23 MPH Day

Jack & Rudy were in a groove this morning on fast nordic trails as we hit our top speed of this 2025/2026 season: 23 MPH! Zoom!

The hover huskies were in full form today zooming around
the groomie zoomie nordic trails!

The trails had been freshly groomed this morning and, while we were not first tracks on the fresh groom, only a handful of people/dogs had been out before us. So, the conditions were perfect for Jack & Rudy to floor it and that they did! Come along for today's entertainment from the fun sled dogs:

We caught air hovering by the Hallelujah Warming Hut, wheeee!

Floating on by, no need to stop at a silly warming hut!

We did have to pause momentarily, though, for pesky rodents off trail under the snow. Jack caught scent of them first and did his usual rodent lunge in search of the pests. Rudy, of course, followed with his patented, high arching rodent dives to investigate with Jack:

"I sense rodents right here!" declares Jack lunging off trail.
"Really? Well, then, INCOMING!" goes Rudy joining with a beautiful swan dive.

I've been impressed with my new video camera that I got just last week to replace the dead gopro. This camera has the widest viewing angle of any camera I've ever had. Well, Jack & Rudy decided to test "just how wide" it really could capture. They almost out spanned the wide camera :)

"Turnaround, roll around - can you capture this wide separation?" says the
far apart but snow rolling sillies. No camera I've ever had before would have
captured both of them this far apart!

Back to action and "hovering over the trail" was the action theme of the day!

The fun kids catching air yet again as we hover by the Kathy's Viewpoint
Warming Hut.

What do use for a video highlight today? So much to choose from. I'll go with the video counterpart of the first photo. Come along as we start out zipping along a perfect trail amidst dense trees. Then, we round a right curve in the trail and the trees start to part to reveal some stunning mountain views ahead of us and to our left. What a beautiful morning!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As the final act of entertainment from the fun kids, they found their highest snow wall of this young season to climb for end of run treats. It's always so fun when they find waist high (or higher) snow walls!

"No need to kneel, dad, we'll climb to you for treats!" says my happy
and polite pals!

A great morning on fast and freshly groomed nordic trails: 8.8 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 10 days on the trails covering 59.4 miles with 7000 feet of elevation climbed.

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.

Rudy 8000

7 year old Rudy surpassed 8,000 career skijor miles yesterday morning! Impressive!

"And I've been singing for 8000 miles too!" adds proudly wooing Rudy.

Rudy's skijor career to date is the following: 1034 days on the trails covering 8000.3 miles with 742,100 feet of elevation climbed. Consider that most of this has happened since he was 1.5 years old and that is quite an impressive career he has strung together. For the curious, 5 month older Jack surpassed 8,000 career miles himself earlier this season.

Back to yesterday's outing. It was another fun tour around the top of Rabbit Ears Pass. But, the signs of summer are really starting to come through - boo!

There was lots of breakup in open meadows:

Yikes, the snow caving in to Jack's right with more exposed water
to Rudy's left.

There was lots of dirty snow in heavily wooded sections of trail:

Look at all that "tree debris" covering our otherwise beautiful white snow!

There were lots of narrow stretches with views of "no snow" at elevations below us.

Cruising along a narrow stretch with views of snow bare lower elevations
of Colorado to our right.

But, what did remain constant with the comedians was rolling snow angels to cool off at our turnaround point:

"Stop, drop and ROLL!" goes the snow rolling sillies.

Which deteriorating condition to feature in today's video highlight? How about gliding along behind Jack & Rudy in the tree debris covered snow amongst thick trees. Sure, it's not pretty snow, but it is toes on snow in mid-May, we'll take that any day!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Another constant, along with rolling snow angels, was still finding snow walls to climb for end of run treats. Despite heavy melting, the kids can still find a wall to scale!

"If there is a snow wall, we'll find it and climb it!' declares the happy
kids getting up to my level for end of run treats.

Yesterday's tally: 9 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed with a top speed of 22 MPH and passing 8,000 career skijor miles for impressive 7 year old Rudy. Yay!

2024/2025 Season to Date: 106 days on the trails covering 810.7 miles with 80,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Tug of War

Everybody having a good time today?

"Oh you bet! We are having a BLAST!" says the happy, happy sled dogs.

