first time in a full dog sled hookup. As you can see from the photo above and the images & videos below - they were quite prepared to drop into a full sled team and GO! Woohoo, did we have a blast on the trails!
Wes decided to start them together in the wheel position (just in front of the sled) and we would adjust, if needed, as we hit the trails. Well, no adjustments necessary - Max, Zorro and their 6 new sleddog friends took off and enjoyed a great run through the trails. Highlights below:
About to start. I am in the sled basket and Wes is driving the sled. Notice cute Max & Zorro
glancing back at me as I called out one last bit of encouragement before Wes released
the snow hook.
And we are off! Max & Zorro (and their 6 new buds) sprinting out of the gates. Clearly Max & Zorro "get it" - just like pulling the human on skis :) [watch on youtube if no video loads below]
It is now me driving the sled, Nancy sitting in the basket and Max & Zorro still sprinting along in wheel. Watch for the fun dip near the end of the video - whee! [watch on youtube if no video loads below]
Nancy got this shot from the front when I was
driving the sled solo. Nothing like 8 happy
sled dogs hauling you along the trails!
Back to Nancy riding in the sled basket with me driving and Max, Zorro and their 6 buds weaving us through the trees. [watch on youtube if no video loads below]
My first comment to Nancy once we finished was, "I could get addicted to that!"
My first comment to Wes after we unhooked the dogs was, "I could get used to 8 sled dogs!"
Max & Zorro were all smiles at the finish - I think they could get used to this too...
