Moose Bed

Nothing quite as entertaining as encountering a fresh moose bed on the side of the trail!

"Sniff, sniff - smells very fresh! We just missed the napping moose!" declare the moose bed
inspecting pair.

It was clear a moose had recently been laying right were Max & Zorro are sniffing. I saw the big 2-toed tracks coming in & out of the bed and my partners sniff intensity told me the moose had been laying here very recently. Imagine coming across a moose laying right on the side of the trail - yikes!

We failed to spot a moose on this morning's outing to French Gulch. But, the "scent of moose" was enough to tickle our noses a few times. Scent of moose and a fresh moose bed - fun! Here is Max catching a whiff of moose as we trot along the trail:

"Sniff, sniff - beautiful aroma!" states hunt-n-jog Max.
"Not strong enough, keep going!" declares Zorro (he did get some moose whiffs later)

One of the saddest sights of springtime: creek breakup! While the snowpack is still sufficient to skijor over most of French Creek, there are a few spots of breakup here and there. So sad...

"Eek, the creek - stay to the left!" exclaim all three of us.

The evil creek was not visible most of the day - yay! Here we are skijoring the top layer of snow crust in the last meadow of French Gulch. This meadow houses a swamp with French Creek flowing down the middle in summer. So fun to run the top layer knowing there is nothing trail-like in this meadow once the snow melts!

Zoom! Love when the crust can hold our weight!

Today's short video clip is the counterpart to the previous photo. Here we go skijoring the top layer of snow crust on the upper/final meadow of French Gulch. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

A peaceful day cruising French Gulch with just enough "moose juice" to add some excitement: 8.8 miles traveled with 950 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2015/2016 Season to Date: 113 days on the trails covering 958.6 miles with 105,050 feet of elevation climbed.

Top Layer

One of our favorite springtime activities: skijoring the top layer...

Cruising the top layer across a wide open and endless meadow of snow. Wheeee!

What is the "top layer", you ask? Well, spring brings this interesting phenomenon where afternoon temperatures rise well above freezing while overnight temperatures drop well below freezing. This causes the top few inches of snowpack to get soft in the afternoon and then harden into a top layer of crust overnight. If you go out early in the morning, you will find the top layer is hard enough to hold Max & Zorro and even me on skis (I would punch through off skis though). Thus, we can skijor this top layer and trot through large, open meadows that otherwise do not have a trail. The picture above shows one such big meadow with a hard top layer. It is interesting to note that the snowpack is actually 3-4 feet of snow under the top layer! Just two weeks ago we would have had to break trail in 3+ feet of snow in this same meadow!

Different meadow, same spring fun:

Trotting along terrain that was untouchable all winter until the springtime top layer!

The top layer was so much fun that it brought out the frisky giddies in Max...

"Hehe - hey bro! Want to play tag?" suggests Max getting all giddy and deciding to dork
with Zorro instead of skijor...

Tag is, of course, a favorite Siberian Husky game. No Siberian can back down from a game of tag.

"Ok, I'll play. Here I come to tag you back!" says Zorro who was so easily drawn into
the game started by Max.

Game of tag over, back to fast skijoring on set trails:

Zoooom we go. Perfect form from the two who were playing tag just a little while ago :)

A fun day using the top layer to weave our way through previously unusable meadows of deep snow: 8.4 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2015/2016 Season to Date: 112 days on the trails covering 949.8 miles with 104100 feet of elevation climbed.

Top Crust

Great views as we glide along the top layer of snow crust in open meadows at Vail Pass!

Snow covered Rocky Mountains all around us. Snow covered terrain all around us.
Skijoring fun all over Vail Pass this morning!

Our goal this morning was to skijor the "top crust" of snow in all of the meadows around Shrine Pass at the Vail Pass Winter Recreation Area. Max & Zorro really enjoy the open meadow tours we get in Spring when the top crust can support their weight as we glide back & forth, up & down and make our own path.

We started from the trailhead on an established trail and then, after climbing up for a mile or so, it was time to test the meadows for a top layer that would support us.

Off the main trail and pausing for a second to make sure the top crust can support us.
"Feels safe to me!" exclaims happy Max.
"If it can support you two, then you know I am safe!" declares cute little Zorro.

The top crust was still intact, so "touring the meadows" we went...

Wheeee - back & forth we go! You can see tracks from someone else who recently skied
up the middle of this meadow too.

The crust is holding just fine, let's open this team up!

Zoom go my skijoring partners as they tow me up and to the left.

Unfortunately, it was a warm day (low to mid 30s F) so the crust started to get soft and a little punchy partway through our outing. Once that happened, it was time abort the open meadows and get back on the established trail. Nothing wrong with the main trail, though, but it is a shame to see top crust starting to give in to Mother Nature and Spring...

Back on the main trail. "Let's catch some air and haul this human home!" declare the
airborne, sprinting pair.

Fun on the top crust for about 1/2 the outing and then fun on the main trails for the second half: 8.3 miles with 850 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2014/2015 Season to Date: 133 days on the trails covering 1144.5 miles with 120,050 feet of elevation climbed.

Nice Top Layer

The top layer of crust was just hard enough to support a husky (and a person on skis) as we were able make our own trail far back at Indiana Creek and all the way through Indiana Gulch!

Trotting along the hard top layer (on what is a few feet of snowpack under the crust) as we
approach the abandoned "Father Dyer Cabin" to the right. Wheeee!

After a day of silly antics on the trail yesterday, my partners were back to all business today as we toured the adjacent forest and gulch of Indiana Creek this morning...

Off we go starting up the main Indiana Creek Trail (the creek is in the trees to the right).

We caught the scent of moose early on today and Max & Zorro's "moose radar" was on high alert the entire outing. Eventually the radar was rewarded with a distant moose sighting:

"Beep beep! To the right - moose moving through the trees!!!!!" say the intense moose
spotting pair. It was far away, so nothing to be concerned about; but still fun to reward
your radar with sighting, no matter how far away.

A slight breeze was blowing behind us on the "out direction" of our outing. Suddenly a "scent of moose" clearly blew in from behind us as only the smell of moose can bring Max & Zorro to a halt on the trail!

"Sniff, sniff - aahh, wonderful Scent of Moose!" states Max taking it all in.
"My kind of air freshener!" declares Zorro pausing to fill his nose.

Our normal route at Indiana Creek consists of an out & back in the forest as the gulch containing the creek is often soft and/or water exposed. A few times a year (typically in March or April), the snowpack has covered the creek and the warming/freezing pattern of the day & night has built a hard crust in the wide open gulch. When this happens, we will take the forest route on our "out direction" and then test the crust to make sure it can hold 45 pounds of Siberian (and support a human on skis) and then skijor back in the middle of the wide open gulch. A fun way to make a loop out of Indiana Creek!

Jogging down the middle of the gulch containing Indiana Creek - what a treat!
Notice the storm clouds in the sky: some fresh snow to add to our snowpack is
on the way - yay!

A fun day - see for yourself:

"So much fun, so much fun!" declare my thoroughly happy pair at our turnaround point far
back in Indiana Creek.

A fun morning with a nice top layer down the center of the gulch: 7.8 miles with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2014/2015 Season to Date: 103 days on the trails covering 890.8 miles with 94,700 feet of elevation climbed.