That prior photo is a rare one from Jack & Rudy. I used to get "synchronized happy face" shots from my original pals, Max & Zorro, quite frequently. But, with the Jack & Rudy comedians this is a rare synchronicity. Typically I get a "happy Rudy face" along side a snow angel rolling Jack or a "happy Jack face" along side a woo singing Rudy or a snow rolling Rudy. But, today we got a rare synchronous smiles from the two goofballs :)

We had another rarity today too - taking interest in a stick we encountered on the trail. Typically, Jack & Rudy will ignore most sticks along the way. But, every once in a while, a certain stick draw interest from one. Well, if it draws interest from one, then it ALWAYS leads to subsequent interest from the other. This dual interest tends to morph into a stick tug of war and today was one such occurrence:

"I found the stick first!" declares Jack,
"Don't care, if YOU are interested in it, then I am too!" responds Rudy who
proceeded to start this tug of war with Jack over the rare interesting stick :)

Ok, two rare events documented, now it is time for what we really did today - skijoring!

We started on technical trails in the backcountry:

Wheeee!

We then dropped onto the wide & groomed trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. When we first drop into the nordic center, we are far from any trailhead. As a result, we start out on trails that get very little traffic as most humans cannot propel themselves this far. So, we had trails that were groomed yesterday but still pretty perfect from very light traffic yesterday:

Zipping around a corner with pretty nice "day old" conditions far
from any trailhead.

How nice was it far from the trailheads? Well, nice enough for Jack & Rudy to FLOOR IT and top 23 MPH skijoring this morning. Come along for a glimpse into the fast, fun & wild ride:

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Eventually, though, we have to make our way back to civilization. Once we got onto the primary trail (and, thus, near the trailhead), the surface was pretty tracked up from lots of use yesterday. No problem, though, Jack & Rudy can catch air on any type of trail conditions :)

Whee - catching air along a pretty tracked up trail.

Finally, it was time for one of Jack & Rudy's patented maneuvers of their very own - climbing tall snow walls to get face to face with me standing for end of run treats!

We are basically eye to eye as the funny kids found a VERY tall snow
wall to climb today!

A really beautiful day for a fun, fun skijor with my pals: 9.4 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 59 days on the trails covering 445.2 miles with 42,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Freshies

To each his own :)

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes always snow rolling Jack.
"Turnaround, WOOOOOs abound!" sings talkative Rudy.
To each his own :)

Turnaround comedy from the comedians aside, it was a fresh tracks Saturday in a wonderful layer of 2-3 inches of new snow on the trails. We started the day laying fresh tracks in the Dry Gulch backcountry:

Whee - zipping along! When you can see this much of the carabiner and
some of my skis, you know I'm in a serious ski tuck to keep pace and upright
with my pals!

Then it was time to transition onto the trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. For a treat, though, the groomer had not been out on the trails since yesterday. So, the trails felt more like wide backcountry trails than easy nordic trails!

Whee again! There's that carabiner and ski tips in view again.
Hang on human!!!!!

We did one side trail along the way to gallop through the remnants of an old mining town. This is an "out and back" side trail, so it was the only time we saw other tracks in the snow all morning long (our own out tracks on the way back :)

Zipping along through the old ghost town from mining days long ago.

As I said, it was a "fresh tracks Saturday" just about all morning long. Come along for a glimpse into the fun. If your volume is on, you should be able to hear the gusty wind blowing around us. If your volume is a little higher, you should be able to hear Rudy expressing his pleasure at the conditions at about 20 seconds into the clip. Talkative Rudy is never at a loss for words :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Fun day of freshies, right guys?

"Oh yes, we had a blast!!!!" says the happy kids perched atop a nice
snow wall to receive end of run treats.

It was a little cold (for me) with the wind gusts; but Jack & Rudy thought it was a perfect day: 8.2 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 36 days on the trails covering 267.6 miles with 25,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Firsts

Another skijor outing putting smiles on the faces on oncoming skiers as Jack & Rudy flirt and cruise on by!

"Hi! Bye! Made you smile!" says the flirting kids cruising on by.

Today's skijor outing had a lot of firsts for our 2024/2025 season. We had FIVE firsts in all!

The first first was skijoring Dry Gulch, one of my favorite trails. I was unsure if there would be enough snow to skijor this trail safely and, boy, was I (happily) wrong as there was a TON of great snow!

