Snow Wall

Shoulder to shoulder flying along the Sallie Barber Mine Trail this morning. Wheeee!

Such perfect, synchronized form. Impressive :)

This morning found us skijoring the fun Sallie Barber Mine Trail. This trail, though, is somewhat short for Jack & Rudy's liking, so we always enjoy adding to it when the snow permits. There are lots of single track offshoots from the main trail to explore. Today we FINALLY had enough snow for the offshoots to be safe to skijor. Our offshoot this morning had a narrow set track from previous skiers. The set track was only "one Siberian Husky wide" and the snow out of the track was too deep for one of Jack/Rudy to run in track and the other keep pace out of track. So, what to do? Well, the smart kids have no problem arranging themselves into single file skijoring to keep the fun going:

Rudy running point while Jack takes a break behind him.

I never have to say anything, the smart kids automagically adapt and configure themselves to fit in the narrow set track. The guy in front, though, is now doing all the work (leading & pulling) while the guy in back is taking a break and merely jogging along. So, kids will eventually switch positions to even out the load. Again, I say nothing, they do this all on their own. So smart :)

Jack's turn to run point while Rudy takes a break behind him.

While the single track offshoots are fun, the most entertainment is getting back on the wide main trail and flooring it. Here we are zooming by the historic Sallie Barber Mine:

Wheeee!

Now come along for the video counterpart of the prior photo. We start out gliding by the historic mine and then floor it on this wonderful wide trail amidst very dense trees on each side. What a peaceful run!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

But, today's real highlight was our first snow wall to climb for end of run treats this season. A plow had cleared the trailhead parking lot recently and a small snow wall was now available for Jack & Rudy to climb to receive treats. They LOVE doing this (and I love not having to get down on my knees :)

Not the tallest of snow walls; but still a sufficient wall to climb and receive
treats from me in a standing position. Yay!

The conditions are finally starting to come together this season with more snow in the forecast. Today's tally: 5.7 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 5 days on the trails covering 27.7 miles with 3300 feet of elevation climbed.

Flirts

"Hello from the historic Sallie Barber Mine!" says the happy sled dogs.

"HELLO!"

We did a "different than usual" skijor tour around Sallie Barber this morning. We started the day by climbing to the mine from the quiet, backside trail. As is usual with the silly kids, it was necessary to stop, drop and roll in the snow after the initial climb to the mine. We typically do the initial climb from the frontside. But, as you see, climbing from the front or the back yields the same snow rolling results:

"Ahhh, rub a dub dub, cooling our jets after the initial climb!" says the
snow rolling goofballs.

Then, for another different twist, we went out & back on the narrow Trail of Tears starting at the mine. This trail is barely 2 Siberians wide in the summer and gets even narrower with snowpack. Sometimes Jack & Rudy can still fit shoulder to shoulder in the winter; but often they have to switch to single file skijoring to fit on the narrow single track. They still jog and tow me at a nice pace in this configuration, just not nearly as fast as when both are able to pull side by side :)

Jack taking the lead to tow me on the narrow Trail of Tears while
Rudy takes a break jogging behind him (they do switch to take
turns doing the work in the lead).

Finally, it was time for us to complete the day on the popular frontside of the Sallie Barber Mine Trail. Jack & Rudy love flooring it on this trail and flirting with the crowds we often encounter.

"Hi! Coming through!" says the fun kids. Rudy always gives onlookers a
flirting glance when he is on the inside lane when we pass. Jack is typically
all business flying by whether he is on the inside of outside lane.

Did I mention Rudy loves to flirt when he is on the inside lane? A little more proof:

"Whee! Made you smile!" says silly Rudy giving another flirting glance
from the inside lane as we glide on by.
"Yes, made you smile; but 'focus forward', 'focus forward' - maintain speed!"
adds all business Jack.

We'll go back to the first "on by" photo above for today's video highlight. Come along as we weave through a couple of curves in the trail before flooring in on an open straightaway to eventually fly on by the oncoming snowshoer. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead and a much better snow wall to climb for treats than yesterday, yay!

"We love climbing snow walls to get treats!" says the happy & focused kids.

A quick, but very fun, outing at Sallie Barber this morning: 4.6 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 30 days on the trails covering 229.5 miles with 22,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Single Track

The comedians, Jack & Rudy, rolling snow angels in a deep snowmobile track we found to follow for miles and miles into the backcountry.

