Bird

Cresting on the trail at the historic Sallie Barber Mine this morning.

Zipping on by the mine. Wheeee!

We had a blast skijoring up the frontside of the mine trail, then down & back up the backside of the mine before finishing down the frontside. The backside is usually pretty quiet and Jack & Rudy love to floor it along this stretch of trail:

Zooming along the quieter backside of Sallie Barber.

For today's extra entertainment, check out the following photo. Look straight up from Jack's right ear and that black blob against the snow is a bird crossing the trail ahead of us. This bird was either very brave or very suicidal. If it had crossed any closer to Jack & Rudy it would have become bird food! Notice the ears up and full attention Jack & Rudy are giving this potential bird food :)

"Bird food dead ahead! It's flying at 'mouth level'!!!" declares the
focused hunters.

Now come along for the video of the bird crossing. We start the clip cresting on the trail at historic Sallie Barber Mine and then continuing along. But, watch very closely at about 18 seconds into this clip. You'll see a bird fly low across the trail in front of us. Notice how aerodynamic Rudy's ears are tucked against his head to start the clip, but his ears come up at about 17 seconds (this would be when he first detected the bird) and remain up until we get by where the bird crossed (that is Rudy hunting). But, once past the bird crossing, he tucks his ears back in for fast aerodynamics. Funny kid!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The frontside of Sallie Barber Mine is a very popular trail, so we often get the chance to flirt with and fly on by oncoming skiers. Love to put smiles on everyone's faces :)

"Hi! Bye! Made you smile!" says cruising on by Jack & Rudy.

Another great skijor outing, another end of run treat powwow at the trailhead :)

"Do we get that bird for treats today?" asks curious Rudy.
"Yea, how about bird food for end of run treats today?" suggests Jack.

Sallie Barber is one of our shorter outings by Jack & Rudy's standards, but still a ton of fun to skijor now & then: 7.4 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 98 days on the trails covering 862.0 miles with 79,200 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Bird Distraction

Look at those 3 distracted sled dogs glancing to the left (without breaking stride :)

Distracted but not slowing down!

What could cause such a distraction without causing a break in the skijoring? Certainly not a moose as that would be a distraction that interrupted skijoring. So, what is distracting enough to look but not stop? Well, a large bird...

Cruising along as you see a large bird atop the tall tree to our left.

Despite being on the top of the tree, the bird got scared of the 3 sled dogs coming along fast below. As we neared the tree, the bird took off...

Guess 3 oncoming sled dogs is scary from 20+ feet above :)

Put the last three photos together and you get today's fun slow motion video clip. Come along as we are cruising along the trail when the bird gets scared and takes off out of the tree and then dips down (this is what got everyone's attention in the first photo) before taking flight to the left. All three of my partners watch with interest but never really break stride. Once the bird is gone, back to front-focused skijoring.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Our outing today took on on the Blue River Recreation Path from Breckenridge to Frisco. As you see in the photos above, we started the day with Zorro and ran partway to Frisco.

The complete trip to Frisco is too much for 11.5 year old Zorro, so we dropped him with Nancy partway and I continued on with Jack & Rudy. Along one stretch of the rec path, we are skijoring close to Highway 9 between Breckenridge and Frisco. We always get honks and cheers out of open windows as the oncoming cars see us flying along the trail:

Putting on a show for the oncoming cars on Highway 9 :)

The rec path also crosses side roads a few times. We have to stop, take the skis off and cross the road before restarting. Well, Jack & Rudy continue to provide entertainment for the oncoming cars at the crossings too!

This truck stopped to watch the snow rolling goofs and then snapped some photos
with their smartphone. Constant entertainment from the kids.

Once we got to the outskirts of Frisco, we added Zorro back in and completed the days run from the outskirts of Frisco to the Frisco Nordic Center. Wheeee!

Zorro back in the group as we fly to the finish in Frisco.

What a fun day. Start with Zorro, entertain the tourists with Jack & Rudy in between and then end in all smiles with Zorro added back in again: 8.6 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 58 days on the trails covering 397.8 miles with 38,100 feet of elevation climbed.