Repeat

Catching air in the backcountry! Wheeee!

Fun sled dogs, fun times, fun day! Whee!

After having our favorite network of trails FINALLY skijorable yesterday, we HAD to return today! It was a very similar outing to yesterday with one exception. Come along for the ride.

As usual, we started on unmaintained backcountry trails to tickle our toes in soft powder. Along the way, we pass by some of the remnants of the old, historic mining town of Preston. This town was once bigger than Breckenridge in the 1800 mining days but was abandoned in the early 1900s as is nothing more than a collection of old mining and mining town relics at this point.

Zipping by one of the old mining cabins once in the town of Preston.
There are tons of old cabins like this littered throughout the forest near
here as Preston was once such a large town.

After galloping through the Preston townsite, it was time to connect onto the groomed trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. Before doing that, though, Jack & Rudy had other plans to cool off first :)

Both fun kids wanted to hop off trail to roll in the soft & untouched powder.
Yesterday was 1 degree (F) when we started the outing, today was 10 (F). As
you see, 10 is "hot" and makes you want to get into deep & cold powder ro
roll and cool off!

Ok, the one difference between yesterday and today? Well, unbeknownst to me, I bumped the camera on my chest after the snow rolling break above. As a result, the camera was pointing at my feet the rest of the outing, so I have no further footage. Oh well, trust me, it was as nice & fun as yesterday all morning long.

Today's video highlight goes along with the first two photos (before I bumped the camera). Come along for today's fun skijor in the backcountry as we approach and enter the old townsite of Preston.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead and Nancy's camera was still pointing upright :)

The great kids on a snow wall to receive end of run treats. What a fun day!

An almost identical skijor as yesterday except for most of the video footage being lost: 8.4 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 25 days on the trails covering 159.2 miles with 18,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Surprise Dusting

We got a surprise dusting of new snow this morning to help make otherwise hard packed & slick trails quite enjoyable!!!

Fun snow poofs coming off Jack & Rudy's feet as we zip along
in the surprise dusting!

The forecast for this morning was "warm & dry" conditions. While the "warm" was correct, the "dry" was not and we started our outing amidst light snowfall that had started an hour or so earlier and left a nice dusting of new snow on the trails. I refer to this type of dusting as my Safety Dust as it enables me to go on trails and speeds that I would not have attempted without a little dusting to provide me control and safety. 

It was such a nice dusting that we were able to skijor side trails I would have definitely otherwise avoided this morning!

Zipping through an old "mining days" ghost town on a trail that would have
been too slick & icy for me to ski without the safety dust!

The dusting was also just enough for me to comfortably let Jack & Rudy fly on by any & all oncoming traffic. The kids love to flirt and fly by the oncoming traffic:

"Coming through, wheeee!" says the fun kids flying on by.
Rudy always gives an extra flirtatious glance if he is on the inside
when we pass on by. He is such a flirt!

Now come along for the video counterpart of the prior photo. We start out on a fast straightaway in the sun (which had just broken through the clouds). This section of trail gets all day sun and would have been too slick for me to go this fast safely without the safety dust. So, zooming we go until we dip back into some denser trees, round a fun corner and then fly on by the oncoming skiers. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

I mentioned the "warm" part of the "warm & dry" forecast was accurate. With temperatures just around freezing, Jack & Rudy really needed to roll snow angels to cool their jets at our turnaround point.

Snow angels with a view :)

 Nothing quite like a surprise safety dust to allow you to floor it all day, right guys?

"Oh that was FUN! Love the safety dust!" says the happy kids
awaiting end of run treats atop a tall snow wall.

Nothing quite as magical as a surprise safety dust when you expected hard packed & slick conditions! 9.2 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 61 days on the trails covering 464.0 miles with 43,800 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Freshies

To each his own :)

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes always snow rolling Jack.
"Turnaround, WOOOOOs abound!" sings talkative Rudy.
To each his own :)

Turnaround comedy from the comedians aside, it was a fresh tracks Saturday in a wonderful layer of 2-3 inches of new snow on the trails. We started the day laying fresh tracks in the Dry Gulch backcountry:

Whee - zipping along! When you can see this much of the carabiner and
some of my skis, you know I'm in a serious ski tuck to keep pace and upright
with my pals!

Then it was time to transition onto the trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. For a treat, though, the groomer had not been out on the trails since yesterday. So, the trails felt more like wide backcountry trails than easy nordic trails!

Whee again! There's that carabiner and ski tips in view again.
Hang on human!!!!!

