Still Going

Look who was THRILLED to be back on snow again this morning!!!

"We are having a BLAST!" says the happy, happy kids.

Despite deteriorating snow conditions throughout most of Colorado, Rabbit Ears Pass is still hanging on with good, albeit melting fast, snowpack. Today's outing found us skijoring along the edge of Highway 40 for a while. Every time a car/truck would pass us on the highway, Jack & Rudy would speed up to try and keep pace. They HATE getting passed! But, the speed limit out on the highway is 65 MPH, so obviously we don't keep pace; but not from lack of trying :)

"Hey, don't pass us!!!" says the kids kicking it up a gear once this big truck
passed us to our left. Nice try guys :)

After that initial leg along the edge of the highway, we turned away from the highway to skijor out and back on the Harrison Creek Trail. This trail keeps its snow the longest at Rabbit Ears. It was a bit rough and choppy in places from frozen snowmobile tracks; but we were able to hug the shoulders of the trail for pretty good conditions for this time of year:

Hugging the right shoulder where I can glide nicely on skis.

Now come along for today's video to see I mean about the choppiness. We start out the video on the right shoulder gliding along smoothly. Then, about 35 seconds into this clip, the right starts getting choppy and I start bouncing around on the skis. But, I did notice the left shoulder was now smooth. So, I call out "over to the left" to Jack & Rudy and we drift left until I am on smooth terrain again and off we go. Great partners!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Did I mention we did an "out & back" on Harrison Creek? Well, that meant we had to turnaround at one point, right? Well, you know what that means...

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes the snow rolling sillies.
Nice view, too, although Jack & Rudy had no use for the view :)

Finally, as the day ended, we were back along the edge of Highway 40. But, this time we were first tracks on a fresh groom - what a treat!

First tracks on the groomie zoomie! Wheeee!

Fun day, right guys?

"Any day on snow is a GREAT day!" says the happy kids atop a nice
snow wall to receive end of run treats.

Today's tally: 7.3 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 53 days on the trails covering 323.5 miles with 34,100 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Season Finale

Jack & Rudy ready to complete our 2024/2025 skijor season:

Ready to go!

Our final outing was actually the morning of Wednesday, May 21. I am just getting around to writing up our finale this morning. While Jack & Rudy are poised and ready to go in the prior photo, notice all the indentations in the snow. The kids often roll snow angels BEFORE we get started on our outings because I clearly take way too LONG to put my skis on. So, you might as well roll before you go while you wait for the slow human :)

Our final outing took us out the Harrison Creek trail atop Rabbit Ears Pass. This trail has a quick elevation rise and is well shaded; so it is often the last usable trail at Rabbit Ears. The conditions were soft & slushy, making for a very aerobic outing for all!

Jack & Rudy's deep footprints demonstrate just how soft and
slushy the conditions were. The last outing of the season is always
quite interesting conditionwise.

Being the end of season meant we came across many hazards to navigate around as well:

"Uh, now what?" asks Rudy as he knows I cannot cross this on skis.
"Hey, I see a smidget of snow to the left!" declares smart Jack.
Yes, I was able to ski over that small patch of snow to our left.

The conditions were getting softer and slushier by the minute as we were going out. The elevation rise at Harrison Creek was not enough to out race the warming temperatures. So, I turned us around after less than 2 miles as I wanted to be able to get back safely & comfortably before it became too mushy. Our turnarounds typically go as follows: I callout "Wait, time to turnaround." and Jack & Rudy take this as "Stop, drop, roll snow angels and then turnaround." Well, my call to turnaround so soon clearly caught them off guard as they turnaround without the "drop & roll" ritual. But, once around, they realized a turnaround is a turnaround so snow angels must still be rolled:

We completed the turnaround BEFORE the kids rolled snow angels.
Typically they roll first and turn second. So, I clearly caught them off guard
but they sure made up for it once turned :)

Our final video clip of the 2024/2025 season goes along with the prior photo. Come along and watch as we start the clip with the comedians rolling snow angels before rising and taking off back the direction we came. You lose complete view of Jack & Rudy for a bit as I am in a tight ski tuck trying to stay upright on a downslope in soft/slushy snow. Once the terrain levels out, I'm able to rock back and we get full view of the fun kids again :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The return leg was a bit easier than the out leg as we had the tracks we set on the way out to compact the soft/slushy snow a little bit. But, it was still soft & slushy :)

Making use of the ski & foot tracks we set on the way out for a little
firmer conditions (but still soft) on the way back.

This season was not a record by any means (see our 2022/2023 season of 1444 miles for a record season), but any & all seasons on snow are fun, fun, FUN! Right guys?

