Treat

Today was a wonderful, albeit rare, skijor in French Gulch. Come along for the fun!

Whee - zipping along laying fresh tracks in 2-4 inches of fresh snow.

Why was this a rare outing? Well, the gulch gets plowed after any significant amount of snow. But, with only a few inches of new snow this morning, it was not worth the time or cost to have it plowed. Yet, there was plenty of new snow for me to be on skis safely behind Jack & Rudy. What a treat!

Come along and watch some of the fun!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The tracks you see to our left in both the photo and video are our "out tracks" on this same trail. Knowing this, you might be wondering "what happened" in the photo above and at 21 and 25 seconds into the video. You'll notice our footprints and ski prints seem to drift off trail for a moment. Well, French Gulch is known for its active moose population. On the way out (going a little slower uphill), Jack & Rudy caught the clear "scent of moose" and had to hop up the snow wall to peek down into the gulch for moose. French Creek runs down the center of the gulch and it is very common to spot moose meandering around on the banks of the creek:

"We smell MOOSE! Must climb this snow wall to try and get a view!" says
the snow wall climbing, moose seeking sillies.

I climbed the wall too (much slower than Jack & Rudy :) to peek myself. I did not see any moose either time; but I could tell by Jack & Rudy's intensity that the scent was clear & strong in the air!

For added entertainment, we did an out & back extension on what is known as the Little French Gulch Trail. Did I say "out & back"? Well, you know what that means happened at one point!

Turnaround, roll around! The kids were slightly out of sync in rolling their
snow angels this morning. In this photo, Jack has just finished rolling his angel
(note the indentation in the snow behind him) while Rudy was just starting his.
Jack looked on with approval :)

This extension does not get plowed and is popular with backcountry skinners. As a result, it is a very narrow single track trail. It was so narrow that we had to skijor single file to fit in the packed track since the snow outside the track was very deep. Not a problem, Jack & Rudy are very capable of adapting to narrow trails :)

Jack's turn to run in front of the single file setup.
They switched after a while and then it was Rudy's turn to run in the lead. 
Flexible & adaptable guys!

After the Little French Gulch narrow extension, it was back onto the main French Gulch Trail. Wide again with fresh snow - time to floor it again!

Wheeee!

A fun French Gulch treat this morning. Right guys?

"Yes! Love our rare outings in moosey French Gulch!" says the happy kids
awaiting end of run treats atop a snow wall.

Today's tally: 8.2 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 67 days on the trails covering 517.6 miles with 49,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Risk/Reward

Rolling Snow Angels was the "comedy of the day" on yesterday's skijor outing :)

Silly Zorro rolling to cool off as he also has his head and face doused in fresh powder :)
Notice the ski tracks through deep snow to our left - this is the trail Zorro carved for
me to follow deep in French Gulch. No wonder he needed to cool off!

It was a risk/reward day on the trails yesterday morning...

The risk? Well, lower French Gulch has suddenly become over-plowed this season. We had 15 inches of fresh snow the last 48 hours yet the lower trail had only a thin 1/4 to 1/2 inch of snow over frozen dirt. Argh - hate the city folks who have decided to destroy French Gulch this year!

Yikes, this is "risky skijoring" as my skis could catch a rock or dirt patch any second!

Why endure the risk? Well, the reward is the beauty of upper French Gulch and its miles of deep snow and scenic terrain.

Such a beautiful shot of Zorro towing me along the single track trail while a glorious
bluebird morning develops around us!

In addition to the great snow in upper French Gulch, the other reward is getting onto some of the deep snow side trails from the risky lower trail.

Come along and watch as Zorro and I skijor the narrow single track trail of Little French Gulch. Backcountry skijoring at its best! I love the end of the video as we approach the drop from the backcountry onto the lower main trail. Zorro automagically slows to a slow trot/walk as we approach the dropoff (without a word needed from me). He keeps the slow pace until he hears my soft "OK" letting him know it is ok to take the drop and restart preferred speeds. You have to have your volume up real high to have any chance of hearing my soft "OK" - but this was all Zorro needed. He knows unsafe trail conditions and will slow (without command) until hearing my release. Such a good skijor partner!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Rounding out the day as we picked up little Jack for a short wind sprint to finish the outing. Jack says, "Whew - what a wind sprint! I hear rolling snow angels to cool off is the theme of the day!"

"Chomp, chomp - eating snowcones is in order too!" says Zorro as you can just make out a
mouthful of snow he is chomping down on.
"Rub a dub dub, aaahhhh!" says silly puppy Jack.