"Rub a dub dub!" goes the snow rolling sillies.

That snowmobile track in the prior photo looks wonderful, right? Well, it was indeed. When we could, Jack & Rudy got side by side in this track and ran, ran, ran :)

Whee! Making use of a wonderful snowmobile track.

But, this snowmobile track was not too fresh as we found lots of places where the track had been wind blown and got very narrow and choppy. In fact, we spent the majority of this morning's outing in single file skijoring as the track was not wide enough to fit Jack & Rudy and stepping out of the center of the track was too deep, soft and choppy for either to run in and keep pace. Not a problem, Jack & Rudy are very experienced at running in narrow single tracks and taking turns who runs in lead:

Too narrow to fit side by side and too soft/choppy to run out of the narrow
track. No problem, single file skijoring. 

Along the way, Rudy got quite distracted by rodents under the snow off trail. Incoming!

"Rodent dive! Incoming!" goes high arching, fox-like Rudy.
"What's going on back there?" asks Jack glancing back to see what Rudy
is up to.

Jack didn't participate in the rodent dive and Rudy hopped back on trail quickly. I guess the rodents were not too active under the snow. Or, was Jack saving himself? Saving for what, you ask...

"Big Moose went this way!" declares Jack & Rudy hopping off trail to inspect
a very deep trough of moose tracks. Moose sure are tall!

Rodent dives, moose troughs (we actually came across 4 different moose track troughs) and a lot of single file skijoring, what an interesting day!

"Yes, and we had a BLAST!" says the happy kids climbing a snow wall
for end of run treats.

8.1 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a modest top speed of 17 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 27 days on the trails covering 218.2 miles with 21,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Fresh Fun

End of run treats? Ready!

"Hey, your hands are empty! What gives?" asks cute Zorro (treats are
still in my pocket, I hadn't taken them out yet :)
"Tell us when you are finally ready!" says Rudy.
"I'll join in once you produce the treats!!!" adds Jack.

With a light layer of fresh snow falling overnight, we went to our "fresh snow go to" trail - Baldy Mountain. We started the day touring around narrow side trails for some fresh powder fun:

Look closely, there is a narrow set trail under the new snow that Jack & Rudy
are tucked into single file to "fit & go" - single file doesn't mean slow!!!

After a fun workout on the side trails, we headed to the main Baldy Mountain Trail. We found light trail usage before us with still plenty of fresh snow to give the human the confidence to uncork the skijoring engine:

Jack the skijoring missile.
Rudy the skijoring cannonball.
Wheeee!

We had so much fun on the main trail, we turned around and redid it again. Second verse (almost) same as the first:

Jack the skijoring missile again.
Rudy the skijoring cannonball again.
Second verse same as the first but with our positions swapped.

Only a super fast video highlight can match those two prior photos. Come along for the first pass of our "Baldy Zoom" as the GPS clocked us topping 24 MPH. Hang on human! Zoom!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

No trip on popular Baldy is complete without providing entertainment for the crowds. While we did not encounter any large group to wow, we did fly on by a handful of 1 and 2 person groups of skiers and snowshoers. Jack & Rudy are happy to impress all size crowds:

"Hi dude, bye dude!" says Jack & Rudy flying on by the onlooking snowshoer.

What a fun, fun day! That's all folks, come back tomorrow for more from Jack & Rudy! 8.8 miles traveled with 1200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 80 days on the trails covering 654.6 miles with 61,800 feet of elevation climbed.

Narrow Trails

Jack & Rudy cruising along Boreas Pass, wheeee!

Zooming along the fast packed trail.

Our route today took us into the backcountry to skijor from Baldy Mountain to Boreas Mountain. Despite the nice, wide photo above, we actually spent the majority of the day in single track trails only one Siberian Husky wide:

Following Jack in a single track tucked away far in the backcountry
between Baldy and Boreas.

Jack is the natural leader in our pack. So, he typically takes lead whenever we are on narrow single tracks. I expected this type of narrow trail between Baldy and Boreas. But, what was surprising was that popular Boreas was also a single track trail once we dropped onto it high up on Boreas Mountain. When our single track runs extend for long distances, Jack & Rudy will switch positions now and then to give Rudy a chance to run point. Honestly, Rudy prefers to run second and Jack prefers to run first; but when the single track extends for a long distance, they will alternate and let Rudy take lead to give Jack a break :)

Once on Boreas, we were surprised to find the trail still a single track.
Oh well, still fun and time to let Rudy get some exercise as lead :)

As I mentioned, Boreas is a very popular trail. So, as expected, once we got down the mountain a bit, the packed trail became wider and wider. As soon as both could fit, Jack & Rudy aligned shoulder to shoulder to open the throttle:

Wide enough to zoom! Wheeee!

