Red Black

Yikes! The signs of "end of season" are starting to rapidly appear!

Yikes! Barely enough snow to for my skis (and Jack :)

The prior photo is actually quite interesting in the context of all our years skijoring. For the 8+ years I skijored with Max & Zorro, I frequently made mention of the following: note how Zorro goes to all extremes to keep his toes on snow whereas Max will drift onto exposed dirt in order to keep going forward. This "risk/reward" blog entry from years ago is one such example of this.

Now fast forward to 2021 and compare the prior photo to my history with Max & Zorro. The black boy (history: Zorro, current: Jack) goes to all extremes to keep toes on snow while the red boy (history: Max, current: Rudy) has no problem drifting onto the side dirt to keep trotting. It must be a "red vs black" thing :)

Back to this morning, given the deteriorating conditions we had a gentle trot up, across and down the Sally Barber Mine Trail. At one point along the stretch the kids decided to discuss whose fault it is that the conditions are deteriorating :)

"Your fault it is melting!" demands Rudy.
"Is not! Dare you to say that again!" responds Jack.

While the conditions on the trail around the mine are quickly deteriorating, we did have one unexpected and pleasant surprise this morning. The spring crust over French Creek was still intact and firm enough to hold our weight! I was completely expecting the crust to have been melted or not firm enough to hold us. But, look at this pleasant surprise:

Wheeee! Flying along the firm crust despite the large number
of bushes starting to poke through!

Look closely at the prior photo. Do you see the snow on Rudy's back? Do you see the snow on Jack's right side? How did then get snow on top of themselves? Well...

When you roll snow angels in wet/sticky snow you then have
snow on your back when you are done :)

Back to the surprise crust. Come along for a short & fun video clip of the morning surprise. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Done for this morning's short outing and Jack & Rudy are in goofy moods due to lack of sufficient exercise. Silly kids.

Chilling Rudy sitting up high on a snow wall.
Goofy Jack propped up sideways on a snow wall.
Veteran Zorro at full attention for 'end of run' treats.

Sad to report the season is winding down. We may only have one outing left. Today's condition shortened run: 4.4 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 153 days on the trails covering 1247.4 miles with 106,900 feet of elevation climbed.

Kids

Oh those silly three year olds at one of our turnaround points skijoring atop French Creek this morning!

"I dare you!" declares Jack.
"I accept!" responds Rudy :)

We started the morning going to check the status of the spring crust over French Creek. I was hoping the crust was still solid enough to hold us. Well, success!!! The crust was perfect and even had an inch or two of fresh snow atop it!

Laying fresh tracks in the solid crust over French Creek.

We did multiple laps around and across the meadow in the prior photo. Then, we exited the crust to skijor to Sally Barber Mine and then come back. Well, coming back meant we stopped to turnaround at the mine. Yep, turnaround is roll around time:

The "snow angel twins" doing their usual turnaround antics :)

The trail to/from the mine was actually a little beat up from warm days and heavy use. So, we did less skijoring on the mine trail than usual and went back to the French Creek crust for another few laps before ending the day.

Great shot of the expansive meadow of crust over French Creek.
Nice shot of Jack & Rudy laying fresh tracks with snow
poofs behind them.

Today's video highlight is, of course, a fun clip of us skijoring atop the spring crust over French Creek. Watch at about 28 seconds along and I surprise Jack & Rudy by calling out a "right" to go through a gap in the bushes. But, the smart kids immediately find the gap for my "right" command and they quickly pass through and realign to keep on going. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Another fun day on the French Creek crust to report to elder Zorro:

"Sounds like they did good!" surmises Zorro.
"Skijor, play and snow angels - perfect outing!" adds the giggle twins.

Great crust outing today with a bit beaten down trail to/from the mine in between: 6.7 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 144 days on the trails covering 1173.0 miles with 100,600 feet of elevation climbed.

Me Again

Rudy heard that people enjoyed his "turnaround woo" on the trails yesterday. Well, he has a woo for EVERY occasion, believe me!