We did one side trail along the way to gallop through the remnants of an old mining town. This is an "out and back" side trail, so it was the only time we saw other tracks in the snow all morning long (our own out tracks on the way back :)

Zipping along through the old ghost town from mining days long ago.

As I said, it was a "fresh tracks Saturday" just about all morning long. Come along for a glimpse into the fun. If your volume is on, you should be able to hear the gusty wind blowing around us. If your volume is a little higher, you should be able to hear Rudy expressing his pleasure at the conditions at about 20 seconds into the clip. Talkative Rudy is never at a loss for words :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Fun day of freshies, right guys?

"Oh yes, we had a blast!!!!" says the happy kids perched atop a nice
snow wall to receive end of run treats.

It was a little cold (for me) with the wind gusts; but Jack & Rudy thought it was a perfect day: 8.2 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 36 days on the trails covering 267.6 miles with 25,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Play

Our first breakout of "unauthorized play & wrestling" on the trail this 2024/2025 skijor season :)

"I double dog dare you to poke me back!" says frisky Rudy to Jack.
"I triple dog dare you to try and catch me!" responds sly Jack.

Ok, unauthorized play session aside, it was a glorious morning to skijor around the trail in Dry Gulch.

We started the day laying fresh tracks in the backcountry. Wheeee!

Laying fresh tracks in a light layer of new snow with my fun pals!

We then did a side tour "out & back" to visit some of the old mining buildings in one of the many ghost towns in Dry Gulch:

Second tracks to ourselves are we return through this ghost town.
Notice Jack & Rudy have no need for our "out tracks", they wanted to
lay fresh tracks every direction :)

Finally, we finished the day on a trail that will become part of Gold Run Nordic Center's groomed trails once they open for the season. They will be opening soon and they had taken one of the snowcat groomers out to survey the trail conditions this morning. While the snowcat tracks were fresh & soft, Jack & Rudy had no interest in them - it was more fun for them to run down the middle as they continued laying fresh tracks all morning long.

Snowcat tracks on each side of us as we glide along in the middle shallow powder.

What was the most fun of the outing? Hmm, how about laying fresh tracks in the backcountry to start the day. Come along for a video glimpse into this ton of fun :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Of course, all that work laying fresh tracks means you need to roll snow angels with some real gusto to cool off at turnaround time. Silly kids!

"Aahhh, rolling to cool our jets!" goes the comedians.
Nice view, too!

Back to the trailhead and it was the usual "smiles all around" as Jack & Rudy climbed a nice snow wall to receive end of run treats!

"We had a BLAST today!" says the happy, happy huskies!

What a beautiful morning: 8.4 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 11 days on the trails covering 86.0 miles with 7700 feet of elevation climbed.

Mid Winter in Late April

Look at these awesome "mid winter like conditions" we found this morning in late April!

Laying fresh tracks in a light layer of new snow atop an otherwise
perfectly flat & packed trail!

How was this possible? Well, the light layer of new snow is thanks to Mother Nature. The trail is the furthest from civilization on what is Gold Run Nordic Center during winter. But, the nordic center is closed and few, if any, make it out to this trail without a groomer helping pave the way. But, I have Jack & Rudy and that is as good as a groomer for me :) So, this particular trail has sat pretty much untouched since the nordic center closed 3 weeks ago.

So, a trail that has been packed by a groomer all winter + a trail too hard/far for most people to get to + a nice layer of fresh snow from Mother Nature. Well, Jack & Rudy knew what to do with these surprisingly great conditions in April. Come along and watch the video highlight to see for yourself:

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Along the way we did side "backcountry out & back" to visit one of our favorite old mining ghost towns in this area. This is probably our last visit to this location this season as it is very sun exposed and melting fast:

Whee! Zipping by all the old mining buildings in this cool ghost town.

The tracks you see in the prior photo are our own out tracks. Well, that meant we had to turnaround at some point before coming back through the ghost town. Well, yep, you guessed - turnaround, roll around!

Snow angels with a view from the comedians almost intertwined to stay
on the snow and not hit that dirt in front of us :)

Eventually, though, we had to come back to civilization. As I expected, the trail near and leading to the trailhead had been very tracked up with lots of post holes. But, with the morning's new snow (safety dust, as I call it), we were able to continue at a nice pace over the chopped up trail:

Catching air with the help of the safety dust along a trail full of
deep footprints and post holes.

That was fun, right guys?

"Oh yeah! We liked zooming on the mid winter conditions best of all!" says
my fun pals happily awaiting end of run treats.