Further down we came, the wider it got. While the trail in the first photo above was plenty wide, check out how the trail became "4 or 5 Siberians wide" once we got closer to the trailhead. Oh, and nice views of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from us too :)

Wide trail, nice views, fun Jack & Rudy!

 

Back to the trailhead to meet up with retired mentor Zorro. Is Rudy sticking his tongue out at me? Ha, no, he loves to "smack his lips" in anticipation of 'end of run' treats. So, a still shot in the middle of a smack tends to capture him "sticking his tongue out" - funny kid! I love Zorro's face in this shot too; the old man still loves the starts & ends of every skijor outing :) 

"I still LOVE our outings!" says affectionate Zorro.
"Zorro taught us sooooo much!" says happy Jack.
"SLURP, SMACK!" adds silly Rudy.

Fun day in the backcountry on mostly single track trails: 9.9 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 59 days on the trails covering 472.1 miles with 44,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Narrow

Fun day in the backcountry, right guys?

"You bet! Fun, fun, fun!!!!" declares the happy. happy kids.

We have had a lot of very welcome snow the past few days. Enough snow that backcountry trails are getting narrower and narrower the further away you get from civilization! 

Jack & Rudy have no problem breaking trail (as I've shown many times in the past). But, no reason to over exert yourself in deep powder if there is a set track to ride instead. But, today's set tracks were often very narrow and deep. Too narrow to fit side-by-side and too deep outside of the track for one guy to ride "in" with the other "out". No problem, just time for single file skijoring when necessary :)

Cruising along in the narrow single track with VERY deep snow outside
of the track!

Occasionally, though, the set tracks widened to be "Two Siberians Wide". Whenever that happened, Jack & Rudy pulled shoulder to shoulder and off we went! Wheeeee!

Just wide enough for both kids to fit side by side!

Our fun skijor clip from this morning is on a set trail barely two siberian huskies wide. Come along as Rudy & Jack squeeze to fit in the trail side by side to go fast. Notice powder Jack drifts in/out of the shoulder powder for fun; but always squeezes back into the set track in order to keep pace with "in track Rudy". Fun guys. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Then, once we got near civilization, the set trail really widened. As a result, the last mile of our outing was on fast, wide and packed trails. Zoom!

Wide, packed and fast. Zoom!

Back to tell Zorro all about our backcountry fun this morning!

"Yep, been there, done that! Did the kids do ok?" asks mentor Zorro.
"Haha, hehe, we had a blast!" declares the giggle twins joining in the treat party.

A very peaceful day deep in the backcountry on narrow trails: 8.2 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 44 days on the trails covering 346.5 miles with 33,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Fresh Tracks

 Jack & Rudy chilling in the snow off trail at our turnaround point of the morning:

"Aaahh, cooling off in the deep side snow!" demonstrates the
happy kids.

We started this morning's outing on a lesser used but very wide trail. I was thrilled to see we would be laying fresh tracks in 1-2 inches of fresh snow on this trail. Jack & Rudy, on the other hand, were thrilled to see they could roll snow angels in the untouched snow before we got started. Silly kids!

"Rub a dub dub!" says the silly kids.
"Uh, excuse me, can we get going?" I asked :)

Once I finally got my partners upright and going, oh boy did we have fun on this trail! Fresh tracks out and back!

Catching air as we lay fresh tracks on the way back with our
"fresh out tracks" to our left. Wheeee!

After laying fresh tracks on that fun side trail, we dropped onto the trails of Gold Run Nordic Center and found ourselves first tracks on the recently groomed speed track!

The airborne kids making full use of a newly groomed trail!

What happens when Jack & Rudy are first tracks on a groomed speed track? Well, we topped 23 MPH skijoring this morning. Come along for a peek into the fast & fun groomie zoomie!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, to end the day we transitioned onto the narrow Upper Flume single track trail. It was single file jogging to end the outing:

Trotting along the single file single track. Lead on Jack :)

Back to the trailhead with elder Zorro. Does anyone remember who gets the 'end of run' treats first?