Rudy showcasing his "sightseeing woo" at the historic Sally Barber Mine.
"Woooo! I have one for EVERY occasion!" declares wooing Rudy.
Jack doing his usual (rolling snow angels) at any stop on the trail :)

As you see in the prior photo, we spent some time skijoring up, down and around Sally Barber Mine this morning. But, before touring the mine, we first went off trail to skijor the great spring crust that is still solid atop French Creek! With warming spring temperatures, we got an early start as the sun was just starting to rise over the east mountains. With a light layer of overnight snow, we found ourselves laying fresh tracks over the frozen creek and wetland meadows. Wheeee!

The sun is about to peek over the mountain in front of us
as we lay fresh tracks over the French Creek Crust.

With such a fun crust, we made many, many laps around and across this French Creek marsh and meadow. Yes, this really will be a marshy wetland in 1-2 months!

Flying along. Wheee!

Come along for one fun lap across the meadow as we zoom forward, left and right. Note that all tracks you see now & then throughout the video are our own tracks from previous laps in and around this fun meadow. We had a great time going back and forth and back and forth!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

You know what else is nice about a fresh layer of snow over the crust? Well, it makes for really nice snow angel rolls :)

Rudy rolling with "angel prints" to the left.
Jack rolling with "angel prints" to the right.
Goofy kids!

Back to the trailhead with our favorite retired gentleman, Zorro.

"Thanks for coming back! I love you man!" Zorro is intent
on telling me :)
"Zorro first, then us!" adds the impressively patient youngsters!

A lot of French Creek Crust skijoring this morning followed by a little Sally Barber Mine entertainment: 6.9 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 138 days on the trails covering 1127.7 miles with 94,800 feet of elevation climbed.

French Creek

Great shot of Jack & Rudy flying along the spring crust in a vast meadow over French Creek!

Whee! Zoom! What more needs to be said :)

If you've followed along past years and into this year, you learned the following: French Gulch used to be one Max, Zorro and my favorite skijor trails. Great terrain with lots of moose sightings along the way. But, unfortunately, French Gulch succumbed to development and is no longer a cross country ski trail. So, we took that trail out of Jack, Rudy and my options this season.

But, one thing the development cannot take away? French Creek itself! There are various open meadows in the gulch that house French Creek. In Spring, we get a nice crust over some of these meadows and, thus, Jack, Rudy and I can skijor the crust over French Creek. This is what you see in the first photo above. Amazing to think that in 1-2 months that photo will be a moose populated wetland with a fast flowing French Creek going through it!

Well, not too hard to believe as the creek is already poking through:

"Creek - time to turnaround!" declares smart Rudy.
"Yep, reverse!" agrees happy Jack.

We were having so much fun skijoring around this first meadow that we made 5 passes across and around the crust. Each time we hit exposed creek, we turned and did another lap.

Come along for our final pass across the crust over French Creek. As the video concludes, we come to the end of the meadow and Jack & Rudy slow beautifully to follow my verbal instructions to navigate (left, right, left, right) back onto the main trail. Such great skijor partners!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What is the main trail? Well the path up and back down to Sally Barber Mine. Up and down means the human needs to turn the skis around at one point. Yep, turnaround, roll around :)

Human starting to turnaround at Sally Barber Mine.
Kids starting to roll around at Sally Barber Mine :)

Human turned around, kids upright again, time to cruise on down the Sally Barber Mine Trail:

Zipping along we go.

We were way ahead of schedule to meet up with Zorro and Nancy. So, what to do when we got back down from the mine? Well, make three more laps around that spring crust meadow over French Creek. Wheeee!

Jack & Rudy having a blast going every which way
on the crust over French Creek!

Fun, fun outing this morning. Let's tell elder Zorro all about it:

Focused, happy and fun trio for 'end of run' treats.

You may be able to steal French Gulch from us via development, but you cannot take the creek from us! 6.8 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH

2020/2021 Season to Date: 133 days on the trails covering 1087.0 miles with 91,100 feet of elevation climbed.