Whoop

Nice shot of the power trio towing me "on by" Nancy on the side of the trail near the beginning of this morning's skijor. Zoom!

On by we go, zoom, zoom, zoom!

The plan for today was to give elder Zorro a short run at the start of the outing and then take young Jack & Rudy out for an extended, long skijor. Everything went as planned!

We started the day in a fast groove as we quickly did a "4 minute mile" with Zorro, Jack & Rudy as a quick loop near the base of Walton Peak. As you see above, it was quite the successful "4 minute mile" as we flew past Nancy before stopping to give Zorro the rest of the day off. Zorro thoroughly enjoyed his fast mile but was also happy to stop early and hang out with Nancy while the kids took me out for a much longer run.

Jack, Rudy & I proceeded to skijor another 9+ miles on the perfect snowpack around Walton Peak. You cannot get a much more impressive shot than the following for April 9th!

Ultra wide angle to showcase the ENDLESS snowpack around Walton Peak!
This snow will definitely hold up through April and probably through
most, if not all, of May! Yay!

The kids and I did a ridiculously fast "out & back" by Walton Peak. Here we are at our turnaround point and look, what is this, Jack & Rudy are upright instead of rolling snow angels!!!

"Hey, we can stay upright occasionally!" says the happy pair.

We spent the entire either making our own path atop the solid spring crust (as you see in the wide angle shot above) or following some of the established snowmobile trails. The main snowmobile trail had been groomed recently (not today, but within the last couple of days). With light usage from snowmobiles (due to both the COVID-19 restrictions and the time of year), we were able to find perfect groomed surfaces on the sides of the established snowmobile trails. Such fun!

Zooming along the left shoulder of the wide & established snowmobile trail.
A few days old perfect groom on the shoulders!!!

I have mentioned over the years that we do not mind fresh snowmobile tracks or snowmobile tracks that have softened in the sun. But, a hard frozen snowmobile track is dangerous to a pair of skis. Why is that? Well, if my ski (or, heaven forbid BOTH skis) fall into the track from a (wider) snowmobile's ski, then my ski can get trapped and I have to fight to get out of the track.

Sometimes seeing this is easier than explaining it. Come along for today's video highlight. We start out happily gliding along the perfect shoulder of the wide trail. But, at about 27 seconds into the video and a snowmobile track cuts perpendicular across the trail in front of us. I was convinced I could glide over this track as I saw it coming. But, alas, watch what happens. The frozen snowmobile track grabs control of my right ski and starts to take me off trail! Yikes! Then two things happen. First, I am able to push and fight my way out of the frozen track AND my perfect partners automatically slow given the commotion behind them until I recover and give them the "OK" to pick up the pace again. Had Jack & Rudy continued at a fast pace, I certainly would have wiped out given the track pulling me left and them pulling me forward. What good partners!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Despite the one "whoops" in the video above, we spent the vast majority of the day on perfect terrain. Either making out own path on the crust or cruising the shoulders of the wide trails. Phew!

I mentioned my pals kept upright at our turnaround point. Well, I stopped a second time to get my bearings and, well, you cannot stay upright through TWO stops! Just ask Jack & Rudy:

"Hey, we gave you one upright stop! This one is a stop, drop & roll!" demonstrates
the goofball, snow rolling kids.

Back to the trailhead with Zorro and time to celebrate a fast "4 minute mile" start the day with elder Zorro and a wonderful 9+ additional miles with young Jack & Rudy:

"We ALL earned the treats! Let's dish them out!" says the happy & focused trio.

A fast "Zorro mile" and then an extended Jack & Rudy adventure: 10.2 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 143 days on the trails covering 979.3 miles with 88,900 feet of elevation climbed.

For Max

All smiles as we complete beautiful 7.7 mile skijor on June 12th!!!

"Hi Mom!" flashes Rudy towards Nancy.
"What a beautiful mid June morning!" exclaims happy Zorro.
"I'm all smiles too!!!!" adds happy Jack just barely visible to Zorro's right :)

This morning was our first skijor on Buffalo Pass since Max's last skijor outing on Oct 9, 2017. Buffalo Pass is always one of the top 3 places in Colorado for depth of snowpack and, thus, snow lasting into June. It is a far drive to get to the trailheads; but this was a goto place for Max, Zorro and I for years to finish out the skijoring season in June. Since losing Max, we had baby Jack and then baby Rudy so we did not make the effort to get to Buffalo Pass last season (Rudy was too young to run and Jack was too young to go more than a couple miles). Today, though, we returned to Buffalo Pass with mature Zorro, Jack & Rudy and took a moment to sprinkle some of Max's ashes along the way. A fun new trail for Jack & Rudy and a bittersweet June outing for Zorro and I.

