Fresh then First

Jack & Rudy "kicking up powder" as we cruise along a relatively untouched trail in the morning's new snow!

Rudy kicking up powder in the existing track.
Jack kicking up powder in the untouched snow out of track.

I had a great plan for the morning outing and was hoping I got the timing right. Our route had us starting on ungroomed trails. The plan was to eventually drop onto the trails of Gold Run Nordic Center and do one lap on these fast trails. We then dipped into the ungroomed forest for a side tour before returning to Gold Run for another lap on the nordic trails. My plan for Gold Run was to be "fresh tracks" and then "first tracks". Did we succeed?

Well, here we are on the first lap at Gold Run. What did we have? Well, Jack & Rudy laying fresh tracks in the morning's new snow atop the nordic trail. Yay for fresh tracks.

Fresh tracks zoom.

We then turned off the nordic center for a bit before returning to the same nordic trail. What did we have? Well, Jack & Rudy laying first tracks on the freshly groomed trail. Yay for first tracks. The following photo is basically the exact same location as the prior. Fresh tracks in the prior, first tracks in the next.

First tracks zoom.

This was exactly what I was hoping to time right this morning. One lap before the groomer and then one lap after the groomer. The groomer runs "in the morning" but not on an exact schedule, so I was pretty much estimating when to be out to get the trail before and after the groomer. 

What perfect timing! Come along for today's "fresh then first tracks" video. The first 20 seconds is Jack & Rudy laying fresh tracks along the nordic trail. The last 40 seconds contains the same stretch of trail as the first 20 plus a lot more of this stretch of trail. In the last 40 seconds, though, we are now first tracks on the newly groomed trail. What a fun "fresh then first" outing!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

In between the two laps, Jack & Rudy took a quick moment to cool their jets by rolling in the snow :)

"Gotta cool the jets before repeating that fast lap!" demonstrates
the silly snow rolling kids.

I love it when a plan comes together so perfectly!

"Cool! I taught you well!" Zorro is telling me :)
"Wow did you time that perfectly!" states happy Jack.
"Dude, I'm impressed!" adds chilling Rudy.
Love all the snowflakes you can see against my coat/hat too!

A perfectly timed fun, fun day: 10.1 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 110 days on the trails covering 899.2 miles with 77,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Perfect Plan

Riding the "Jack & Rudy Tow Rope" as we lay fresh tracks skijoring up Boreas Pass Road!

Laying freshies in 3-5 inches of fresh snow all the way up Boreas. Wheeee!

We came up with a perfect idea of how to make use of Boreas Pass in early season as we try to exercise the youngsters (Jack & Rudy) while still allowing elder Zorro to come along for part of the outing. Here was the plan: (1) Jack, Rudy & I would start skijoring up Boreas Pass and Nancy & Zorro would stay behind at the trailhead; (2) After giving us a headstart, Nancy & Zorro would eventually drive up Boreas until they reached us; (3) We would then add Zorro to the team, Nancy would drive back down Boreas and Zorro, Jack, Rudy & I would skijor down the pass.

This plan was perfect for two reasons: we got a full outing in for Jack & Rudy and then Zorro got to come along for a short run downhill in packed tire tracks. Perfect!

Jack, Rudy & I were making such good time going up, that we skijored roughly a mile past Bakers Tank and then turned around and skijored back to Bakers Tank to wait for Nancy & Zorro. We got to open up the skijor engine coming back in the track we set going up:

Zipping along in the track we laid on the way up.

We were so fast, that we got back to Bakers Tank before Nancy & Zorro arrived. What do you think Jack & Rudy did while we waited for Nancy & Zorro? Ha, you guessed it...

"We are stopped, so we will roll snow angels!" demonstrate the goof twins.
Pretty shot of Bakers Tank too :)

Once Nancy & Zorro arrived, we added in Zorro and ZOOOOM, we took off using the tire tracks Nancy & Zorro set on the way up as a pseudo groomed trail. Wheeee!

Yay, we've got Zorro added in for the short & easy return leg.

Today's short video clip is the counterpart of the prior photo. Come along as we make use of the tire track for a fast packed trail coming back down Boreas Pass.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Eventually we caught up with Nancy waiting for us a ways down the road. Happy, happy sled dogs completing their morning run:

"Hi mom - this was a PERFECT day!" exclaims the happy trio.

A perfect day exercising the youngsters with a fun way to add Zorro into the end of the day's outing: 6.5 miles traveled with 650 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 9 days on the trails covering 51.7 miles with 5250 feet of elevation climbed.