"Yes, we LOVE snow!" says the happy kids who found snow hump to climb
to end the season climbing up for end of run treats as they love to do.

A soft & slushy finale, but still a great time: 3.7 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2024/2025 Season Recap: 108 days on the trails covering 822.8 miles with 81,200 feet of elevation climbed.

We'll be back in September or October (weather dependent) to start our 2025/2026 skijor season. Until then, enjoy boring summer and Pray for Snow!!!!

Rudy 8000

7 year old Rudy surpassed 8,000 career skijor miles yesterday morning! Impressive!

"And I've been singing for 8000 miles too!" adds proudly wooing Rudy.

Rudy's skijor career to date is the following: 1034 days on the trails covering 8000.3 miles with 742,100 feet of elevation climbed. Consider that most of this has happened since he was 1.5 years old and that is quite an impressive career he has strung together. For the curious, 5 month older Jack surpassed 8,000 career miles himself earlier this season.

Back to yesterday's outing. It was another fun tour around the top of Rabbit Ears Pass. But, the signs of summer are really starting to come through - boo!

There was lots of breakup in open meadows:

Yikes, the snow caving in to Jack's right with more exposed water
to Rudy's left.

There was lots of dirty snow in heavily wooded sections of trail:

Look at all that "tree debris" covering our otherwise beautiful white snow!

There were lots of narrow stretches with views of "no snow" at elevations below us.

Cruising along a narrow stretch with views of snow bare lower elevations
of Colorado to our right.

But, what did remain constant with the comedians was rolling snow angels to cool off at our turnaround point:

"Stop, drop and ROLL!" goes the snow rolling sillies.

Which deteriorating condition to feature in today's video highlight? How about gliding along behind Jack & Rudy in the tree debris covered snow amongst thick trees. Sure, it's not pretty snow, but it is toes on snow in mid-May, we'll take that any day!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Another constant, along with rolling snow angels, was still finding snow walls to climb for end of run treats. Despite heavy melting, the kids can still find a wall to scale!

"If there is a snow wall, we'll find it and climb it!' declares the happy
kids getting up to my level for end of run treats.

Yesterday's tally: 9 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed with a top speed of 22 MPH and passing 8,000 career skijor miles for impressive 7 year old Rudy. Yay!

2024/2025 Season to Date: 106 days on the trails covering 810.7 miles with 80,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Smooth Shoulder

Wonderful conditions on wide snowmobile trails on the Harrison Creek Trail at Rabbit Ears Pass!

Nice, wide trail with soft snowmobile tracks to gallop in. Wheeee!

We did an "out & back" skijor at Harrison Creek this morning. So, that means we got the typical antics from the comedians at our turnaround point :)

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes the snow rolling sillies.

Once done rolling, it was time to run back. Zoom!

The fun kids catching air as we zoom along.

Then, I stopped to check our time out on the trails to decide which direction to follow at a juncture. Well, this second stop was met with protest from Rudy :)

"WHY ARE WE STOPPED?!?" asks singing Rudy.
"I'll wait patiently for you to restart." adds mellow Jack.

Once restarted, Rudy and I found a wonderful stretch of trail to use. Watch how Rudy and I are on a bit of untouched corduroy to enjoy on the left shoulder of the trail. Meanwhile, Jack keeps dipping his head to sniff the moose tracks going down the center of the trail. Talented "sniff & run" Jack without breaking stride :) The moose tracks must not have been very fresh as Rudy was not interested; but they were definitely fresh enough for Jack to keep sampling with his nose.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Then it was "all business" to end the day. 

"Almost done? We need to floor it to empty our tanks!" says the fun
kids running fast to the finish.

Finally, everybody ready for some end of run treats?

"You bet!" says the happy, focused & fun kids.

Today's tally: 7.6 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 89 days on the trails covering 690.5 miles with 65,800 feet of elevation climbed.

Surprise

Who was enjoying this morning's fun skijor outing?

"We are!!!!! We are having a blast!" exclaims the happy kids looking back
to me at a short pause during the outing.

We started the day on the Buffalo Park Trail atop Rabbit Ears Pass. The trail was as expected: a bunch of soft snowmobile tracks to follow forever:

Zipping along in soft snowmobile tracks. Wheeee!

One nice snowmobile track eventually went right and up towards the Harrison Creek Trail. We decided to follow this path, fully expecting to find Harrison Creek to be a collection of snowmobile tracks too. But, to our surprise and delight, as we got onto the Harrison Creek Trail, we found it FRESHLY groomed! Wow, what an unexpected surprise and treat! Jack & Rudy knew what to do with the fresh groom:

Zoom!