"I DO! I DO!" declares Zorro :)
"Me second!" adds happy Jack.
"Chilling, waiting for third serving!" says mellow Rudy.

Fresh tracks to first tracks to single file jogging - all in one outing! 8.4 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 89 days on the trails covering 720.0 miles with 62,900 feet of elevation climbed.

Kids

Oh those silly three year old kids starting unauthorized "tag & wrestle" on the trails this morning:

"Hey bro, let's wrestle!!!!" says play bowing Rudy.
"We all know I can take him!" adds Jack glancing back up at me before
accepting Rudy's challenge :)

Jack may be smaller than Rudy, but he is also more wily and can certainly flip Rudy in a game of wrestle. Big Rudy, on the other hand, only has one basic wrestle move, the lunge. Either the lunge works or Rudy misses and gets flipped by the wily Jack :)

Aside from unauthorized trail wrestling, we had a great time skijoring around the Sally Barber Mine this morning.

We did two laps on the front side of the mine - a fast and wide trail. Zoom!

Flying along the front side of Sally Barber Mine.

In between the laps on the wide front trail, we did two laps on the narrow Trail of Tears backcountry connector. As you can tell by all the snow on the trees, it has been snowing almost every day recently. We have not had any big dumps, but a few inches a day will still add up. As a result, the backcountry trails have been getting narrower from daily snow. This morning, we could only fit single file on these trails. Still a great time jogging along narrow backcountry terrain:

The usual "single file configuration" - Jack in lead.

After 2 laps on the front and 2 laps in the backcountry, it was time for a final lap on the lesser used, but still wide backside of Sally Barber Mine:

Zooming again on the backside of Sally Barber Mine. Wheeee!

Today's video highlight: a fun section of the Sally Barber Mine Trail as we start out cruising along a straightaway, then cut left & right around two corners and then finally put the pedal to the metal on the next open straightaway. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Fun, fun day - let's tell Zorro all about it:

"We had a blast!" says happy Jack.
"Cruising day!" adds chilling Rudy.
"Sounds like 'end of run' treats are in order!" suggests focused Zorro.

Some fast time on wide trails and some technical time on narrow trails: 8.1 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 87 days on the trails covering 703.7 miles with 61,600 feet of elevation climbed.

Still Snowing

 A moment of unauthorized play between the three year olds on the trail this morning :)

"Unauthorized? What for! We are having FUN!" says the silly kids
getting ready to play tag & tackle.

It has been snowing almost nonstop since Wednesday evening! This has been our first multi-day superstorm of the 2020-2021 snow season and we really needed it! 

With so much great new snow, each day has been another powder day for Jack, Rudy and I on the trails. We started this morning on the popular Sally Barber Mine Trail and were thrilled to find only 2 people had been out on the fresh snow before us. The set track from the two before us was, thus, very narrow. As a result, Jack & Rudy got some good practice running with their shoulders connected :)

Jack & Rudy fused into a single 8-legged sled dog flying along the trail.

Come along for a fun video glimpse into the tight, shoulder-to-shoulder skijoring this morning. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After a fast lap on the Sally Barber Mine Trail, we dipped into the backcountry and found ourselves first on the narrow trail leading up and away from the mine. It was narrow enough that we had to go single file for quite a distance!

Jack leading the way breaking trail in 10+ inches of powder on a narrow
backcountry trail.

Jack tends to take lead when we go single file (he has the 'lead dog' mentality). If we are single file for extended distances, he'll sometimes defer to Rudy to take lead and share the load. But, with Rudy in lead, you never know where he is going to lead us :)  In the photo below, the trail we are supposed to be on is to the far left, but with Rudy in lead the kids have drifted far off track to search for moose in the forest.

"I say we go THIS way!" says Rudy leading willing Jack off trail to
attempt and take me into the forest :)

Finally, we found ourselves breaking trail on a wonderful stretch of fresh snow for a very aerobic end to the day's skijor:

Kicking up powder as we fly along in the fresh snow!

Back to the trailhead and the Quality Control Division (Zorro, Jack, & Rudy) are making sure I properly handle the 'end of run' treats.

"Careful there dude, that's precious cargo!!!" says the QC trio.

Third day in row enjoying fresh powder all morning long! 8.4 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 77 days on the trails covering 616.8 miles with 54,600 feet of elevation climbed.