Fun "shot from the front" as the happy sled dog trio tows me to the end of this morning's run!
Happy boys and great trail conditions!
The conditions were good enough yesterday on the Middle Fork Trail at Swan Valley that we returned this morning to test out the South Fork Trail. What did we find? Well, woo hoo, the South Fork Trail was in even better condition than yesterday's Middle Fork Trail!
Beautiful conditions to start the day as Jack & Rudy are a co-joined hover husky :)
There were multiple patches of sketchy conditions yesterday and one stretch with no snow we had to hike over. Today we only encountered one patch of poor conditions but it still had enough snow to keep the skis on and glide over carefully.
The only patch of "sketchy conditions" we encountered today!
Most of the outing looked like the first 2 photos above and the nice one below. What a November 6th treat!
Fast trio opening up the throttle on perfect conditions in the shade!
Come along for today's short video clip showcasing the great trail conditions and fast & fun sled dogs towing me along. Wheeee!
Laying fresh tracks and breaking trail on Mayuary 22nd - Wow!
It was quite an aerobic outing with 5-10 inches of new snow on our outing this morning. You know what the youngsters are going to do at our turnaround point on such an aerobic day :)
"Look at all this untouched snow!" says Zorro surveying the options in front of us.
"Stopped, rolling!" demonstrates upside down Rudy.
"Hey bro - come join us!!!!" snow rolling Jack says to Zorro.
We went to the South Fork Trail in Swan Valley hoping that the morning's new snow had refreshed the deteriorating trails. Well, yes indeed, we found ourselves laying fresh tracks in 5+ inches of new snow and eventually breaking trail in up to 10 inches of powder. May Pow:
The May POW Trio powering through powder to tow me along!
We did an "out & back" for the majority of the outing. That meant we could reuse the track we sent on the way out for the way back. Polite Jack & Rudy let elder Zorro have the middle track while they took side tracks.
Whee we go as we are able to open up the throttle using the track we set on the way out!
Today's short video clip shows our "track reuse" as we were able to open the throttle somewhat by running in our "out track" on the return. Fun taking advantage of our uphill work on the way back down!
As we came around one bend in the trail, I saw what looked like endless open water ahead. "Oh no!" I thought as all I saw was open water from far away. But, Zorro is our water expert. I always ski behind Zorro in October and May. Zorro will NEVER touch water (he hates it). As I ride behind him in Oct/May, if I see him start to long jump, I quickly cut left or right as this means there is water under the snow (but small enough for him to long jump). If I see Zorro cut right or left then I follow as he is declaring the "water under snow" is too big to long jump and we must go to the side. He has never been wrong about water hazards. So, we continued towards the open water and I let Zorro figure things out. Well....
"I found a safe crossing!" declares smart Zorro. He took us directly to this point!
"Look at all that open water!" says perplexed Jack.
"I'll be over here playing while you 3 work out a way to cross!" adds silly young Rudy.
Of course, Zorro was right, he found a safe crossing! I got my skis lined up and closed my eyes and said, "Ok, let's go" for Zorro to guide and tow us through!
"It's solid enough! Perfect!" says leader Zorro.
"Boy, you SURE are smart!!!" says Jack following Zorro's lead.
"What's wrong with the water?!?" adds still silly Rudy.
It is not often you get to say "happily slowed by deep snow" in late May! 5.4 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and modest top speed of 15 MPH (you try running in 5+ inches of snow :)
2018/2019 Season to Date: 121 days on the trails covering 701.9 miles with 65,800 feet of elevation climbed.
Nice shot from the front of the happy, happy sled dogs towing me to the finish of this morning's skijor!
"Wheee - we had so much fun today!" declares the happy trio.
We went to the same network of trails as yesterday in Swan Valley. Oh boy, what a difference 24 hours of May temperatures can make! Yesterday we were laying fresh tracks all morning long with only the occasional patch of exposed ground on the sides of the trails. 24 hours later and look what we found in the following photo - egad!!!!!
"It's not pretty up here!" Zorro is telling me.