We quickly changed our intended path (which was to be an out & back on the Buffalo Park Trail) to do and out & back on the freshly groomed Harrison Creek Trail instead. Of course, an out & back means you turnaround at some point, right?

Yep, turnaround antics from my favorite comedians.
"Turnaround, roll around!" goes snow rolling Jack.
"Turnaround, woos abound!" sings Rudy.

Now come along for today's video highlight - running fast on the groomie zoomie. At 12 seconds into this clip and we get an interesting moment. The trail we are on goes forward, left and right at the 12 second point. In all the years we've skijored Harrison Creek, we've never done anything but go forward. But, today, the groomer went left. As you'll see in the video, Jack & Rudy are completely prepared to abandon the groom and continue forward (as we've always done before). So, you'll hear me call out a "Left" to my pals. They slow momentarily; but then execute the left as requested and off we GO again. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a surprise beauty of an outing:

The hover huskies catching air being first tracks on the fresh groom. Zoom!

What a treat, right guys?

"Oh yes, now how about those end of run treats too?" says the happy kids.

There's nothing like a surprise groom for a fast & fun day: 9.4 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 78 days on the trails covering 611.9 miles with 58,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Dives

Another wonderful day skijoring with Jack & Rudy in soft snowmobile tracks atop Rabbit Ears Pass!

Whee! Zipping along! I am in a serious ski tuck to keep pace, thus the reason
you can see so much of the carabiner in the lower right of this photo.

We started on the Harrison Creek Trail at Rabbit Ears as was the case yesterday. But, a few miles in and we got to a junction. Yesterday we went straight at the junction, today we turned right to mix it up. As with yesterday, this was still an "out & back" route. So, we had to turnaround at some point. You know what that means from Jack & Rudy:

"Turnaround! Roll around!" goes the snow rolling sillies to cool
themselves off before turning and restarting :)

On the way back, those pesky "rodents under the snow" apparently were very active and caught Rudy's attention. So, off Rudy went rodent diving off trail and into the deep snow. Jack, of course, was quick to follow (with his typical "rodent lunge" versus Rudy's high arching dives).

"I sense rodents! Incoming!" says rodent diving Rudy.
"What? Really? Well I'll certainly join too!" adds Jack.

Today, instead of my usual video highlight showcasing hard working/running Jack & Rudy, I will expose the comedians. Come along for today's episode of diving & dunking and diving & dunking again from the silly kids determined to find one of those rodents under the snow! Goofballs :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Ok, comedy interlude over and it was back to Jack & Rudy the professional sled dogs:

Whee, back to "normal"!

Back to the trailhead and a nice snow wall to climb for end of run treats:

"We heard you laughing! You loved our rodent dive comedy event!" says
the happy kids very proud of their performance on the trail today :)

A nice day for following soft snowmobile tracks and, apparently, a nice day to dive off trail in search of rodents under the snow: 8.7 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 21 days on the trails covering 164.8 miles with 16,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Track Follow

Fun shot from the front as we finish yesterday's skijor at Gold Run Nordic Center.

Whee, happy kids towing me to the finish yesterday.

I did not have time to writeup yesterday's outing; but I wanted to include the fun shot from the front above in today's summary.

On to today... We had a blast following soft snowmobile trails into the backcountry at Rabbit Ears Pass. Look at this wonderful photo of Jack & Rudy catching air in soft & deep snowmobile track:

Whee - zipping along! Look at how deep this track is in the awesome
soft snow! Pretty nice for December 2nd!

Besides snowmobiles, there is one other thing Rabbit Ears Pass is known for: MOOSE (and elk, too, but moose are the most interesting to Jack and Rudy)! 

"Moose went this way! We should too!" suggests the silly kids trying to
convince me to leave the trail and search for moose. Haha, I vetoed that :)

Well, since the big bully human vetoed the off trail moose excursion, we might as well gallop along in these nice & soft snowmobile tracks again. 

Whee we go along this nice shelf with awesome views of Colorado below
us to our right.

Now let's have some video demonstration of the day's fun. Come along as we bounce & gallop along in these wonderful soft snowmobile tracks. Oh, you can catch some of the nice views to our right in the gaps between the trees, if you can take your eyes off fun Jack & Rudy that is :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We did an out & back on the Harrison Creek Trail at Rabbit Ears. Well, that meant we stopped to turnaround at one point. Yes, you guessed, it... turnaround antics from the comedians:

"Stop, drop and ROLL!" goes snow rolling Jack.
"Turnaround, WOOOOOOs abound!" sings entertaining Rudy.

