Contrast

Leaning into a left curve on the trail with my favorite sports car - the Jack & Rudy skijor machine :)

Such great cornering skills!

Today is my birthday and I got just what I wanted from Jack & Rudy: a 9+ mile skijor on wonderful soft snow! Our route took us up the front side of Sallie Barber Mine, then down and back up the back side, then out and back into the backcountry on a narrow single track trail and finally back down the front side of Sallie Barber Mine.

For the majority of the morning sun had not risen over the top of the mountain we were on; so the photos are bit dark but fun was had by all!

Flying down the back side of the Sallie Barber Mine Trail. Wheeee!

The contrast between being in morning mountain shade versus being in the morning sun is quite striking. The following photo shows what I mean. We are skijoring in the mountain shade; but look across the valley from us and you see a bright, bright mountain in the morning sun. What a difference in lighting!

Fun in the shade with a striking sun soaked mountain across the
valley from us.

Today's video highlight goes along with the prior photo. Come along and watch us galloping along in the shade with sun soaked mountains ahead of us. Striking contrast :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Given the route we took today, we passed by the historic Sallie Barber Mine three times. Of course Jack & Rudy had to stop and roll snow angels on one of the passes...

Stop, drop and roll in front of the historic Sallie Barber Mine.

If you are wondering, we like to go out early to skijor for three reasons: 1) trails are less busy early; 2) conditions are usually better early; and 3) Jack & I are "morning people" so we might as well go skijoring if we are up. Now that we are past the shortest day of the year, the lighting will start getting better every morning for the rest of the season.

Anyway, back to the trailhead and in the sun you saw hitting the mountains across from us in the video:

"Happy Birthday! Do we get 'end of run' treats for your birthday?" asks
the inquisitive kids. You sure do guys!

What a birthday skijor treat for me: 9.4 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 46 days on the trails covering 383.0 miles with 36,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Shade to Sun

Happy kids towing me to the finish of this morning's skijor outing.

Not the best lighting but you can still see the smiles on Jack & Rudy
as they tow me to the finish.

Today's skijor review comes along with a little history. We started the day on snowmobile trails winding through the backcountry. Along the way we passed through the ghost town of Dry Gulch from the mining days in and around Breckenridge in the 1800s and early 1900s.

Zipping through a ghost town. All of these structures are over 150 years
old and in various states of decay.

History: Dry Gulch was actually one of the richest mining tracts in the history of Breckenridge. As a result, the forest is littered with tons of old mines and cabins. Most are very decayed, the photo above is one of the better preserved parts of Dry Gulch as some repairs and stabilization has been made to these particular structures.

Back to skijoring. We spent the majority of the morning in the shade of a mountain to the east of us hiding the rising morning sun. But, as we wound down the outing, it was finally time for the sun to rise over the mountain and start to decorate the trail.

Zipping along as the sun has finally risen over the mountains to shine on
the trail.

Today's neat skijor clip goes along with the "mountain shade" versus "rising sun". We start out in the morning shade of a mountain behind us. Then, watch as we are out running the mountain and the lighting gets brighter and brighter until we finally get into the bright, bright morning sun. Wheeee! A little more history - watch to our right around 40 to 55 seconds into the clip. The large structure to the right is the historic Jessie Mine & Mill - quite large and more evidence of just how rich Dry Gulch was in the mining heydays. 

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Now onto the comedians, Jack & Rudy. At one point we came to a three way trail junction. I paused to check our time on the trail to see if we needed to go right (towards the trailhead), left (add a bunch more distance) or straight (add a little more distance). Well, you know Jack & Rudy and pausing. But, this was Rudy's second performance of his new act: Stop, Drop, Roll and WOOOO!

Jack doing his patented Stop, Drop & Roll.
Rudy followed suit with a Stop, Drop & Roll but then came out of the
roll into a beautiful WOO - his new thing: Stop, Drop, Roll & Woo.

Back to the trailhead and the fun kids really love finding snow walls to climb for end of run treats:

"We'll climb up to you for the treats!" declares the polite kids allowing
me to hand them out from a standing position.

Fun morning with a little history along the way: 8.4 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 41 days on the trails covering 341.6 miles with 32,300 feet of elevation climbed.

Mountain Shade

The fun kids, Jack & Rudy, all smiles as usual as we finish this morning's skijor outing.

Ok, not the best photo with the intense, bright sun right behind us; but I had
to share anyway as you can make out the kids big smiles :)

We got an early start this morning and spent the majority of the morning with the rising sun still behind the mountains to our east. This made for some interesting & darkish lighting, so I've brightened the photos as much as I could...

We started the morning zipping along on narrow backcountry trails:

Catching air in a backcountry single track - wheeee!

We then dropped onto the trails of Gold Run Nordic Center and found ourselves still shaded from the rising sun by the mountains to the east:

We are heading due east in the photo and the rising sun is still behind
the mountain directly in front of us.

Now, want to see an amazing difference when the sun finally got over the mountains? Well, here we are in the same location as the prior photo but 30 minutes later in the sun! 

We redid this stretch of trail twice: once in the morning mountain shade
and then again once the sun had risen over the mountains.

Now come along for today's video highlight. We are cruising along the fast packed nordic trail; but this is also known "moose territory". So, watch this stretch of trail where Jack & Rudy keep getting distracted by something to our left and Jack dips his nose a few times to check the freshness of moose tracks on the trail. Needless to say, I was on high alert after seeing their distractions; but, alas, we never actually saw any moose (phew).

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Of course, redoing any section of trail means you have at least one turnaround point; and, that means you have stop, drop and roll snow angels from Jack & Rudy :)

Still in the shade of the east mountains; but the kids still had to 
stop, drop and roll snow angels to cool off at our turnaround point.

Did I mention these trails are in known moose territory? Well, Jack & Rudy are WELL aware of that too :)

"Moose went this way, can we too?!?" asks the silly kids looking at a pair
of moose tracks that crossed the trail and went into the trees.

A very entertaining outing this morning with lots of "moose alerts" but no actual sightings: 9.4 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH (the trail was a little too packed and slick for me to be comfortable going faster than this; so I was holding us back). 

2023/2024 Season to Date: 36 days on the trails covering 297.4 miles with 28,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Above the Clouds

Who was enjoying this morning's skijor outing?

"We are! We are having a BLAST!" exclaims the happy, happy kids.

This morning found us skijoring out & back on the beautiful Harrison Creek Trail at Rabbit Ears Pass. Once we got up in elevation a bit, the conditions were wonderful. See for yourself:

What a perfect trail in mid-May! Wheeee!

See those clouds far to the right in the prior photo? Well, here's those same clouds at our turnaround and highest elevation point of the outing.

Cool, we are higher than the clouds!

It was a interesting day contrasting the trail conditions in the shade/forest versus in the open and sun. In the shade, the snow was quite covered with needles & moss that had fallen from the trees.

Lots of needles & moss littering the trail. Buy, hey, it is snow in May
so we'll take it :)

Come along for today's fun skijor clip of us flying through the forest. Even though the snow is a little dirty from tree needles & moss, we were out early enough that the needles/moss were still frozen into the snow so we could glide over them. Later in the day, once the snow softens, these needles/moss would lead to sticky conditions. Good thing we are early birds :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Then, back to the great trail conditions in the open:

Zipping along the clean snow again.

Such a fun outing this morning, let's celebrate with end of run treats:

"Ready!" declares the happy & focused fun kids.

Another great May outing: 8.8 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 157 days on the trails covering 1382.8 miles with 125,800 feet of elevation climbed.