Fast Packed

The fun kids catching air along a stretch of trail before the morning sun has fully risen:

The photo is a bit dark as we are shaded from the morning sun by a large
mountain behind us; but the kids are "catching air in the dim light" :)

Our outing this morning took us to the wide trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. I was hoping they might have been groomed yesterday or today; but no such luck. As a result, the trails were pretty hard and fast packed! That's not really an issue (except to my sore knees :) but it does cause Jack & Rudy to drift a bit further apart than they will run on less slick trails;

Jack the cannonball and Rudy the missile taking full advantage of
the wide but very hard & fast packed trail.

As they hear my skis scraping and grinding behind them on such hard terrain, they tend to separate like this as you need to give the human some avenue of safety when he cannot stop quickly. Nice guys:

The smart kids separating again to give me a clear avenue down
the slick middle of the trail!

But, even though Jack & Rudy may run a little more separated and out of sync on such fast packed trails, the end result is still the same. Come along and see for yourselves - wheeee! Oh, and note the narrow & thin snow coverage at around 25 seconds into this clip. This section of trail is very sun exposed all day and, at this point, the trail gets very narrow and thin. I simply call out an "easy, easy" to my pals to slow a bit through the narrow patch and then call out "ok" once past it and the smart guys floor it again.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Then, just to make sure I was paying attention, the comedians decided to roll separate snow angels today as well - running far apart lead to rolling snow angels far apart :)

"Rub a dub dub!" goes rolling Rudy at our turnaround point.
"I don't think I need to roll here." adds Jack.

But, don't worry, Jack was still Jack. The 8 year old has rolled at least one snow angel on EVERY skijor outing of his life (and usually many more than one). So, a few steps turning around from the prior photo and there is reliable snow rolling Jack:

"My turn! Aaaahhh!" goes always rolling Jack.
"Tasty snow too!" adds snowcone snacking Rudy.

Finally, back to the trailhead and who is ready for end of run treats?

"I see them! I see them! READY!" says Jack focused on the goody bag in my hand.
"Ready too, I'll wait patiently right here!" adds Rudy (patient & Rudy, hahaha).

Beautiful morning on hard & fast packed nordic trails: 7.2 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 28 days on the trails covering 175.6 miles with 19,900 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Difference

Another fun "shot from the front" of the happy kids towing me to the finish of this morning's skijor!

Whee - smiles all around :)

We started this morning's outing on single track trails in the backcountry. Along the way, we passed through the Dry Gulch ghost town relics. As we were cruising through the ghost town, something caught Jack & Rudy's attention to our left. When I saw them focusing that way, I looked too. But I failed to see anything - no ghost, moose or anything of interest :)

"We are distracted by something to the left!!!" says the left looking kids
while still running forward.

After some laps in the backcountry, we dropped onto the wide trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. It was a "tale of two trails" at the nordic center. Let me show you what I mean...

We started on the Preston Loop Trail. The groomer had not been on this trail for a couple of days and the surface was super fast packed (almost too packed)!

Sure doesn't look like a groomed nordic trail, huh?
Super fast packed from days of use.

But we then dropped onto the main trail (Peabody Placer) and were thrilled to find the groomer had been out just moments before us! Wheeee!

Ah, fresh corduroys to uncork the skijoring engine!

Today's video highlight shows teamwork from Jack & Rudy on the fast packed trail. Jack & Rudy are great at feeling my caution and release. Come along and watch as the trail gets a bit too slick & steep for my liking for about 10 seconds (point 23-33 seconds in the clip). Jack & Rudy feel my cautious skiing and slow as well. Then, once the trail levels out a bit, I am comfortable easing off the cautious skiing; well Jack & Rudy feel that too and, zoom, off we go! All of this without any verbal commands from me, just skijoring and adjusting speed by feel from my great partners!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As usual at Gold Run, we take a little detour to the Jumbo Overlook. As usual again, my partners are not interested in either the overlook or the historical marker. It is simply a "turnaround, roll around" point to them :)

"If there was moose, we'd take in the scenery but, otherwise we'll
stop, drop and roll while you turnaround!" says the silly snow rolling kids.

Finally back to the trailhead for end of run treats from any snow wall the kids can find to climb:

"We'll climb up to you. Now how about those treats?" asks the happy
and focused kids.

A little fast packed in areas but an otherwise very enjoyable outing in both the backcountry and nordic center: 10.2 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 52 days on the trails covering 442.2 miles with 42,300 feet of elevation climbed.

Fast Packed

Happy kids finishing off another wonderful skijor outing this morning!

