Track Follow

Fun shot from the front as the happy kids tow me to the finish of this morning's skijor outing!

Smiles all around from the fun sled dogs (I'm sure I was smiling too,
you just can't tell :)

We started this morning's skijor on the Walton Peak Trail at Rabbit Ears Pass. My original plan was for us to skijor out & back on this wide, frequently used trail. But, a little ways into the outing and I got the vibe from Jack & Rudy that they wanted to go exploring. After a super fun day on new trails yesterday, the kids wanted another day of new explorations. The Walton Peak Trail did not offer this as we have skijored this trail a lot over the years. So, what to do? Well, we came upon a solo snowmobile track leaving the main trail and going off into the distance. I directed Jack & Rudy left onto this track and off we went!

We just turned off trail onto this solo snowmobile track.
Look at the ears & heads up as the kids were very excited to abandon set
trails and go exploring!

This snowmobile track went on for miles and miles, taking us places we've never been before. Jack & Rudy were in a real groove going exploring! Come along for today's video highlight showing us galloping along a "trail to who knows where" :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Eventually I had to turn us around as I had no idea where this snowmobile track was going to lead us. No problem for Jack & Rudy, they just swapped positions and we continued galloping back the way we came. Fun kids.

On the return. What a fun path less traveled.

Once we got back to the main trail, it was time to roll snow angels and cool off from physical and mental explorations :)

"That was fun, but we've got to 'stop, drop & roll' now!" declares the
snow rolling sillies.

Of course we had to use the main trail to get back to the trailhead as I had no idea where that snowmobiler was going. After miles of off trail exploration, the kids welcomed the main trail to zoom back to the trailhead.

"Thanks for the exploring dad, now we'll floor it back!" goes the fast
running fun kids.

Finally, you guessed it, the kids climbing a snow wall for end of run treats as has become their new game to end almost every outing. 

"Just making it easy for you to hand them out!" declares the polite pair
coming up to my level for end of run treats.

A very exploratory outing: 9.6 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 120 days on the trails covering 1064.4 miles with 97,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Sights

Nice shot of Breckenridge Ski Resort far across the valley from cool running Jack & Rudy :)

Impressive blue skies! Nice shot of the ski resort.
Cool running Jack & Rudy.

We spent this morning skijoring seldom used trails tucked away in the backcountry. Along the way, we had many sights to take in, such as views of the ski resort (from far away) as you see above.

Despite the gorgeous blue skies you see in the prior photo, we started the morning tucked away in the shade of the forest laying fresh tracks on lesser used trails:

Laying fresh tracks on this "unpublished" trail in the backcountry.

When you drift deep in the forests around Breckenridge, you often come across the ruins of old mining cabins. It's pretty amazing how many of the long abandoned structures still exist sprinkled throughout the forest.

"Has a roof. Has walls! We should move in!" declares cabin inspecting
Jack & Rudy.

Eventually we dropped out of the forest and into the awesome morning sun. I love this cool shot of Jack & Rudy following a solo snowmobile track we found taking across this vast open meadow:

Using the track to zoom, zoom zoom. Cool snow poofs coming off
Jack & Rudy's feet as we zip along.

Further along and another old mining cabin to investigate. There is a front door (straight in front of Rudy) and side door (follow Jack's line) to this cabin. Jack & Rudy thought it would be polite to plow a path to each doorway for others to use :)

"If we plow, others can visit too!" declares the hard working
powder plowing kids.

The best sight of the day? Well, finding our cool retired mentor Zorro at the trailhead to share 'end of run' treats!

"Glad you came back!" says focused Zorro.
"Cool day!" adds Jack.
"Chilling back here until the treats really come out!" says mellow Rudy.

A very peaceful morning on quiet, lesser used trails in the backcountry: 8.4 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 97 days on the trails covering 811.7 miles with 77,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Exploring

Fun day getting creative to be on "safe snow" atop Rabbit Ears Pass.

"Having a GREAT day!' exclaim my happy partners looking back at me for direction
at a trail junction.

It was a dry & warm Fri-Sun at Rabbit Ears and the main trails are still under heavy use by 4WD hunting vehicles in the area. These "main trails" were too deteriorated for safe skijoring, so my partners and I decided to explore as much "side terrain" as possible. It was a success!

We found a couple of less popular side trails that had been driven on only once or twice. This made for a fun "packed track"...

Gliding behind Max in a deep tire track as Zorro trots in his own track.

Another light use side trail, this time gliding behind Zorro as Max takes his own track.

We only found a couple of "seldom used" side trails; but found quite a few unused one - yay!

Laying fresh tracks as we set our own track along an unused side trail!

Eventually we ran out of side trails (seldom used or unused); but we were still having fun. So... invent our own trail through fields of snow - wheeee!

No trail, but certainly enough snow for me to glide on skis while Max & Zorro decide on
what would be a fun route.

A fun "make your own trails" stroll atop Rabbit Ears: 7.1 miles traveled with 650 feet of elevation climbed.

Good News: the forecast is for 4-10 inches overnight and into tomorrow. Just what we need to refresh our trails and get some serious mileage!

2016/2017 Season to Date: 13 days on the trails covering 87 miles with 8700 feet of elevation climbed.

Leap

Leaping (or floating) along the trails at Rabbit Ears Pass for this leap year day!

"Leap year floating...." demonstrates airborne Max.
"Leap year flying...." demonstrates out-stretched Zorro.

A great day touring up, down and around Rabbit Ears Pass. Instead of following the set trails at Rabbit Ears, we would pick a snowmobile track and follow it for miles before hopping into another snowmobile tracks for a few more miles, and then another track, etc. etc. As a result, we found some unique terrain at Rabbit Ears that we have not seen before. Fun!

"I've never rolled a snow angel here before!" declares silly Max.
"Silly! I am going to try and get this team moving again!" states Zorro.

We found this cute little abandoned cabin tucked away in the trees. Given the history of Rabbit Ears, this is more likely an abandoned "rancher's cabin" than a "miner's cabin." Zorro glanced inside while Max suggested this was a perfect vacation getaway!

"Not much inside - I'll check the perimeter!" says Zorro after peeking in the door.
"Now this is a 5-star, luxury vacation villa for a Siberian!" declares happy Max.

Role reversal at our quick midpoint break....

"Aahhh - rub a dub dub!" says snow angel rolling Zorro.
"Silly - *I* would never do that!" states funny Max.

Rolling snow angels and exploring abandoned cabins in between the primary action of the day - skijor sprinting. Wheeee!

"Feb 29th sure is a great day - we should have one every year!" declare the sprinting pair.

Fun day exploring non-standard parts of Rabbit Ears by following solo snowmobile tracks: 9 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2015/2016 Season to Date: 86 days on the trails covering 733.8 miles with 77650 feet of elevation climbed.