Puppy Antics

Max turns 9 years old tomorrow.

He celebrated his "last day at 8" with "puppy antics" on the trail this morning :)

"Hey little bro - I feel 8 months old!" says giddy Max to Zorro.

"Tag - you're it!" says Max the 'last day at 8 puppy'...

It only happens a few times a season - one of Max or Zorro (or both) forget the objective of skijoring and decide that "trail wrestling" is the point of the day's outing. Here we go in today's video highlight as Max turns puppy on the trail and starts dorking with Zorro, trying to bait him into a wrestle match.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Silly Max - the "last day at 8 years old puppy"...

"Who me? I'm just so giddy I forgot the objective of the day!" states silly Max.

"Sigh, life as the only adult on the trail!" states happy Zorro.

Oh, by the way, we did do some adult skijoring this morning...

Beautiful shot of the synchronized, sprinting & adult skijoring huskies. Wheeee!

We had two interruptions to "adult skijoring". The first was Max turning puppy and the second was spotting a moose off the trail in the trees!

"Moose!" declare the moose staring pair. It was a safe distance off the trail and camouflaged in
the trees. But, the scent drew Max & Zorro off trail and I followed their stare until I spotted it
hiding in the trees.

1 moose, 1 puppy and lots of adult skijoring in between: 8.7 miles traveled with 750 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2015/2016 Season to Date: 78 days on the trails covering 663.7 miles with 69950 feet of elevation climbed.

Fresh Snow

After a "far above normal" week of high temperatures and no new snow, we finally got a snow refresher yesterday and into today - yay!

"Aahhh - back to laying fresh tracks in cool temps!" demonstrate Max & Zorro.

We did our Sally Barber + French Gulch route this morning and found ourselves laying fresh tracks along most of Sally Barber and following a fresh snowmobile track in French Gulch. Great day!

1) Sally Barber Freshies:

Launching along the Sally Barber Mine Trail laying fresh tracks in about 3 inches of snow.

Trotting along as we crest by the historic Sally Barber Mine - wheeee!

2) Following a fresh snowmobile track out & back in French Gulch:

Zoom we go as following a snowmobile is like a paved trail to Nome!

It was French Gulch, so the possibility of moose encounters is ever present (and hoped for by Max & Zorro). But, we only got a slight tickle of moose scent in our noses on this morning's outing...

"Sniff.... Ah, scent of moose drifting in from the right!" declares 'sniff & trot' Max.
"Not strong enough scent, keep going!" declares Zorro unimpressed with the intensity of
the moose aroma.

First tracks on Sally Barber and second on the trail to a snowmobile in French Gulch - fun day: 8.4 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2015/2016 Season to Date: 77 days on the trails covering 655.0 miles with 69200 feet of elevation climbed.

Sled Dog Fun

We had a great time following, passing and interacting with the dog sled teams from Good Times Adventures on the trails this morning!

A nice "head on pass" by a team.
"Hi guys! So much fun to see you!" declares giddy Zorro as 3 from the team give him a look too.
"Passing, all business!" says perfect pass Max!

We encountered the team in the prior photo for a head on pass and then we came upon a team paused on the trail. Time to jog by and exchange pleasantries...

"Coming through...." say my partners exchanging pleasantries with the 8-dog team
on the side of the trail as we pass by.

A head on pass, a paused pass by and then finally we found a team sprinting along the trail so we got to play "sled dog chase" - wheeee! It felt like we were a lot closer to the team than this photo does justice. Oh well, I have put an arrow pointing to the musher of the 8-dog team and you can squint and see the fuzzy butts in front of him too.

"Here we come! Zoom zoom zooooom!" declare speedy Max & Zorro.

Today's video clip goes with the prior photo. This is the video action of us playing "sled dog chase". Look closely down the center of the trail and you can see the 8-dog team we are chasing come in & out of view during the video clip.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a fun morning interacting with the dog teams from Good Times!

"We had a GREAT day! So much fun!" exclaim my happy partner giving me an approving
look at a turnaround point on one of the day's trails.

Sled dog fun traveling 9.6 miles with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2015/2016 Season to Date: 76 days on the trails covering 646.6 miles with 68300 feet of elevation climbed.