Showing posts with label wildlife encounters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wildlife encounters. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Dive, Dig, Dunk

Jack & Rudy were in rare comical form on the trails yesterday morning!

Both silly kids dunking their head in the hole in the snow they dug
searching for rodents!

It did not help that we had tons of "wildlife distractions" to egg on the two silly kids. They do not need extra motivation to be goofy, but had PLENTY of it out on the Harrison Creek Trail yesterday!

Come along for today's comedy show. Notice my parallel, on trail, skis as the video clip starts. We were trotting along nicely until this comedy act broke out. Watch as both Jack & Rudy are simultaneously distracted off trail by rodents under the snow. Then watch as the goofballs proceed to dig & dunk in the snow in their quest for rodents. Silly kids....

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As I said, the number of wildlife distractions on the trail only egged these two on :)

Both goofs drifted off trail again to stand in moose tracks as they
scan the trees for the moose.

A little further along and those pesky rodents were clearly very busy and loud under the snow yesterday morning...

"Digging!!!!" demonstrates silly Jack.
"INCOMING!" contributes Rudy with a beautiful rodent swan dive.

Even when I got them on trail to skijor, it was still distractions everywhere. Notice anything unusual in the following photo?

Next to my right ski - those are frozen elk footprints in the trail.
Notice the elk prints go down the center of the trail.
Jack & Rudy certainly noticed :)

Ok, we really did skijor more than hunt. Here's one beautiful stretch of distraction free trail:

Whee! Skijoring! :)

Of course, Jack & Rudy are quite proud of their behavior and antics. It's rare that BOTH are in super comical moods on the same outing...

"Hey, we heard you laughing! You loved it!" proclaims the proud goofballs.

7.2 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed, a top speed of 20 MPH and many, many comical wildlife distractions.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 12 days on the trails covering 81.3 miles with 6750 feet of elevation climbed.


Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Earth Day

We celebrated Earth Day today with a multitude of wildlife encounters while skijoring Boreas Pass.

Beautiful conditions at the upper elevations of Boreas Pass!

Mother Earth provided us with the following forms of wildlife encounters: 1 fox crossing, 3 different squirrel encounters, 1 chipmunk crossing, 1 low flying robin and 1 low flying bluejay - wow, what an Earth Day! Here we go...

"Fox straight ahead, let's get this human moving!" say the fox-locked pair determined to
sprint up the trail and catch the fox.
"Squirrel on the shoulder and our radar is locked - go, go, go!" demonstrate Max & Zorro as
we fly down the trail towards the squirrel target.

Along with the day's theme, today's video highlight starts with a chipmunk distraction on the trail. You cannot actually see the little chipmunk cross the trail, but you can tell it happened by the reaction of Max & Zorro. Watch as I almost lose my "typically composed lead dog Max" off the trail to the chipmunk before he finally recovers and we begin real skijoring again.
[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Max & Zorro's opinion of our Earth Day outing...
"Excellent wildlife viewing & chasing today!" say the happy brothers giving me an
approving glance as we glide past Bakers Tank.

A 10.4 mile outing up & down Boreas Pass with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2013/2014 Season to Date: 136 days on the trails covering 1178.3 miles with 135,900 feet of elevation climbed.