The second was our first time encountering moose tracks crossing the trail this season. Not much can cause Jack & Rudy to come to a halt on the trail, but moose tracks most certainly bring them to a stop. You HAVE to sniff moose tracks afterall!

"Sniff, sniff, aaaahhh, fresh moose tracks!" says the track inspectors.
The moose had come from the trees to the right, crossed the trail and exited
to the left. How do I know the direction? Well, because Jack, the expert mooser,
always points himself in the direction the moose went :)

The third was our first time laying fresh tracks this season. We found 3-5 inches of fresh, untouched snow for about the first 1/2 of the outing! This particular trail is closed to vehicles in the winter (open in the summer). But, our local open space & trails department did not put out the winter gate to block vehicles until sometime Monday. Before they officially closed it, someone had driven it. As a result, you can see the indentations of two tire tracks in the photo below. Jack took one track, Rudy the other and I glided in the deeper middle powder - fun!

First time laying fresh tracks this season - yay!

The fourth was our first time breaking trail in deep snow this season. At one point we veered away from where the vehicle had driven to enjoy a side trail. Well, this trail was UNTOUCHED!!!! We found ourselves blasting through upwards of 12 inches of fresh snow. What a fun workout!

Cool deep snow indentations behind Jack & Rudy hopping and towing me
through some nice deep powder!

Today's video highlight goes along with the first photo above. Come watch as we are skijoring along in a wonderful layer of fresh snow until we come upon an oncoming skier. So, it's move to the left, put a smile on the skier's face as she watches fun Jack & Rudy and then put the pedal to the metal a few seconds after we pass the skier. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The final and fifth first of the day: Our first time climbing a snow wall for end of run treats this season. Jack & Rudy had been climbing snow walls occasionally since skijoring with Zorro. But, last season, the silly kids took it to a new level and climbed EVERY available snow wall to get as close to eye level with me for the treat celebration. 

Climbing a snow wall leftover in the recently plowed trailhead parking lot
to get to my level for end of run treats. Fun kids.

5 season firsts in one outing, what a fun day: 6.7 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 3 days on the trails covering 19.7 miles with 1700 feet of elevation climbed.

Early for Crust

We started this morning's skijor before 7am. Why? Well, the early bird gets the firm Spring Crust still available early in the day atop Vail Pass!

Beautiful, firm and endless Spring Crust atop Vail Pass as far as the eye
can see! Wheeee!

After an initial climb from the trailhead parking lot, we were treated to the endless Spring Crust and wove our way every which way atop Vail Pass this morning. While most of the top is wide open with very few trees, there is one half mile cool corridor through dense trees on each side of you. I love flying along this corridor behind Jack & Rudy. It was so much fun, we did it twice as we could turn right at the end of the corridor and come back up the other side of the trees until we got to the top of the corridor again.

Second pass through the fun tree corridor as you see my ski tracks from the
first pass under and next to Rudy.

Today we got a trifecta of entertainment from Rudy and a double feature from Jack. 

First item: with warm May temperatures, the kids are always ready to roll snow angels to cool off during any pause along the way:

Rub a dub dub, rolling to cool their jets :)

Second item (for Rudy), repeat for always rolling Jack: woos and angels at another short pause during the outing:

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes always rolling Jack.
"Turnaround, woos abound!" sings wooing Rudy.

If you look at the sky in the previous photos, you see it was a pretty overcast morning with lots of cloud coverage. But, for the last 10 minutes or so of the outing, the clouds parted and we got some great footage in the sun. This brings a conclusion to Rudy's trifecta and Jack's double feature:

The hover huskies catching air with cool lighting and shadows from the sun.
Rudy's trifecta: rolling, wooing, hovering.
Jack's double feature: rolling, hovering. Fun kids!

Today's video highlight will go along with the prior photo as it is always so much fun to watch Jack & Rudy run in the sun. Come along and watch the fun!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead and the creative kids were able to find a snow wall to climb for end of run treats! This trailhead parking lot gets plowed all winter so the snow walls last pretty long into the Spring melt:

"Ready!!!" says my focused and happy pals perched up on a wall for
end of run treats.

A wonderful Spring Crust early morning atop Vail Pass: 9.2 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 150 days on the trails covering 1266.4 miles with 125,800 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Return

We had so much fun skijoring the Spring Crust at Vail Pass yesterday that we returned to do it again today!