Some surprisingly nice conditions for most of this late April outing covering 8.8 miles with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 135 days on the trails covering 1155.7 miles with 114,600 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Catching Air

Cruising through the ruins of an old 1800s mining ghost town on this morning's skijor outing:

Peacefully trotting along as we take in the mining ruins.

Today's outing had found us starting in the backcountry and ending on the wide trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. With warm days and cold nights this time of year, the backcountry trails can get a bit slick and icy every morning. Luckily, Jack & Rudy know to slow the pace on slick trails, so it was a comfortable trot to start the outing as you see above.

We like to try and drop onto the trails at Gold Run Nordic Center just after the groomer finishes with the trails in the morning. That is especially true this time year when the trails have warmed the previous day and refrozen overnight. Unfortunately when we got on the upper most trail at Gold Run, the groomer had not been here yet this morning:

The photo does not do just to just how slick this trail was from warming
yesterday and refreezing overnight. My legs were burning from driving the
skis into the slick conditions to keep upright and pace with Jack & Rudy :)

But, then, thank dog, once we got on the main trail at Gold Run, the groomer had been there only minutes before us! One other fat bike rider with his dog were the only tracks on the fresh groom. Well, after keeping speeds to a minimum for the first two legs of the outing, Jack & Rudy knew what to do with this fresh groom! Zoom!

Yay for the fresh groom, time to safely uncork the skijoring engine
and catch some air sprinting along the trail!

The trail conditions in the prior photo are absolutely perfect. You'll notice there are some trees to shade the trail part of the day to prevent too much melting this time of year.

Well, after the prior photo, we took a left towards the trailhead and got onto the most sun exposed stretch of trail at Gold Run. This stretch is always the first to "melt out" in the Spring as it gets all day sunshine:

The hover huskies still catching air; but, yikes, look at that bit of ground
starting to poke through to our left. Spring sucks :)

Luckily that fully exposed stretch in the prior photo does not last for very long. Within a minute or two and we are back down into the trees. This well shaded stretch of trail keeps its snow well into mid to late Spring. Come along and see for yourself as Jack & Rudy are towing me along a pristine trail through dense shade providing trees. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Ok, now get ready to laugh. Do you think Rudy is enjoying his snow angel this morning :)

"Ah! You know you want to join me!" exclaims super happy snow rolling Rudy.
"I'm in heaven too!" adds mellow rolling Jack.

Eventually, all outings have to come to an end. Despite knowing the "end is near" it is still running hard with all smiles from Jack & Rudy as we approach the finish:

"Whee! So much fun today!" declares the happy kids.

Finally, the happiness from Jack & Rudy continues right on into our final act of the morning: sharing end of run treats.

Such happy kids! What fun pals!

From early slick trails to freshly groomed nordic trails this morning: 9.1 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 112 days on the trails covering 958.4 miles with 93,500 feet of elevation climbed.

This Way

Moose tracks drifting off trail and into the trees!

"Moose went THIS WAY! We should too!" suggests silly Jack & Rudy
pausing to gaze into the trees looking for the moose that left these tracks
that were NOT here just 24 hours ago!

We were on the same network of trails as yesterday's skijor; but we did mix it up a bit for variety. We started today's outing by exploring ghost town ruins from the mining days of the 1800s in this area:

Zipping through a large collection of old mining buildings in various
states of decay.

Then, as with yesterday, we dropped onto the fast trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. The kids were in real "pedal to the metal" mode once we got on the nordic trails. Well, ok, they are almost always in "pedal to the metal" mode; but today just felt a like a little more oomph from my power pals:

Catching air on a fast nordic straightaway. Wheeee!

Come along for a glimpse into the "pedal to the metal" kids this morning. As you can see, they were really into a sprint groove today!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We did pause twice. Once to inspect the moose tracks I showed in the first photo and once for me to check our time out on the trails to see which way to go at a fork in the road. Well, I paused...

"Stop, drop and ROLL!" goes snow angel rolling Jack.
"Stop, pose and WOO!" goes singing Rudy.

The structures you see up from Rudy and (snow covered) up from Jack are more old mining ruins. The area we were in was once known as the Town of Preston and was actually as big as Breckenridge at one point in the 1800s. All that remains today are ruins scattered throughout the forest.

Jack & Rudy typically run very close to one another and you can tell this is their preferred separation. But, every once in a while, the kids will test the full width of the gangline on a wide trail. It is rare. Why? Well only Jack & Rudy can answer that :)

Testing the full width of the gangline and wide nordic trail as the kids are
in a rare "far apart" separation but still running fast and catching air.

Wrapping up another fun outing and, as usual, it is all smiles from Jack & Rudy as they tow me to the finish:

Happy kids, smiles all around!