Smiles all around as we complete this morning's skijor.

We started the morning on narrow backcountry trails flying through the forest:

Backcountry single track trail barely 2 Siberian Huskies wide :)

After a few miles in the backcountry, it was time to drop onto the wide, groomed trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. The trails had not been groomed in a day or two, so, with lots of use from others, it was fast packed conditions. But, perfect for Jack & Rudy to fly:

Zipping along the fast packed nordic trail.

For me, though, it was almost too "fast packed". Come along and watch for yourself. It was quite a bit of work on my legs to stay upright on such packed trails behind fast running Jack & Rudy! Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We had one turnaround point during the outing. Some stop to read the historic marker at the turnaround while others roll snow angels instead :)

"History, blah, blah - how about Stop, Drop & Roll instead!" goes the snow
rolling goofballs showing no interest in the historical marker in front of them :)

Back to the trailhead and we've been finding some nice snow walls to climb in the plowed parking lot for end of run treats!

"We'll climb up to you! Now how about those treats?" asks the fun kids.

A quick (by our standards) but very entertaining little outing this morning: 7 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 33 days on the trails covering 270.6 miles with 25,900 feet of elevation climbed.

Quick Recap

I only have time to writeup a quick recap of this morning's skijor. But, it was so much fun I had to share some!

We started at Dumont Lake on packed tire tracks left over from the recently completed hunting season in Colorado.

Catching air in the fast packed tracks.

We then turned to follow pre-existing ski tracks out & back around the base of Rabbit Ears Peak!

Love this shot as Jack & Rudy are chest high with me!
They have just flown up a slight rise in the trail that I am about to encounter.

Then, for a real surprise, we hung a left near the Columbine junction and found ourselves laying fresh tracks in untouched snow on days old snowmobile tracks.

Wow, nobody has been this direction until us for days (that's how long
it's been since fresh snow fell).

What was even more of a treat that the fresh tracks segment? Well, back to the first photo. I totally expected the leftover tire tracks from hunting season to be packed & icy this morning. I was ready for slow going until we got onto less used terrain. But, nope. The tire tracks were packed but also SOFT! Wow, what a treat. Come along and watch as we are skijoring in packed tired tracks but you can see snow poofs coming off Jack & Rudy's feet as the tracks were also soft!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

That's all folks! We'll back for a more involved blog on our next outing :)

"We were there, we know how fun it was!" exclaims the happy kids
awaiting end of run treats.

A really nice day skijoring near Dumont Lake and Rabbit Ears Peak: 9.2 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 23 days on the trails covering 186.7 miles with 18,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Talents

Fun shot of Jack & Rudy "catching air" on the fast packed nordic trail this morning!

Zoom!

Today, Jack & Rudy would like to share with everyone their extensive list of skijor talents. Such skillful guys, come along for the fun.

First, Rudy would like all to know it is possible to woo while trotting. No need to stop for wooing, just belt them out while trotting along.

"WOO!" goes Rudy without breaking stride!
"Not interested." is what Jack & I had to say in response ;)

Second, Jack would like all to know that it is possible to eat snowcones WHILE rolling snow angels. Talented!

Rolling while eating snowcones, impressive :)
"Not interested." says Rudy

Third, the kids would like all to know how perfect they are at getting shoulder to shoulder to fit in narrow, single track trails!

Packed in tight to propel me along the single track through the trees!

No matter now narrow it gets, as long as they both can fit, they do it!

Even tighter shoulder to shoulder sprinting.

Finally, we have a video showing Jack & Rudy's innate ability to preserve the human! The video starts on the extremely fast packed trail at Gold Run Nordic Center. I share this clip to showcase Jack & Rudy's great ability to adjust for trail conditions. Notice the discolorization of the trail from about 29 seconds to 39 seconds. This is "thin cover" with the possibility of exposed dirt & rocks. Notice how Jack & Rudy expertly slow at the 29 second point until about 39 seconds when the trail is white again so they know it's safe to speed up. All of this without a single verbal command from me. These two understand slowing for sketchy conditions to preserve the human on skis! Impressive!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

That's a lot of skills to showcase in one outing: woo trotting, snow eating while rolling, tight trails and naturally slowing to preserve the human. Impressive: 8.3 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 38 days on the trails covering 315.3 miles with 27,100 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Packed

The trails around Sally Barber Mine were VERY hard & fast packed this morning!

Cresting by the historic mine on hard packed snow.