Back to the trailhead and who is ready for end of run treats?

"Me, me, me!!!! READY!" says the app & focused fun kids.

Today's fun following snowmobile tracks into the backcountry: 6.9 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 20 days on the trails covering 156.1 miles with 15,300 feet of elevation climbed.

Fly

It was a beautiful morning to follow soft snowmobile tracks deep into the backcountry!

Jack & Rudy in a synchronized sprint tuck as we cruised for miles
and miles.

As I said, the snowmobile tracks were very soft (meaning they were somewhat recent) and Jack & Rudy were really enjoying putting the pedal to the metal whenever possible!

Fast flying Jack next to hovering Rudy - wheeee!

Now, how is this for an impressive shot of the speedsters?

Whee - we can FLY! What a fun shot of the flying kids.

Now come along for a video highlight summarizing the day. We start out in a gentle jog in snowmobile tracks through the trees. Then, we round a corner into a vast open meadow. Once out in the open, Jack & Rudy kick it into high gear and we really take off! Oh boy was I riding the skis hard to keep pace!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We did have a reason to stop twice during the outing. Our route was an "out and back" on the same trail, so we had a pause to turnaround at one point:

"Turnaround - Roll Around!" declares the silly snow rolling kids.

Then, at another point on our return leg, Jack found some moose tracks that were NOT there on our first pass. Jack quickly hopped off trail to inspect the tracks and Rudy was quick to follow.

"These were NOT here on our way out this trail! Very fresh!" declares
track inspecting Jack.
"Oh really! Let me see!!!!" adds Rudy joining Jack to inspect the tracks.

Despite those tracks being at most 20 minutes old, we did not see an actual moose. Darn  :)

Finally, back to the trailhead to celebrate another wonderful skijor outing by passing out end of run treats!

"Fun day! Fun day!" declares the happy kids.

A peaceful morning following soft snowmobile tracks for miles and miles: 9.2 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 39 days on the trails covering 325.6 miles with 31,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Cat Tracks

Endless miles of fresh snowcat tracks to follow out Harrison Creek at Rabbit Ears Pass this morning!

Zipping along in fresh snowcat tracks. Wheeee!

How did I know the snowcat tracks were fresh? Well, they were soft and super easy to glide along in. When snowcat tracks get stale (meaning they refreeze overnight), they get hard and very choppy. Jack, Rudy and I often have to abandon stale snowcat tracks we encounter as that is hard their feet and my knees. But, this morning was fresh, soft and perfect. We went along for miles and miles!!!

Far out in the Colorado backcountry. Pretty!

As we were cruising along, I realized these were really mini snowcat tracks. Mini, you ask? Well here you go when we intersected the cat coming back on the trail:

I'm sure it has a name other than "mini snowcat", but that's what I call it :)
"Hi dude, thanks for the tracks!" says Jack & Rudy to the cat driver.

As the driver got next to me, he stopped and opened his window to say, "Cool dogs! That's awesome!" as he had watched us running towards him before I stopped Jack & Rudy as we got close. Since he made such nice tracks for us this morning, I said, "Do you know the winter snowmobile shortcut on the other side of the next meadow?" (If you snowmobile up here, you'd know what I was referring to). He responded, "I sure do," to which I replied, "These two tell me the elk tracks at the shortcut are VERY fresh!" (it is still hunting season). His eyes lit up (as this shortcut was at most 5 minutes for him to intersect),  he gave me the thumbs up, closed his window and sped off quickly. 

If you are willing to make some nice cat tracks for us, we'll tell you where the elk have recently been.

On to today's video highlight. Outside of meeting the snowcat driver in the photo above, we did not see another soul on the trails! It was miles and miles and miles of jogging, sprinting and trotting deep into the backcountry. Come along and watch some of the fun yourself:

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Such a beautiful morning, how about another pretty shot?

Inside Jack getting into a tuck for the gentle left in the trail.
Outside Rudy flying around left alongside.

Sadly (for Jack & Rudy), we had to turnaround eventually and head back. I swear they would have gone ALL day on today's perfect conditions. Well, if you have to turnaround:

"Stop, Drop and ROLL!" goes the snow angel sillies at our turnaround point.

Back to the trailhead and just enough of a snow wall to get end of run treats from me standing (yay, my old knees appreciate it :)

"Fun day, perfect trail!" exclaims the happy kids.

A beautiful and perfect day: 9.7 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH (our top speed of the season, although we'll certainly hit 26 MPH once the conditions allow).

20232024 Season to Date: 22 days on the trails covering 177.5 miles with 17,100 feet of elevation climbed.