Workout

Sometimes looks can be deceiving...

Looks beautiful, huh?

Well, the looks were deceiving this morning. Despite how wonderful the prior photo looks, almost mid-winter like, the snow was actually very heavy, wet and sticky this morning. While we had a great time laying fresh tracks in the backcountry, it was quite the workout to slog through the heavy snow and keep my skis going! Again, not a problem, just a real workout!

Despite being out on the trails early, it was really sticky snow in any sun exposed stretch of trail. 

The kids working hard to move my skis through wet & sticky sun
exposed snow. Looks at those puddle obstacles just ahead too! Eek!

Even with sticky snow, some things always remain the same:

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes snow rolling Jack at our turnaround point.
"Turnaround, woos abound!" sings wooing Rudy.

What else always remains the same? Well, you MUST stop to inspect any and all moose tracks you encounter out on the trails:

"Sniff, sniff, moose was HERE recently!" says the track inspecting kids.

It is always a shame when some of our trails start to melt and dry up. But, it is the end of April, so it is expected. This will probably be our last skijor on this network of trails for this season. Come along for today's end to the outing to see what I mean with lots of exposed ground to navigate through safely. Luckily, Jack & Rudy understand perfectly when to proceed cautiously and how to avoid obstacles! Great partners.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, despite all the melting, the creative kids were able to find the ONLY snow wall in the trailhead parking lot to climb for end of run treats!

"We prefer higher, but at least we found something to climb!" says the
fun & creative kids.

A real workout this morning through heavy & sticky snow; but still a lot of fun: 7.2 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a modest top speed of 17 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 140 days on the trails covering 1195.3 miles with 118,600 feet of elevation climbed.

Re-route

May 22nd and still going! Wheeee!

Cruising along on snow over a vast summer meadow.

Notice anything different in the prior photo? Look closely at what we are approaching. A little closer and we had to stop because of...

Water, water everywhere! Look at all that exposed water to our left, right
and forward! Yikes.
This was as close as I was willing to let us approach the water as I didn't
want to break through any surprises we might encounter closer.

Yes, the "final melt" is in full swing on the Walton Peak trails at Rabbit Ears Pass. In a good year, we typically skijor for another 1-3 miles past this point before turning around. But, it was a very warm late April and May. So, despite having great snowpack entering April, it is melting fast! Yuck! 

Well, since we could not continue forward as planned, time to turnaround and find more terrain to extend the outing. Did I say "turnaround"...

"Yes, you said 'turnaround', so we must first roll around!" says the silly kids
rolling their typical turnaround snow angels.

In order to extend the outing, I needed to find leftover groomer trails. When the snowpack has fallen this far, we cannot go off set trails as we do earlier in Spring on the Spring Crust. The off trail terrain is super choppy and bumpy. But, the set trails where a heavy groomer ran all winter long are less bumpy from months of heavy groomer packing. Luckily I know where the groomers run all winter. So, we backtracked from the water hazard above and took an out & back on a winter groomed side trail:

Ah, yes, nice condition on this leftover groomer route.
Notice the nice terrain is about the width of a groomer and look to our
right for an example of just how choppy & bumpy the off trail snow
has become. My knees cannot absorb going over that choppiness!

Did I say we did an "out & back" on a side trail? Yep, so that means we had another turnaround point. I bet you were expecting another snow angel photo or a wooing Rudy and rolling Jack, right? 

"Hey, we can simply 'turnaround' sometimes!" says the happy kids showing
they can 'stop & turnaround' instead of 'stop, drop, roll then turn' (sometimes :)

Finally, it was back to my favorite stretch of trail in this area this time of year. This is again a heavily used and frequently groomed stretch of trail. As above, notice the "smoother snow" is about the width of a groomer and outside of that is extremely choppy, bumpy and knee killing terrain.

Ah, so nice on the groomer leftovers :)

Now come along for the video counterpart to the prior photo. While we ran into a lot of sketchy conditions and exposed water this morning, this stretch was, as expected, perfect! Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead and the kids found a mini snow wall to climb for end of run treats. It's not as tall as they prefer, but it's better than making me come all the way down to their level :)

"We had a great time today!" declares the happy kids.

A great morning with a little bit of re-routing due to exposed water: 8.4 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 161 days on the trails covering 1414.4 miles with 128,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Wonderful

It was a wonderful morning for a 9+ mile skijor in mid-May atop Rabbit Ears Pass today!

Jack & Rudy catching air as we zip along in a somewhat recently
groomed sprint track.

The groomed track we found this morning was the same track we skijored on May 10. But, the track had been extended into a full groomed loop today (it was a one way trail on the 10th). If you are wondering where these "magical groom tracks" atop Rabbit Ears come from, well it's the US National Nordic Skiers. We see them every year up here and have stopped to talk to them a few times. I'm proud to say that these professional skiers are impressed with our skijor team and the pace Jack & Rudy run :)

Anyway, back to today. Once I saw they had extended the groomed trail into a loop, we did the full loop and then started for a second pass on the loop. As Jack & Rudy typically do, they switched sides to fully enjoy the same trail twice :)

Second pass with Jack on left, Rudy on right (notice they are switched in
the "first pass" photo above).

Notice that large pool of exposed water to our left. Yikes. Also, if you look closely you can see an exposed channel of water to the far left of the prior photo. Evil summer is showing signs of coming :(

Now come along for the video counterpart to the prior photo. Here we go zipping along the groomed track on our second pass.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We actually did the loop 1.5 times to start the day. After doing 1/2 the loop on the second pass, we exited the trail and went skijoring around the base of Walton Peak.

Zipping along the edge of Walton Peak. Wheeee!

After doing an "out & back" on Walton Peak, we returned to the groomed loop to finish our second pass around the loop. If you think the exposed water in the second photo is shocking, wait until you see what we had to cross to connect from Walton Peak back onto the groomed loop...

Yikes! Connecting the groomed loop to Walton Peak will not be possible
in another day or two!

Notice in all the photos above that there was pretty heavy cloud cover this morning. The clouds and a mild breeze helped keep Jack & Rudy from getting too hot (temperatures were just above freezing). But, the sun did break through the clouds for one short stint. Well, here's what Jack & Rudy thought of this event.

"Sun and above freezing -  never been so hot!!!" declares the goofballs
rolling snow angels to cool off :)

Back to the trailhead and the kids found a very nice & high snow wall to climb for end of run treats!

The snow climbers are taller than me to get end of run treats!

A really fun morning on the wonderful groom loop with an out/back to Walton Peak: 9.4 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 155 days on the trails covering 1365.6 miles with 124,500 feet of elevation climbed.