It was an interesting outing around Sally Barber Mine today primarily because I had NO brakes all day long! My usual brake is to snowplow in loose or soft snow or to take myself into deep snow. Well, the trails were hard packed from lots of recent use while the shoulders were punchy from warm days/cold nights. As a result, well, I had no brakes! Good thing Jack & Rudy listen to my verbal cues!

The less popular back side of Sally Barber Mine - hard & fast packed terrain!

The popular, front side of Sally Barber Mine - SUPER hard & fast packed! No brakes today!

Whew, this hard packed surface sure gave my legs a workout!

We did multiple laps up, down & around Sally Barber Mine this morning. Laps often involve stopping and turning around. Turning around often involves goofy Jack & Rudy :)

Turnaround = Roll Around! demonstrates the goofy kids.

Come along for some "hard packed, no brakes" skijoring in today's video highlight. Good thing Jack & Rudy are such good partners and listeners. It's also a good thing we did not run into the one thing that causes them to NOT listen - moose! These trails in are in moose country, so I was on high alert rounding every blind corner as I had no brakes for moose emergencies (except to throw my body down :) Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Whew, that was a fun albeit wild day on super packed terrain. Let's go report in with retired mentor Zorro:

"Glad they kept you alive!" says focused Zorro.
"Hey, we listened and slowed when you asked!!!" reports good, good
Jack & Rudy!

A day of working the human's legs to try and keep under control on super packed trails! 8.4 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 65 days on the trails covering 524.9 miles with 49,300 feet of elevation climbed.

Packed and Powder

Coming by - made you smile!

Our usual interaction with other skiers on Baldy Mountain:
Jack & Rudy flying on by as the skiers step aside to smile and watch
the cool sled dogs cruise on by!

We had a really fun "packed and powder" skijor on Baldy Mountain this morning. We spent the majority of the time on the main Baldy Mountain Trail which had a nice packed track just wide enough for Jack & Rudy to fit side by side:

Zooming along the packed & fast main trail.

If you look closely above, you can see that the snow outside of the packed track was quite fresh and deep. How deep? Well, we went "off trail" a handful of times to veer away from the main trail before returning to it. The side trails were DEEP and untouched - see for yourself:

Jack & Rudy breaking trail as they bust through 2+ feet of untouched powder!

Now come along for a fun video clip putting it all together. The clip starts with us on one of the side trails as we are making our own path through the deep snow. Then, we intersect with the historic Iowa Mill. The mill is a popular "meet & congregate" point on Baldy, so you see lots of random tracks going every which way that Jack & Rudy pick their way through. Finally, we cut around the mill and onto the fast packed main trail and off we goooooo! Wheeee! Powder to Packed fun.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Of course, all that work in the deep side trails means you need to roll & cool off at any break along the way :)

The "stop, drop & roll" goofballs doing their thing!

Back to the trailhead to meet up with retired Zorro and let him know Jack & Rudy were in goofy moods all day long :)

"I'm right here!" declares wonderfully focused Zorro.
"We are playing king of the mountain!" says Rudy.
"I'm king... No, wait, end of run treats? I'm ready!" adds silly Jack.

A beautiful morning to do a couple of laps on Baldy Mountain with the occasional POW powder side trail added in for fun: 8.2 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 56 days on the trails covering 446.1 miles with 42,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Packed Powder

Nice "360 views" from high up on fun packed powder trails this morning!

Great views all around us, great trail in front of us, great
partners propelling me along :)

We went to the upper trails of Breckenridge Nordic Center this morning expecting to find a freshly groomed track (they try to groom every Monday morning after busy weekends). But, we got out on the trails before the groomer had a chance to get out. As a result, it was quite an interesting contrast in trail conditions. 

When we got far away from the trailhead, it was basically packed powder conditions as you see in the prior photo. Only a few other skiers had made it out this far to provide a little bit of packed tracks in otherwise soft powder. Then, for a complete 180, when we were near the trailhead, the trail was completely packed from side to side from all the heavy weekend usage!

Fully packed, side to side, closer to the trailhead.

We spent about 2/3 of the outing on the lesser used "packed powder" conditions and the remaining 1/3 closer to civilization on packed trails. While it all was fun, all three of us enjoyed the packed powder stretches the best. It was packed enough for Jack & Rudy to really fly while being powder enough for me to have some control of the skis. Wheeee!

Jack & Rudy flying in the shoulder powder as I ride one ski 'in track'
and the other ski 'in powder'.

