Opening up the skijoring engine on the fast packed French Gulch Trail. Zoom!
Zoom, zoom, zoom we go!
Today was a "second verse same as the first" skijor :)
On Sunday, we encountered a moose less than a 1/4 mile from the trailhead. The moose ran all the way out the packed section of French Gulch and then stopped when he ran out of packed terrain and got into the 7+ feet of snow we had in the last week.
Today was second verse same as the first. We returned to French Gulch and were peacefully skijoring when, after about 1 to 1.5 miles we encountered the SAME MOOSE on the trail again. Once again the moose saw us and took off running out the French Gulch Trail. Once again he never left the trail to go into the forest (which is the typical moose behavior unless the snow is incredibly deep). Once again he went to the end of the packed section of French Gulch, hit deep snow and turned around to declare "the trail ends here". Second verse same as the first:
Almost the exact same point he turned around on Sunday.
He had his head lowered and swaying back & forth declaring, "None shall pass!"
Not a problem Mr. Moose, we will happily turn around!
I convinced my partners to admit defeat and retreat from the moose. I got them a few yards back and then I heard the moose snort. Yikes, we stopped again and stayed still until he finally lost interest in us and then we high tailed it out of there!
"Jeez dude - you trail hog! We were leaving until you snorted at us!" say my intense partners.
Luckily everyone listened to my "wait, easy and quiet" commands until he lost interest!
A week ago we were on French Gulch and encountered fresh moose tracks. This got everyone very energized (and me very cautious around all blind curves). But that day all we encountered was a big Newfoundland on the trail. I jokingly said, "Almost a Moose, Just a Newf". Well, today was the same newf (he is a local we encounter often). But, after having just seen the moose, I take back the "almost a moose". Even a big newf pales in comparison to a moose!
"Hey Newf, you are CLEARLY not almost a moose!" say my partners as we pause to let
the newf & owner get under control before passing.
Another day, another moose close encounter! We need the snowpack to melt a little to let the moose back out to the forests; but we have another foot of snow in the forecast! End of an exciting run, time for end of run treats:
"You have our full attention!!!!" say the focused trio.
Another day, another moose: 6.4 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.
2018/2019 Season to Date: 72 days on the trails covering 387.2 miles with 34,500 feet of elevation climbed.
Zorro & Jack hovering in the shade as Rudy is an out-stretched sprinting machine
in the sun. Zoom!
We did an out & back on the French Gulch Trail this morning. Not much excitement on the way out, just a peaceful run on a fast trail. But, on the way back we encountered a set of moose tracks on the trail. "Whoa!!!! These weren't here on the way out!" I said. "We know - LET'S GO!" said my moose seeking partners!
The red arrow points to moose tracks going our direction on the trail (and you can see
more following straight ahead). These were not here on the way out! My pals noticed,
of course, and wanted to kick the skijor machine into another gear to find the moose!
After encountering the tracks, I was on high alert. I slowed as we approached every blind corner (as much as I could slow behind the moose juiced trio) expecting to find a moose on the trail at any moment. My pals kept urging me to uncork it and let them go. What a bunch of moose goofs!
Come along for today's video fun. We are on a fast packed trail with fresh moose tracks. I am trying my hardest to keep speeds under control versus the moose trio who are trying their hardest to catch the moose. Suddenly we come around a bend and, low and behold, look what we encounter: A big Newfoundland, not a Moose. Almost a Moose, just a Newf :)
We know this newf and his owner. From past experience we know that we cannot pass him when he is alone on the trail (he'll jump in the middle of our team tethered to me and we will get into a tangled mess). But, once his human gets with him, we can all pass safely.
Almost a Moose - just a Newf!
The last frame from the video above as we are stopped to wait for the people behind the
newf to catch up so we can all pass safely.
I have been waiting for conditions to announce Rudy's latest advancement. He was born on December 29 (2017), so we evaluate him at the end of every month and decide if he's grown to advance further in his skijoring career. Well, we decided on March 1st, that he was ready to go 10 minutes longer in his outings (40 minute outings instead of 30). but, it then proceeded to snow 4+ feet since that time, so we have (happily) not had conditions to open him up to 40. Well, today was the day to turn Rudy loose on fast packed French Gulch.
The only problem? The lower and middle sections of French Gulch get plowed and the upper section does not. As a result, there is a snow wall transition from the middle to upper terrain. Well, add 4+ feet of snow to a plowed/unplowed transition and you get an insurmountable snow wall for the transition! As we got to the wall, Jack & Rudy were all for giving it a try. Zorro was waiting for my decision until he saw his brothers going and then he joined in too:
Climbing the 7+ foot snow wall (4+ new added to the existing wall).
"Follow me!" declares Rudy the explorer.
"Oh boy, Zorro's coming too!" adds Jack looking back to Zorro.
"Boing - here I come too!" demonstrates Zorro launching himself up the snow wall.
At the top of the wall and everyone is waiting for me. The wall is easily over 7 feet high as I was looking up to them. Silly Siberians, it would take me FOREVER to take my skis off and climb this wall (and then we'd be in 4 feet of deep snow).
"A little deep, but passable!" declares Rudy buried in deep snow atop the wall.
"Looks navigable to us!" add Zorro & Jack.
Despite the encouragement from all three, I did not climb the wall with them and called them all back instead. In order to get Rudy his first 40 minute skijor, we did a section of the packed trail 4 times instead of 2 (out, back, out, back).
What a fun day: (1) Almost a Moose, just a Newf; (2) An Insurmountable Snow Wall; and (3) Young Rudy's first 6+ mile skijor!!!
6.3 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.
2018/2019 Season to Date: 67 days on the trails covering 360.3 miles with 32,200 feet of elevation climbed.