"Weren't we 'toes on snow' in this exact location yesterday?" asks Jack.
"OMG!" adds Rudy.
What to do with this patch of exposed ground? Luckily Zorro is a well seasoned veteran to teach the youngsters. Basically I move slowly to the edge of the snow and then I keep repeating "wait" as I cautiously put one ski on the ground, then step and put the next ski on ground and finally put the first back on snow. I was quite proud of Jack & Rudy who, with Zorro's leadership, maintained the "wait" as I stepped with skis through the dirt patch! This is Rudy's first ever May skijoring, so his first time seeing what can happen to the trails in May. It is Jack's second ever May skijoring, but he only had 2 or 3 outings last May with exposed ground. Look up the trail in front of us and you see another patched of exposed ground. We had 6 of these patches over the course of today's outing and we had 2 patches that were so long that I had to remove my skis to walk over. I can do 2 or at most 3 steps over ground with skis on; but more than that and I have to take the skis off.
Now take a look at the following photo! All the exposed ground was within the first mile or so of the trailhead. Once over the lower terrain it got better and better the further up we went. So nice up high!
A great "untouched shoulder" on a wide snowmobile trail. Perfect conditions
to uncork the skijoring engine!
It got so nice the higher we went, we were even able to abandon trails and skijor the spring crust for about a mile and a half! I noticed a snowmobile track on the crust. Since we had fresh snow Saturday night, I knew this snowmobile had been on the crust less than 24 hours ago. If it could hold a snowmobile yesterday, it could still hold us today.
Wheeee - off we go making our own path along the solid crust.
Today's video goes along with the prior photo. Here is a fun fact... We are actually skijoring on a crust on top of Swan River! Within a few weeks this exact spot will look like a river to raft, not a crust to skijor! At about 20ish seconds into the video, you will start to see some river exposure. I moved us close and then into the snowmobile track to make sure we were on crust strong enough to hold us. What a fun "crust tour" up high.
The GPS clocked us at a top speed of 26 MPH today! Woo Hoo - we were flying!
Ok, so the top speed was really 25.8 - that's 26 :-)
The summary of today's outing will be a video summary. I could write about how fast we were going all over the trails; but watching is even better...
Is this where we hit 26 MPH - could have been.
A fun winding & sloping section of the South Fork trail. Turn up the volume and you'll hear me let out a happy "woooo" as we come out of this complex section of trail and into the open. And, yes, I am partially snowplowing at 20+ MPH during this sprint!
Is this where we hit 26 MPH - could have been. Flying along the Middle Fork trail - about 8 seconds in the Siberians' ears go flat as they put the pedal to the metal on the straightaway.
It was "running out of terrain", not "running out of time", that caused us to alter our skijor route today.
Oops - look at that sinkhole in the trail! Normally we would continue this route for another
mile or two before turning around.
"Turn around! What a good idea!" says water-averse Zorro.
"Really? But that's a Siberian Hot Tub just in front of us!!!" states water-loving Max.
We spent our day skijoring around the Swan Valley Recreation Area in Breckenridge. One of the Siberian highlights of Swan Valley is that we frequently encounter moose tracks and occasionally moose themselves. Moose always add a little extra juice to the Siberian Engine...
The classic "hunt & jog" maneuver as Max & Zorro inspect a moose off to the left
without interrupting their jog. I saw a brown butt dip into the trees when I followed
their glance to the left. Luckily the moose was far enough away to draw just a
glancing "hunt & jog".
Second verse, same as the first.
Different section of trail, same result - a glancing "hunt & jog" as we see moose far
off to the left.
One of the other highlights of Swan Valley is that the most of the trails are packed by snowmobiles, leading to a fast sprint & jog all day long.
Sprint to the finish on a fast, packed snowmobile trail.
Almost 12 miles logged and the Siberians are still at full throttle!
Zooming along the South Fork section of Swan Valley Rd.
A fun day running around Swan Valley: 11.6 miles with 1400 feet of elevation climbed. Unfortunately a GPS glitch lost our top speed - it was somewhere in the 20-24 MPH range...