Come along for a fun ride behind Jack & Rudy in beautiful packed powder conditions. Oh, if your volume is up, you can hear Rudy "trash talking" briefly about 40s into the clip. What was Rudy talking about? Well, I've learned that is often a pointless question to ask - Rudy talks when Rudy wants to talk :) Seriously, I think it was just a minor burst of "this is fun, come on Jack!" from the silly & talkative redhead.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The following is a funny shot once given full context. We paused briefly at the Hallelujah Warming Hut to note the trail conditions. The trail before and at the hut was packed from heavy usage. The trail after the hut was the packed powder you see in most of the photos and video herein. So, the hut was the marker of the transition from packed to packed powder. Well, that seems like a worthy transition to stop and admire by rolling snow angels, right?

"Ah, love the 'warming' hut!" demonstrates the snow rolling goofs.

Finally, as is the tradition with retired mentor Zorro this season: end of run treats for all after a beautiful and fun morning!

"Ready!" declares focused Zorro.
"Fun day!" adds the giddy kids.

A fun morning on mostly packed powder with a bit of fast packed trail near the trailhead: 8.8 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 52 days on the trails covering 412.6 miles with 39,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Zoom to Zoooom!

Jack & Rudy "catching air" as we fly on by the Kathy's Viewpoint Warming Hut!

No need for Jack & Rudy to "warm up", so fly on by we go :)

We were playing on the trails of Breckenridge Nordic Center this morning. The trails were in very good shape for a busy holiday week when we came upon the groomer running around the trails. At first I stopped to let the groomer pass but then the driver pulled to his right and waved us on. So, I let Jack & Rudy restart and trot on by the groomer. Most of the drivers we encounter on the trails LOVE to see Jack & Rudy so they typically pause and wave us on. So, here we are trotting on by the paused groomer. Interesting to note that Rudy typically takes the outside position on passing to let Jack lead the way :)

"Hey dude, thanks for grooming!" say the kids trotting by.

Once past the groomer, Rudy pulled out to the middle of the trail to show his appreciation as we FLOORED it on the fresh groom. Zoom!

Whee! Fresh Groomie Zoomie.

Eventually we traveled further out than the groomer had been. Yet, it was still a nice packed trail from previous skiers and a nice view too!

Great views of the Rocky Mountains to our right. Nice trail ahead :)

Once we out skied the groomer's path, we turned around to retrace where the groomer had been out on the trails. Come along for a fun "packed to groomed" video clip. We start out on a fast packed trail that takes us by Kathy's Viewpoint Warming Hut. Once past the hut, we connected to where I knew the groomer had been. So, a "left" request from me and Jack & Rudy veer onto the fresh groom and go, go, go! Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We then spent the rest of the morning retracing the groomer's path for a super fast & fun skijor on perfect trails. Love the hover huskies and their shadows in the sun.

Cool hover & shadows on the fresh groomed trail. 

Back to the trailhead to let retired Zorro know how much fun we had today!

"Nice, I remember the groomie zoomies from my younger years!" says Zorro.
"So fun, so fun!" declares giddy Jack & Rudy.

A very enjoyable 10.1 mile outing with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH. Actually, it sure felt faster than 23 a few times to me; but that's what the GPS reported.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 40 days on the trails covering 315.8 miles with 29,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Fast Packed

Happy kids flashing me a smile at a momentary pause this morning.

"We're having a blast!" declares the happy kids.

We spent the morning doing laps on the fast packed trail along Dumont Lake at Rabbit Ears Pass. The trail had been well traveled by snowmobiles and SUVs and was very fast packed! How fast, well Jack & Rudy were airborne with speed today :)

Nice of Jack & Rudy to hover out of the shade and into the sun to showcase
their hover husky abilities.

Second lap back/forth by Dumont Lake, a little cloud cover this pass; but same result from Jack & Rudy:

Yep, still zooming along. Hey look, the upper left is Rabbit Ears Peak with
the two rocks atop being the ears of Rabbit Ears Pass.

Come along for a video ride along the thin cover near Dumont Lake this morning. But, it was enough cover to uncork the skijoring engine and fast packed for Jack & Rudy to fly! If you can take your eyes off impressive Jack & Rudy, the peak in the upper left that is coming in/out of view is Rabbit Ears Peak and the rocks on top are the ears of Rabbit Ears Pass. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After the fast packed laps near the lake, we got an unexpected treat to finish the run on a lesser used side trail. Woo Hoo fresh powder to finish the morning run!

Powder poofs!

Zorro! Thanks for coming to pick us up!

"You can rely on me!" states focused Zorro.
"I'm ready too!" adds happy Jack.
"Am I still third?!?" ponders Rudy.

A fast packed 7.6 miles with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH near Dumont Lake this morning.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 15 days on the trails covering 111.4 miles with 10,300 feet of elevation climbed.