Finally, of course, it is time to celebrate another fun skijor outing with end of run treats:

"Ready!" says happy Jack.
"You have my UNDIVIDED attention!" adds super focused Rudy!

A nice skijor through some ghost towns with a finish on fast nordic trails: 8.8 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 100 days on the trails covering 853.1 miles with 82,600 feet of elevation climbed.

Frisky

Uh-oh, unauthorized antics breaking out on the trail this morning....

"I triple dog dare you to play with me!" asserts the typical unauthorized
instigator Rudy.
"You KNOW I won't back down!" responds cool Jack.

Okay, authorized antics breaking out later...

Perfectly allowed "stop, drop & roll" at a turnaround point on the trail :)

As you see in the first photo, the kids were quite frisky out on the trails this morning. A couple of reasons: first, we took yesterday off so Jack & Rudy were itching to get going fast and second, there was active snow falling on us all outing long - active snow makes for frisky sled dogs :)

We started this morning's outing touring old mining ruins following snowmobile tracks in the forest:

Cruising through an old ghost town of mining buildings in Dry Gulch.

Then, as we usually do after skijoring around Dry Gulch, we dropped onto the wide trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. Once again, our timing was impeccable as we were first on the freshly groomed trails. After an unauthorized game of tag & wrestle to celebrate being first tracks, Jack & Rudy got down to business and were FLYING around the trails.

The kids flying fast with cool snow poofs coming off their feet from
the nice, soft groomed trail.

How fast were they flying around? Well, the GPS registered us topping 25 MPH! Zoom! Come along for a glimpse into 25 MPH skijoring as we are zipping along this perfect trail. Also, notice the active snowfall coming down around us during the clip. A fresh groom and active snow really turns Jack & Rudy ON!!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After doing two laps on the uppermost nordic loop, we transitioned onto the main trail to take us to the trailhead. I did not realize until I got home that snow was collecting on the camera during this leg. So, we have one initial shot with a little "snow spot" and it only got blurrier from here on out...

The blur in the dead center of this photo is a snow induced water spot.
The spots continued to collect and grow from here on out.
Oh well, we'll trade clear footage for fresh snow any day!!!

Back to the trailhead and everyone is very proud and satisfied with today's zipping outing:

"What 'unauthorized play'? We were perfect all day!" suggests the happy
kids with selective memory of the outing :)

Zooming! 9.6 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 25 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 83 days on the trails covering 696.0 miles with 66,800 feet of elevation climbed.

Finish

Jack & Rudy responding in their "usual ways" when I asked if everyone was having a good time this morning :)

Jack's usual response: a happy & approving smile.
Rudy's usual response: a loud & approving WOOOOO!

Today's outing was, once again, a mix of backcountry and then groomed nordic trails. The start of the outing took us through the historic mining town of Preston which was once one of the biggest towns in the Breckenridge area. There is not much left of the town except a handful of old mining cabins in various states of decay. Nosy Rudy has been through this area probably a 100 times or more; but he still has to glance at each ruin as we go by just in case "something new" has developed :)

"Must check this cabin for new activity!" says nosy Rudy glancing
at the decaying cabin to our left.
"Seen that over 100 times, no need to look again!" states all business Jack
keeping his eyes ahead.

Once we were done skijoring around the old ghost town, we dropped onto the trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. Here's a fun shot of Jack & Rudy catching air in this sliver of sun on this otherwise well shaded stretch of trail:

The hover huskies showing off in the sun :)

If it is fun catching air in a sliver of sun, then it is a blast to catch air in the full sun...

The fast & impressive kids catching air in the bright sun once again!

Now for today's fun video clip. Come along for the final minute of our outing and get a look at just how strong the kids finish every skijor outing. You might think their speed & power happens at the beginning of every outing, but, no, it lasts through the entire outing. Impressive kids. If you can take your eyes of fun Jack & Rudy, notice the sun is behind us so you get to see my shadow through this entire clip - yep, I'm just standing on the skis, taking it all in :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Who was that on the right side of the trail near the end of the previous video clip? Well, that was Nancy out trying to get a "shot from the front" of the happy sled dogs. Here is a frame of video she got - not the best with the shade but you can still see the smiles all over Jack & Rudy's faces!

Whee - smiles all around as we conclude another fun outing.

Finally,  it was back up on a snow wall to receive end of run treats:

"Fun day! You have our full attention!" states happy Jack & Rudy.

Only time for another "shorter than usual" outing as has been the theme this week; but all outings are super fun: 6.4 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 73 days on the trails covering 614.0 miles with 59,600 feet of elevation climbed.