Risky skijoring down low; but worth it to get to the incredible terrain up high and off to the sides: 7.3 miles traveled with 850 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2017/2018 Season to Date: 32 days on the trails covering 235.1 miles with 20,300 feet of elevation climbed.

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Fast to Deep

It was "fast fresh tracks" to "deep trail breaking" in French Gulch this morning!

We added a bit of the Little French Gulch trail to our outing. At our turnaround point in
Little French. "What a fun day!" exclaim my happy partners.

The lowest part of French Gulch was wide enough for us to still get the opportunity to lay fresh tracks on one side of the trail:

Existing set of ski tracks to the left, so we chose the light layer of fresh snow to the right.

We were then first tracks on a light layer of fresh snow in mid French Gulch:

Zipping along in an inch or so of fresh snow.

We were first tracks in deepening snow in the upper section of French Gulch:

Breaking trail in about 6-7 inches of fresh powder - wheeee!

Eventually, far back in French Gulch, it got so deep that we switched to single file skijoring to alternate who was the trail breaking leader in 14+ inches of fresh powder:

Lead the way Max! He is the most incredible trail breaker with his long legs!

We were in French Gulch, so....

Our noses pulled us off the trail with the "scent of moose" and, sure enough, we spotted one
deep in the forest. Too far to get on camera but close enough to get in the nose!

Fast fresh tracks to deep trail breaking in French Gulch: 7.4 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2015/2016 Season to Date: 58 days on the trails covering 492.3 miles with 51800 feet of elevation climbed.

Moose

It started as such a peaceful early morning skijoring French Gulch today...

Trotting along, enjoying the peaceful day.

It was peaceful until.... MOOSE! We encountered 2 moose on the trail.

As we came around a bend in the trail, all moose broke loose!
It might be hard to see in the photo, but it felt soooo close! The Siberians have it
in sight and are locked & ready to launch. There is another moose to the left; but
Max & Zorro are locked on the one highlighted above.

What to do when encountering moose while skijoring? Throw your body to the ground in an attempt to anchor the wild Siberians!

As you can see by the angle of the skis, I am on the ground attempting to anchor the moose
juiced pair! Luckily the moose wanted nothing to do with us and trotted away.

"Why did they leave? Why are you on the ground stopping us from chasing? Come back
moose, come back!" exclaim Max & Zorro after both moose trotted far off in the distance.
Almost time for me to try and stand up...

As I said, an otherwise peaceful morning disrupted by a shot of "moose juice" in the Siberians! We skijored out & back in French Gulch and up & down Little French Gulch - 7.2 miles with 1050 feet of elevation climbed.

Half and Half

A nice "half and half" day skijoring in French Gulch. (1) The lower half of the trail was well-traveled: a wide, well-used trail with 0-2 inches of fresh snow. (2) The upper half of the trail was all to ourselves: breaking trail in 4-8 inches of fresh snow over a very narrow "hidden" trail. The established trail in the upper half is only one Siberian wide (or one pair of skis wide), so we had to skijor single file through this section. As usual, if you stepped off the established trail, you sunk into a couple of feet of snow.

Breaking trail in about 6-8 inches on a narrow "one Siberian wide" trail. Max
and Zorro glancing back at me to say, "Hey dude - narrow trail, breaking trail -
put that camera away and keep in sync!"

Max out in front leading the way. You cannot see the trail - but it is there as
a well-packed base under the fresh snow. It always amazing me how well Max
and Zorro can stay on a hidden trail and not fall off the edges into much deeper
snow. As soon as the hidden trail gets too narrow to skijor shoulder-to-shoulder,
they automatically drop into single file configuration. Smart Guys!

A look back at our tracks ascending up the Little French Gulch trail. We took
a quick break here before heading back down. The sun was nice enough to
break out of the clouds to warm me a bit during the break. It was 4 degrees when
we started with a strong, gusting wind - so, the brief sun was much appreciated!

Apparently I took too long taking a break in the sun. Max and Zorro, tired of
waiting for me, decide to go "head dunking" and exploring off the trail. Wonder
who found the best buried treasures?

Ah - apparently Max's treasure hole was the most interesting. Here comes
Zorro to help explore. Don't worry, I flipped the gangline over the poor little
tree behind Zorro before he could snap the tree in half!  :-)

Vital Stats: 7.1 miles; 95m total time; 85m skijoring time; 19 MPH top speed; 1100 feet of elevation gain. That might seem like a "slow outing", but factor in 1/2 the time spent breaking trail over a narrow path and it makes sense...

