Have You Seen Our Moose

A nice cover of 2-3 inches of snow fell overnight.

We got up early to be first on the trails and lay fresh tracks for over 10 miles!

Laying fresh tracks as we glide up the South Fork trail in Swan Valley.

While "laying fresh tracks" is always a highlight, the Siberians had a more important focus for the day: "Have You Seen Our Moose?"

We were on the same trails as yesterday for most of today's outing. Well, of course, one of the highlights of yesterday was a spectacular sighting of one of the biggest moose I have ever seen. This event from yesterday had Max & Zorro peeking in anticipation at every meadow we encountered. The pictures will show what I mean...

"Look at me - I can sprint and check for moose at the same time!" demonstrates
a talented Max.

"No need to break stride - just peek to the left as we come around a corner to a new
meadow... Here moose, here moose, where are you?" say Max & Zorro.

"Oh, big meadow to the left. Where is that BIG moose?" ponder the left glancing pair.

"Another meadow, another peek to the right. Where is that moose?!?" questions Zorro.

Ok, I think you get the idea. I could show a "moose peek shot" from either Max, Zorro or both for every corner we rounded and every meadow we encountered. What a pair of moose seeking lunatics!

Occasionally, though, we did have nice stretches of "little to no moose potential" - then it was back to fast & fresh tracks skijoring :-)

No blind corners, no open meadows ... No moose potential so off we go!
[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

10.5 miles with a top speed of 23.8 MPH on our "moose seeking"
outing for the day.

A great day laying fresh tracks and searching for moose: 10.5 miles, 1450 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of roughly 24 MPH.

Birthday Bash

Today is Max's birthday and we had a real Siberian Skijor Birthday Bash to celebrate.

The photos in today's blog list everything Max got for his birthday - it was a great day!

"Wow - what a birthday! I am not sure what was my favorite gift: moose, dog teams, 26 mph,
11 miles, snow angels - I loved them ALL!" exclaims happy 6 year old Max.

(1) Present 1: speed & distance:

26 MPH - our top speed of the season!
10.6 miles - a great time touring packed trails!
"Both of these presents were GREAT!"

(2) Present 2: a MOOSE!

Look to the upper left of this photo - that is a MOOSE in the snow field just off the trail.
This was by far the BIGGEST moose I have ever seen - it was MASSIVE!
"A moose for my birthday - wow! But why didn't the silly human let us chase it?" :-)

(3) Present 3: Dog teams from Good Times:

Look closely at the top left of the photo - you see an "8 pack" of Siberians from Good Times
pulling a sled for the tourists. We were skijoring on the trails also used by Good Times today, we
had numerous encounters with their dog sled tours.
"I could pull that sled!" says an observant Max.

(4) Present 4: snow angels:

Sure, Max rolls a snow angel on 50-75% of our outings. But, would a birthday be complete
without a roll in the snow - clearly not!

(5) Present 5: speed

Airborne, out-stretched, sprinting Siberians. I think 26 MPH was probably Max's favorite
present. Had I let him chase that moose, then we would certainly have had a different
favorite present :-)

Our route for the day took us to the Swan Valley Recreation Area - a nice network of packed trails shared with dog sled and snowmobile tours. We went out & back on the Middle Fork trail and then up & down a portion of the South Fork trail.

Tally for the day: 10.6 miles, 1400 feet of elevation climbed, a top speed of 26 MPH and numerous "birthday gifts" for Max!

Windy Summit

Today's skijor outing can be summarized by 3 highlights:
(1) Our longest single skijor run ever - 15.7 miles! Woo!
(2) One of our windiest sections of trail ever around the Boreas Summit. Brrrr!
(3) An extremely calm and peaceful trail as long as we stayed below tree line. Wheee!

Coming "out of the woods" to connect onto Boreas Pass Rd at Bakers Tank.
Once we got on Boreas, the wind was tolerable gusts until we got above tree line and
it changed to a constant blow with huge gusts.

The photos (and video) of the day display these 3 highlights:

Having a great time cruising the trail to Bakers Tank. We are completely sheltered
from the wind by the trees - little did I know we'd hit some of our strongest winds
to skijor in when we got to the Boreas Summit.
[watch on youtube if now video loads below]

The #1 highlight of the day - our longest single skijor run ever. Almost 16 miles! Fun!

Approaching the Boreas Summit. The "haze" you see along the ground is blowing snow as
the wind was gusting into the 40 mph range! The "exposed road" to the right is not from
lack of snowfall (we've had 2 feet of snow in the last week), but it is an indication of how
windy it has been at the Boreas Summit.

A little closer to the Summit, even more blowing snow all around us.

Taking a glance as the "Boreas Summit" sign before quickly dipping down the other side
of the summit to get out of the intense wind!

On our initial path back down from the Windy Summit. You can still see the haze of
blowing snow all around us. We are skijoring head-on into the wind at this point - see
the Siberians' ears pinned back as they drive into the strong gusts.

All around, what a great day: 15.7 miles, 1600 feet of elevation climbed, a top speed of 17 MPH and some incredibly strong winding blowing around the Boreas Summit.