Upper right are Max's ashes coming out of my hand.
"Max, Max - we spread Max!" says Zorro watching the ashes spread.
"Smells like he was a COOL dude!" states happy Jack.
"Wish we still had that legend with us!' adds Rudy.

The snowpack on Buffalo Pass is near historic levels this June. Only once in the past decade has the SNOTEL atop the pass been reporting deeper snowpack that this morning. Just check out these incredible mid June conditions:

Almost a mid June hover husky as Zorro's right front toenail is barely touching the trail :)

Come along for a glimpse of the mid June treat. You might notice the video is quite bouncy and you see my skis bouncing all over too. But, it was skijoring on June 12th - we'll take bumpy & bouncy snow over dirt any day!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The outing would not be complete without the turnaround antics from the children :)

"Aaaah, LOVE rolling snow angels!" demonstrates goofy Jack.
"Aaaahhh, me TOOOO!!!" adds rolling Rudy.
"Children, oh children, can we get upright and continue running please!" states Zorro.

Max, Zorro and I have skijored as late as June 12th before, but never with conditions as good as today. What a fun outing:

"Now that was fun! How about those 'end of run' treats?!?" says the focused trio.

A return to Buffalo Pass to honor dear Max: 7.7 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH. Miss You Max!

2018/2019 Season to Date: 132 days on the trails covering 775.3 miles with 72,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Sightseeing

Come along as we go sightseeing atop Rabbit Ears Pass this morning!

"We'll be your tour guides! Hang on as we tow you along!" say two of the most
entertaining tour guides you'll ever meet!

Fun fact about the previous photo: in summer you would be standing on the ground and looking UP at the big hiking & camping info sign behind Max & Zorro. But, today Max & Zorro are as tall as the top of the sign. That's about 5-6 feet of snowpack at this location!

Okay, since you cannot read the info sign buried in snow above, Max & Zorro will give you the tour:

Not everyone knows that Rabbit Ears Pass is an open range in the summer/fall. Once all the snow melts (bringing tons of vegetation to life), it is a incredible natural grazing land for cattle.

"No cows in this pen!" states Zorro looking at the cattle staging pen in front of us.
"None in the pen to the left either!" says Max glancing left to another pen just off camera.
Guess we'll have to come back in July to see the fresh beef :)

Coming up a slight rise in the trail as we come upon the Rabbit Ears Snotel. A snotel is a device that measures snowpack, snow water equivalent of snowpack and other weather readings (temps, wind, etc). The snowpack and snow water equivalent are the primary reason snotels exist as they allow scientists, farmers and water managers to plan for how much (or little) water will be generated from Colorado's annual snowpack. An integral part of farming and managing water relies on this data. Max, Zorro & I, on the other hand, are most interested in the snowpack - as long as the snotel reports sufficient snow, we can go!

"Cool; but wish it had more!" say my snotel guides.

Still going, still more to see... Here we are sprinting along the nice snow crust as Rabbit Ears Peak comes into view to our left. The rock formation atop the peak you see in the upper left are the "ears" from which Rabbit Ears gets its name!

"Here we go, look at the peak if you can; but we are flooring it!" say the sprinting pair.

Finally, the official marker of Rabbit Ears Pass:

"Look quickly as we tow you on by..." say the trotting tour guides.

A fun day sightseeing Rabbit Ears Pass with the two best tour guides I know: 9.3 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2016/2017 Season to Date: 107 days on the trails covering 891.4 miles with 95,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Single File

Single file skijoring in a narrow single track all day in French Gulch!

Max jogging lead as we head out & up French Gulch in a narrow single track.

We have been in the midst of a wonderful mid-April snow event. It started snowing Thursday night and has been snowing on & off until this morning (with more forecast for later this evening)! The result has been 2-4 feet of fresh snow deposited on our trails! The snow has been occurring daily since Thu, so each day we have new snow to pack on the trails while the powder on the shoulders keeps getting deeper and deeper. French Gulch is primarily a cross country ski trail and when it has been snowing daily for a week, the trail quickly shrinks to a narrow single track (essentially one pair of skis wide) as people keep reusing the same track instead of venturing into the deep shoulders. Eventually (once the daily snow stops) the trail will widen so that Max & Zorro can run side by side; but for the meantime, French Gulch is a narrow single track requiring single file skijoring to fit.