Jack & Rudy flying along the endless and wonderfully firm Spring Crust
atop Vail Pass!

The only difference between yesterday and today was today was heavily overcast skies whereas yesterday was a bright & sunny bluebird day. So, yesterday had lots of cool shadow effects in the photos while today was virtually shadowless; but the photos are still cool :)

We spent most of the day on the endless crust as you saw in the first photo. But, at our highest point of the outing, we turn towards the backcountry huts which are situated amidst some somewhat dense trees. But, the trees are sparse enough that you can weave through the trees continuing on the firm crust. I really enjoy this slalom through the trees behind Jack & Rudy!

Swooshing through the trees - wheeee!

With the overcast skies, it did not feel as warm as yesterday despite the actual temperature being slightly warmer. The sun at 11,000 feet above sea level adds significant "feel heat" that does not happen with thick clouds. As a result, Rudy took the chance to give us a song instead of rolling snow angels at one turnaround point of the outing:

"WOOOOOOOOO!" sings beautiful voice Rudy.
Jack, of course, ALWAYS rolls snow angels regardless of the weather
or temperatures :)

But, it is still May, so the temperatures were near to slightly above freezing. That did not go unnoticed by Rudy at our next turnaround point of the day!

"Turnaround! Roll around!' goes the snow rolling sillies.
Which legs are Jack's and which are Rudy's? Hard to tell :)

The majority of the day, though, was spent flying along the wonderful and endless Spring Crust:

Ears pinned back - nice aerodynamics from the fast running sled dogs!

Now come along for a minute of what it is like to abandon set trails and glide anywhere you want atop the firm Spring Crust. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Once back to the trailhead and the smart kids made a beeline for the same high snow wall they found to climb yesterday. They do not forget anything!

Perched high up for treats yet again!

Another fun day atop Vail Pass: 8.2 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 144 days on the trails covering 1226.3 miles with 121,600 feet of elevation climbed.

Vail Pass

Look who was very excited to be back on snow after a couple of days off:

"We are THRILLED!!!!!" states the super happy kids.

As we enter May, we have to start getting creative with our skijor outings. This time of year you will typically find us skijoring high mountain passes or high peaks. Well, today was Vail Pass and the conditions were perfect once we got up in elevation a bit:

Beautiful morning, beautiful Spring Crust, beautiful sled dogs :)

Now come along and witness the great conditions for yourself. Sure there were a few snowmobile tracks and ski tracks to cross. But notice now my pals know to cross these as close to perpendicular as you can. The smart kids know my skis have to be close to perpendicular for me to cross the frozen tracks safely. Smart and great partners!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After an initial climb from the trailhead, we come upon the Shrine Huts - a series of backcountry huts that people rent by the night for a getaway into the backcountry (you have to ski or snowshoe to the huts as snowmobiles are not allowed). Sometimes we encounter some of the overnighters up mulling about in the morning. It is always fun to flirt with the hut occupants. But, today we were out pretty early as I wanted to be done before the temperatures got too warm and the Spring Crust softened. So, today we were going by the huts before 8am, so nobody was out & about for Jack & Rudy to flirt with. Oh well, we did see a handful of people waving at us from inside one of the huts.

Having fun jogging by one of the huts; but unfortunately we were too early
for anyone to be out & about yet.

After some fun cruising around all the huts, it was time to head back towards the trailhead. My timing was perfect for the Spring Crust as it held firm our entire outing and we were able to abandon set trails and go any direction we wanted. Fun!

Whee - what a perfect Spring Crust!

With warm May days, you know what we were going to get from Jack & Rudy at any pause or turnaround point.

"Stop, drop and ROLL!" goes the silly kids cooling their jets rolling on the snow.
Note the markers to the right: past the markers are the huts and the markers
designate the boundary for snowmobiles as they are not allowed to cross
and get to close to the huts.

Finally, back to the trailhead parking lot and the silly kids found one of their tallest snow walls of the season to climb for end of run treats. I had to climb partway myself just to get to their level :)

"We LOVE snow walls! Now how about those end of run treats?" asks the
snow climbing acrobats.

Gorgeous bluebird morning with a perfect Spring Crust on Vail Pass: 8.8 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 143 days on the trails covering 1218.1 miles with 120,700 feet of elevation climbed.