Reroute

We found over 2 feet of fresh, untouched snow on this morning's skijor outing!

Jack & Rudy powering through 2 feet of powder. Impressive.

My original plan for the day was to do a one way skijor, starting from one trailhead and finishing at another. We had new snow overnight, so I was expecting to be laying fresh tracks with Jack & Rudy on my one way plan. Well, as you see above (and below), the new snow was WAY deeper than I expected. As the snow got deeper, it was clear that my one way planned route was not a good idea today:

Stalled for a moment in a ton of deep snow.

While Jack & Rudy have no problem breaking trail, I like to reward them on deep snow outings with "out & back" routes. That means they get to break trail in one direction and then reuse the track we set on the way out on the way back. It's nice to give them that reward for hard trail breaking work on the way out. So, I rerouted us a different direction to a trail that Jack & Rudy know is an "out & back" as that is the only option on this particular trail (unless you want to skijor 20+ miles one way to the next trailhead :) So, cruising we went until I announced it was time to turnaround and head back. Everybody ready?

"Not yet, need to stop, drop and ROLL an intense snow angel first!" goes silly Jack.
"Woo, you bet! Let's floor it back!" adds Rudy singing in approval.

So, then it was time to reuse the track we worked to hard to set on the way out. Whee!

Enjoying our "out track" on the return.

But, while running back in your "out track" in 1-2 feet of snow is easier (than the way out), it is by no means EASY! Come along for today's video fun to see what I mean. Watch as Jack, Rudy and I are having fun bouncing up, down, back & forth in today's ton of fresh snow. Wheeee! 

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead and my pals are very willing to accept 'end of run' treats after a deep powder workout this morning:

"Ready! You have our FULL attention!" says the focused pair.

It's always fun when you get to announced "today's skijor was slowed by 1-2 feet of powder!" - 6.4 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 56 days on the trails covering 422.2 miles with 40,300 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Ready Jack?

 Nice shot of fast Jack & Rudy as we approach a vast meadow along the trail:

Wheeee!

We spent most of the day on snowmobile trails tucked away deep in the forest. Jack and Rudy were having a blast towing me all over the place:

Wheeee again! :)

Today's video highlight gives you a glimpse of goofy Jack. The video starts at our turnaround point of the outing. As you see, since Jack has to wait for me to get turned around, he is doing his usual "stop activity" of rolling snow angels. But, if your volume is up, you'll hear me say, "Are you ready Jack?" That question is all he needs to pop up out of his snow angel and off we go! That Jack, what a goofball!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Along the way we stopped to inspect an old mining cabin. Rudy thinks we should move in:

"Woo! Let's move in!!!" suggests wooing Rudy.

To end the day, we got to do a little trail breaking as I was accidentally on the wrong trail to meet up with Nancy and Zorro. No problem, though, I just instructed the kids to abandon trail and make our own:

Aerobic trail breaking with impressive snow troughs behind
trail breaking Jack and Rudy!

Of course, the highlight of every day: meeting up with elder Zorro for group 'end of run' treats!

Group party!

An enjoyable skijor in the forest with Jack & Rudy this morning: 7.4 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 42 days on the trails covering 328.0 miles with 30,000 feet of elevation climbed.