No complaints here, we will happily trade miles (due to slower single file skijoring) in April for snowpack through May. April (snow) showers bring May miles & smiles! Yay!

Max ran lead in our single file setup for the entire "out route" in French Gulch and then they traded and Zorro ran lead for the entire "back route". Such great team players!

Coming back in French Gulch - Zorro's turn to run lead.

We came to one surprise fork in the trail... The main French Gulch Trail to the left and a moose track trail to the right. Guess which direction Max & Zorro chose to pursue?

"Moose track! Abandon French Gulch and follow the moose!" declare the moose veering pair.

Midpoint turnaround but must roll snow angels to cool off first:

Max is just finishing his angel as Zorro is beginning his. Almost perfectly synchronized
snow angels :)

Happily slowed to a single track trot in French Gulch as we accumulate snowpack for May: 7.2 miles traveled with 750 feet of elevation climbed.

2015/2016 Season to Date: 121 days on the trails covering 1024.0 miles with 112,550 feet of elevation climbed.

Vail Pass Snowpack

April 18th and the snowpack at the Vail Pass Recreation Area is still quite impressive!

Note the STOP sign forward and to the right. This is a "full height" STOP sign for summer
traffic on this road but the sign is barely above the snowpack today. That's an impressive
base of snow for April 18th!

We did a "double loop" at Vail Pass today. We skijored up Shrine Pass via the snowshoe trail, then sprinted along the groomed Shrine Pass Road, then back up Shrine Pass making our own trail on the hard snow crust and finally sprinting back along Shrine Pass Road.

Cruising along the Shrine Pass Snowshoe Trail.

Sprinting along the groomed Shrine Pass Road.

Today's video highlight features "Run, Hunt, Run"... Watch closely as something keeps catching Zorro's attention off the right of the trail as he frequently glances to the right. Eventually the "something to the right" catches Max's attention too as both start focusing off to the right. Only wildlife can capture their attention like this; but I scanned the terrain and saw nothing. All this hunting without breaking our run and without veering off the trail - perfect "Run, Hunt, Run" form :-)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Eventually the day had to come to an end, although Zorro was not sure why...

We just finished our second climb up Shrine Pass (this time making our own trail).
I called out "right" as we needed to connect back onto Shrine Pass Rd to head back to the trailhead.
"Right? Ok - let's go!" says happy Max.
"I'm turning, but why on earth aren't we going further?" asks obedient but puzzled Zorro.

A fun double loop on Shrine Pass covering 9.7 miles with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2013/2014 Season to Date: 133 days on the trails covering 1151.1 miles with 133,000 feet of elevation climbed. Over 1150 miles and still going - Woo Hoo!

Indiana Creek Snowpack

A peaceful day jogging along the trails around Indiana Creek.

Sprinting Siberians as we uncork it along an open straightaway.

It may be Spring, but the snowpack in Indiana Creek is wonderful. The following shot gives a good perspective. The trail marker to the right of Max is a 3 to 4 foot marker in the Summer yet is is barely 6 inches above the snowpack today!

"We love trail markers buried in snow!" says an approving Max giving the marker
a glance as we jog by.

It is late March, though, so it is expected for Indiana Creek to start exposing itself here and there. But, in a bad snow year, the creek would be fully exposed in late March. Today we only had fleeting glimpses of the creek as it was still covered by snow for the most part.

A little bit of the creek can be seen to the left.
"No big deal, the snowpack is still great along the shores!" say the happily trotting pair.

Everyone approved of today's fun outing:

"We're a happy family!" express smiling Max & Zorro at one of our turnaround points.

We were making good time on the packed trails so I paused while determining which side trails I could add to the day. I was talking out loud, but to myself, when I looked down and saw I was most certainly not talking to myself! What focus!!!

"You are talking and we are listening. Always listen to the musher!" say my intensely
focused pair!

A nice & peaceful outing covering 7.9 miles with 1000 feet of elevation climbed.

2013/2014 Season to Date: 113 days on the trails covering 973.1 miles with 113,200 feet of elevation climbed.