"Is this the year we get snow all Summer?" ask a happy Max & Zorro!
Every time we think Spring has arrived, we get a fresh dump of new snow from Mother Nature. That has been the pattern for most of April & May. Last Tuesday found the trails melting fast and then this past Wednesday & Thursday brought a new dump of snow to re-freshen the trails! So, it was off to the backcountry for Max, Zorro & I again this morning. Woohoo!
We enjoyed a great range of conditions along the trails of the South Fork of Swan Valley - as shown below:
There was a set snowmobile track as we started up from the trailhead.
But, within about 2 miles, the set track was gone and we were laying fresh tracks in
3-6 inches of snow for the rest of the route up! Fun!
Our route took us on a loop (instead of an out & back on the same trail). So, it was laying
fresh tracks most of the way down as well! Whee!
Eventually, we were back on a snowmobile track as we approached the trailhead to finish.
The temperatures were above freezing and approaching 40. You know what that means: rolling snow angels to cool off at our midpoint.
Synchronized Snow Angels. You cannot get much more synchronized than this!
The conditions were sure great today. But, the forecast is for highs in the upper 50s and 60s for the next week. So, as nice as today's pictures look, this may be our last time on skis for the season...
Tally for the day: 8.8 miles with 850 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 16 MPH (the snow was heavy, wet & sticky, so it was hard for us get going really fast). What a fun May 10th!
We spent most of today's skijor outing "riding atop a thick crust of snow". Any day now, the warming temperatures are going to shrink that crust to the point that we break through and can no longer skijor such terrain. So, we'll enjoy it while it lasts...
12 miles later and Max & Zorro still have plenty left in the tank as they sprint
to the finish...
Our outing took us on a tour of the South Fork of Swan Valley Rd as well as various side trails along this path. The majority of the day found us in the following two conditions:
At the higher elevations, the top layer of snow crust was solid enough for all of us to
cruise along without breaking through. It was a gentle glide through the meadows in
these conditions.
At the lower elevations, the crust was too thin for Max as he would poke through the top layer.
So, we stayed on established snowmobile tracks at these elevations. The tracks are packed so
Max did not bust through. Little Zorro, though, being about 10 pounds lighter than Max was
able to keep trotting along on the "out of track" crust. I was also able to glide along "out of
track" as my skis kept me from breaking through.
But, look at the occasional "snowmobile trench" we encountered at the lower elevations:
A snowmobile has recently busted through the snowpack and cut a 1-2 foot trench in the trail!
Max continues to cruise along "in track", just lowering into the trench.
Zorro continues gliding along the crust still able to hold his weight.
I continue to glide along the crust as well.
It was wild to see Max dip down 1-2 feet without breaking stride as we cruised along.
Totals for the day: 12.1 miles with 1200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH. Our season total now stands at 994.2 miles... Check back tomorrow as we we top 1000 miles for the season! Woohoo!
A great day laying fresh tracks on the snowmobile trails around the South Fork of Swan Valley Rd.
"Come on - hike up slow person. I am ready to GO!" says Max after our quick
midpoint break.
We found ourselves laying "fresh tracks" on the trails for our entire outing today. From an inch or so of new snow at the lower elevations to 4 inches or so at the higher elevations...
An inch or so of new snow as we cruise uphill near the start of the outing.
As we got higher, the trail got less established and it was laying fresh tracks in
3-5 inches of powder.
"Did you say 'wait' for a quick midpoint break?" asks happy little Zorro.
The snow was the deepest at the highest elevations. Notice the track Zorro is setting
in about 8 inches of fresh powder (Max is setting a similar track but the gangline is
blocking it from view).
Back on the "fast track" as we approach the end of our outing.
11 miles later and the Siberians are still running strong!
Cruising through forest on some fun straightaways with a few uphill and downhill spurts. [watch on youtube if no video loads below]
Great conditions for an 11.2 mile outing with 1250 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.
Happy Max & Zorro clearly approve of the multi-day, mid-April snowstorm we are in the midst of!