What Goes Up...

Deepening snow, no tracks in front.
The trail is OURS to BLAZE! Woo!

What Goes Up ... Must Come Down - oh how we forget!

Friday (Jan 14th) found Max, Zorro and I exploring new terrain in Little  French Gulch. Highlights of the exploration:

• Swooshing up & down through untouched, waist deep powder in the backside of Little French Gulch! Woooosh!
• Remembering that if it is "steep up" then it will be "steep down" and driving all my weight into alternating legs to keep the Siberian vehicle under control!
• Discovering Max has just as much a problem as Zorro with being passed. NONE SHALL PASS is the official motto of my Husky pair!
• Hitting 19 MPH on the way down - our fastest recorded backcountry time yet!

Details of our route (see image below): (1) started at the French Gulch winter trailhead (FG-TH) and skijored up to the Little French Gulch junction (LF-JCT); (2) left onto the Little French trail; (3) continued up to and past the Little French Crosspoint (LF-XP); (4) no tracks from here: blazed our own trail (in waist deep powder) up the ravine behind Little French Gulch to LF-CLRNG; (5) took a break to rest the human and then sprinted back down the ravine in waist deep powder to the crosspoint (LF-XP); (6) hung a left at LF-XP and skijored up to the LF-PATH point; (7) rested the human again, decided we better conserve the human and started back down (to LF-XP to LF-JCT to FG-TH).

Satellite view of our path (click to enlarge).

Coming down from the LF-PATH point to LF-JCT was highlighted by 2 major events:

1. "Whoa, this is steep [down] in areas!" In places this was some of the steepest terrain we have descended (the ascent part, as always with my Siberian Husky engine, was a breeze). Determined to prove my improving intermediate skills, I refused to fall - I was alternating driving all my weight into each leg to keep our skijor vehicle under control. As one leg began to scream I would switch to the next and drive it hard for control. Max & Zorro, you ask, well they have expert skills and simply said, "you give us slack and we'll go fast - woooo!" For most of the ride it was a smashing success - I was exhausted, but we conquered expert down terrain without issue. Except...
2. At the steepest point, I paused to get us under control and slowly maneuver this one ultra-steep point. We descended this short section just fine; but, as fate would have it, another back-country skier caught up to us (the lucky soul did NOT have the "fine" Siberian Husky downhill assistance I had ;-)  To be nice, I moved Max, Zorro and I to the side and let her pass (planning to rest while she got sufficiently far ahead before we restarted). Unfortunately, Max & Zorro took this act of kindness differently - both had serious issues with BEING PASSED! The Husky motto of "None Shall Pass" came into full affect. Once I released us to start, the 2 of them bolted at FULL SPEED to catch skier in front - such a bolt that I went face first right into the snow. We then proceeded to perform the following act: Max/Zorro waiting at the end of the gang line, but leaning forward wanting to GO; I start to rise from the snow and Max/Zorro feel a little slack in the gang line and lunge forward; I, once again, go face first into the snow; I "discuss" the situation with my partners and how they need to wait for me to get up and release before going. Repeat this act about 4 times! Finally I was able to get upright without the "lunge brothers" help and off we went (believe me, it was "pedal to the metal" once I did give them the release to go!)

Vital Stats: 6.8 miles; 2hrs total; 95min moving time; 4.3 MPH moving average; 19 MPH top speed!!! 1900 feet in total elevation gain... Fun!

Lower sections of Little French Gulch Trail.
Note the path is clearly marked, although we are the fresh tracks in the recent snow.

Taking a short break as I survey the route & landscape.
Notice "no tracks" in front of us, we are beginning our blaze into waist-deep powder.
Notice Zorro taking advantage of the break to roll & cool himself in the snow!

Our original "high point" (LF-CLRNG in the map above).
With deepening snow & unclear path, I decided to turnaround at this point.

Look closely and you can see our "fresh tracks path" we blazed up the ravine.
We skied down just to the right - blazing a full sprint, downhill trail through waist to knee deep powder!

We progressed down from LF-CLRNG to LF-XP and then up to this "Final High Point".
This is a shot looking down at what was our original high point before ascending up to this poing from LF-XP.

At our high point, Max and Zorro say, "What do you mean we are turning around?!!!??
Come on, let's continue onward and upward!"