Eek, the Creek!

Everybody having a good time this morning?

"You bet!!!" says the happy, happy sled dogs thrilled to still be on snow in May.

Today's outing took us to the Dumont Lake area at Rabbit Ears Pass. I was hoping for another smooth Spring Crust skijor like yesterday. Although there was a firm crust of snow, it was a very bumpy crust. I was bouncing all over the place trying to keep pace with Jack & Rudy on this bumpy terrain:

Jack & Rudy cruising along while my legs and knees were getting
beat up amidst all the bumps!

Some of this bumpiness was due to heavy snowmobile traffic on this part of Rabbit Ears and some was just the melting snowpack. So, I turned us away from the most popular snowmobile pathways and, sure enough, we found much smoother terrain to run on top of. It was still a little bumpy, but nothing compared to the extreme bumps in the high traffic areas:

"Ah, this is much smoother!" says my appreciative knees :)

What is all that black/brown ahead of us in the prior photo? Well, it is an exposed creek! It's always sad when the creek breaks through on our late season mountain passes as this means the end of the season really is near. Come along for today's video highlight of our skijor to the edge of the creek. We start out on a very nice crust. Then Jack & Rudy slow nicely as the terrain gets a little bumpy as we arrive to the edge of the creek. Of course the smart kids know the fast flowing creek is nothing to mess with, so we stop to turnaround. The creek, by the way, is Muddy Creek which will take all this wonderful snow melt into the Colorado River.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Since the creek was wide and running fast, there was no way to cross, so we backtracked until we found a safe crossing point (a few "snow bridges" are still intact which let you cross the creek safely):

Cruising along the edge of Muddy Creek until we could find a snow bridge
to safely cross over the creek.

Did I use the word "turnaround" above? Yep, so you know what that means:

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes the funny snow rolling kids.

Another sign the season is winding down (in addition to the exposed creek)? Well, when you have to seek out snow piles amidst exposed ground for end of run treats, you know things are winding down :)

At least we found this little snow pile for end of run treats!
The treats just don't taste the same if your toes are not on snow!

Today's skijor tally: 7.7 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 153 days on the trails covering 1292.8 miles with 128,300 feet of elevation climbed.

Bumpy

 Cruising by onlooking Zorro (with Nancy) as we complete this morning's skijor:

"Looking good kids! I taught you well!" says onlooking Zorro.

We did an out & back run from the Muddy Creek Trailhead at Rabbit Ears Pass. At our furthest and highest points, conditions were really nice:

Beautiful stretch of trail! Wheeee!

But, it has been a few days since we have had new snow and the daily highs have been well above freezing. This means the trail conditions near the trailheads were packed, bumpy and slick in areas. Come along and watch my bumpy ride behind Jack & Rudy. But, also note how both of them auto-adjust their speeds to what they hear from my skis. If the skis are scraping, they automatically slow to a jog or trot! Fun conclusion to the video as we cruise by onlooking Zorro & Nancy, "Hi Zorro!"

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

To rest my knees from the bumpy terrain and give Jack & Rudy some powder fun, we went off trail for a short distance to enjoy the untouched snow:

Plowing through deep snow off trail. Wheeee!

At our turnaround point of the day and we get a mix of comedic interlude. The typical snow rolling Jack but accompanied by a wooing Rudy today :)

"Rolling, aaaahhhh, rolling!" demonstrates always rolling Jack.
"Woo! Get up, let's go!!!" adds wooing Rudy.

Back to the trailhead and I love my occasional private moments with retired Zorro before collecting the kids for 'end of run' treats:

Having a great, private moment with wonderful Zorro.

A nice, gentle cruise with Jack & Rudy this morning at Muddy Creek: 7 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 25 days on the trails covering 190.8 miles with 16,600 feet of elevation climbed.

Two then Three

Look at this - what I believe is my first "hover husky" shot of Jack & Rudy running together!

All 8 feet off the ground as we flying along a semi-packed snowmobile trail. Wheeee!

We did a split run this morning to give the youngsters some extra exercise before adding Zorro into the team to finish the day's run. Jack, Rudy and I had a great time cruising along the trails near Dumont Lake at Rabbit Ears Pass. The GPS clocked us at 23 MPH at one point, although I swear I felt like I was going faster than that! Oh well, 23 MPH it is since that is what the GPS reported.

While we had a great time cruising around before adding Zorro, all the real entertainment happened on Zorro's leg of the outing (hint: the entertainment wasn't from Zorro :)

Nice shot of the sprinting trio with Rabbit Ears Peak at the top, just left of center, in the foreground.

Jack & Rudy took a rare day off from rodent dunks & dives yesterday; but did roll snow angels. Well, today we are back to the dunk & dive brothers. Oh, and don't worry, Jack rolled his share of snow angels to keep his streak alive - he has rolled at least one snow angel EVERY skijor outing of his young career! Anyway, back to today's dunk & dive:

"DUNK - I swear I smell rodents under the snow!" declares Jack.
"Incoming Rodent Dive!" demonstrates comical Rudy.
"Uh, children, I thought we were going skijoring this way!" adds Zorro who, as you see, wanted
to continue up the trail but was halted by the dunk & dive antics.

A little further along and it was time for the kids to give the "Rabbit Ears Pass Marker" a close inspection :)

"Wonder if rodents live down here?" suggests the goof kids.
"Been there, sniffed that - nothing of interest. Plus I KNOW we are turning right
onto the Muddy Creek Trail!" says all business Zorro still trying to continue the
skijor despite the kids' antics :)

Of course, Zorro was right (he almost always is)! Come along as we cruise the Muddy Creek Trail to end this morning's skijor. Notice the beautiful bluebird day with the winter wonderland of snow covered trees all around us!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, the well deserved 'end of run' treats :)

"No antics from me - I'm a professional!" says focused Zorro.
"We cannot help ourselves - we love to run & throw in random entertainment!' says
the happy & silly kids.

Fun day near Dumont Lake and Muddy Creek at Rabbit Ears Pass with 2 and then 3 skijor partners: 8.3 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 43 days on the trails covering 287.4 miles with 28,200 feet of elevation climbed.