Happy Zorro looking back as I called them off the trail to take our quick midpoint break.
Happy Max giving approval to restart the fun after our break.
Today's outing took us to the snowmobile trails of Swan Valley Rd. But, all the snowmobile tour companies are closed for the season; so we were laying fresh tracks on the trails all day. How silly - look at all the snow we have:
Cruising along the South Fork trail as we hit 19 MPH along this stretch. Look closely and you can see snowflakes starting to fall upon us - whee!
Today we surpassed 800 miles skijoring for our 2012/2013 season!
800 and counting...
It was a bit on the warm side today (upper 20s to mid 30s) - that led to a beautiful "synchronized snow angel" from Max & Zorro at our quick break point:
"Hot day - rolling synchronized snow angels to cool off!" demonstrate Max & Zorro.
There was 2-3 inches of new snow on the fast trails near Good Times Adventures. A perfect amount of snow for the human to be able to ski under control behind the sprinting Siberians on the fast trails.
Cruising along the Middle Fork trail in Swan Valley. [watch on youtube if no video loads below]
We had one scary (for the human) encounter on the trail. As we came over a slight crest, there were two (yes, TWO) moose standing in the middle of the trail. Egad! Plow to a stop, grab the gangline, get down to one knee to stop the "moose juiced Siberians". At first the moose just stood there looking at us - a real "Oh No!" as a moose standing ground is very scary. But, after what seemed like an eternity to me (only about 15 seconds in real time), the moose turned and trotted up and off the trail. Phew! Sorry I do not have any photos of the pair of moose - I was too worried about safety to care where the GoPro was pointed... I do have a "post moose" shot:
The track into the forest to Max's right is where the two moose decided to leave the trail and
go off into the wilderness. Max is right on top of it, wanting to follow the moose trail! Zorro
is juiced by the moose prints all over the trail and is hoping to find more moose ahead on
the trail.
Max & Zorro's view on the moose encounter, "Whee! We will run 800 more miles TODAY if you let us chase those two moose!" Crazy Siberians...
For the day, we covered 12.3 miles with 1350 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH. Luckily, for me, the moose encounter was on an uphill section of trail; otherwise our top speed would probably have been a scary 25+...
Another great day logging almost 12 miles skijoring in & around the trails by Good Times, with a great "huh?" moment from Max when I suggested ending the day :-)
Laying fresh tracks in 1-2 inches of snow on one of the lesser used trails in the area.
The following 2 photos are a classic from Max & Zorro...
We had been skijoring for about 9.5 miles nonstop when we took a quick break at this point
in the trail before heading back.
"I am having a GREAT time!" expresses happy face Max.
"Just getting warmed up, ready for more." declares Zorro.
Now, in between the previous shot and the next shot, I said, "Ok, let's head back." I use this command when we are on the approach to our finishing point but still too far away to use the "almost done" command. 99% of the time Max & Zorro take "let's head back" as a cue that we are in the final stretch of the outing and no need to conserve yourself. So, we were just over 9.5 miles into our outing today when I suggested "let's head back" to declare we where on the final 2 mile stretch - the photo below is the reaction my "let's head back" got today...
"Huh? No way, I misunderstood you! Why would we head back already?" says a puzzled Max.
"Poppycock! I see perfect trails we have not been on just behind you! Pure poppycock!"
expresses a solemn Zorro determined to get on the trail behind me and continue on.
I wonder if we would ever "head back" if I left it up to Max & Zorro :-)
Other than my outrageous suggestion to "head back", it was a fast & fun outing today:
Laying fresh tracks and hauling me up a shallow incline - whee!
About a 1/2 mile from returning to the trailhead, Max & Zorro letting it all out as clearly
we got no exercise during the last 11 miles.
This was day 5 of our "mini Iditarod" covering 11.6 miles with 1400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH (it sure felt faster than 19, but that's what the GPS recorded...)
Our total stats after 5 Iditarod days: 52 miles and 5750 feet of elevation climbed.
