Searching

Zorro and I spent yesterday morning searching for moose as we skijored French Gulch...

"Searching, searching... My nose says they are nearby!!!" declares moose searching Zorro.

The "scent of moose" was clearly in the air as Zorro was obviously engaged and scanning the trees all morning long. It is only the scent of moose that can draw him off trail like you see above and he pulled off trail to scan like this THREE different times! Yet, we failed to spot a big, beautiful and smelly (albeit elusive) moose at any of these "stop and scan" points of the outing.

We skijored far back into French Gulch and eventually found a very fresh smelling trail of moose tracks leading into the brush. I let Zorro pick the trail for a bit to see if we could get a moose visual.

"Moose went this way!!! Fresh tracks!!!" declares Zorro leading us on a trail of moose tracks
going into the brush. 

Despite the freshness of the trail we followed in the photo above, we still failed to get a visual of the elusive moose. "Why be so big & smelly if you are not going to show yourself?!?" asked Zorro and I.

At one point running the trail, Zorro's moose radar really started firing and he was intensely scanning the trees to our right. He was so intense that I was about to start singing my "Henry the Eighth" moose warning when his intensity backed down with, yet again, no moose sighting :(

"Scanning, scanning, I smell them nearby again!!!!" demonstrates talented Zorro showing he
can hunt and run at the same time!

If you followed our adventures in years past, you know that moose sightings have become a common occurrence for us. Just look at all the past posts we have with the "moose sighting" tag. It is a running joke we had with friends around town: If you want to see a moose, just go skijoring with Max, Zorro and Brad.

Yet, Zorro and I have yet to get a moose sighting this season. We have encountered plenty of moose tracks and we have frequently stopped to scan the forest from the "scent of moose"; but no sightings. Well, we have come to the conclusion that Max must have had some special (silent to humans) moose call that he used to bring moose out of the trees and into the open. How else can you explain the frequency of moose sightings Max, Zorro and I had compared to none for just Zorro and I? We always knew Max was magical in almost everything he did ("Magic Max" once one of his nicknames); but I did not realize until this winter that part of his magic was being able to draw moose out into the open!

Well, Zorro and I will keep searching, hopefully we can get a moose of our own soon! No moose to be had, so we might as well head back to the trailhead and hook up little Jack for some puppy exercise:

"Hi mom!!!" says Zorro giving Nancy the camera operator a happy glance.
"I don't even know what a moose is yet; so I'll just have fun in the snow!" says happy Jack.

We had fresh snow overnight and French Gulch Road had yet to be plowed. So, we continued past the trailhead with little Jack and gave him a good exercise trot in the packed tire tracks for a short distance.

Zorro and Jack trotting in the packed track while I keep my skis in the soft
powder to their left. Wheeee!

Another day with plenty of moose scent and moose tracks but no visual. Oh well, still a very fun day in French Gulch: 8.7 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2017/2018 Season to Date: 23 days on the trails covering 161.0 miles with 14,250 feet of elevation climbed.

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Jack Dash

Hooking up little Jack with Zorro and I for our "50-100 yard Jack Dash" to finish yesterday's 9.4 mile skijor outing.

Jack Dash! Zoom :)

Our current skijor pattern: Zorro and I go out for miles & miles and then we hook up little Jack for an easy (flat or downhill) 50-100 yard dash to finish the day's outing. This is great training for Jack to run alongside Zorro but keeping the terrain easy so he does not have to pull yet (he's too young for real pulling, but perfect for 50 yard dashes :)

Come along to watch yesterday's Jack Dash to finish our outing. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

You might notice I am snowplowing quite a bit in the prior video. Why, you ask? Well, I could say because the trail is pretty steep and I want to be under control (that is partly correct). Or, I could say because I want to keep our speed at a level good for young Jack (that is partly correct). Or, I could reveal the truth - there is a gate with a super narrow (and icy) side entrance at the end of the trail. Both my skijor partners saw nothing wrong with approaching and going through this narrow opening at full speed (and then hitting the dirt road on the other side of the gate). Well, the human would not have survived going such speeds through the gate! Thus the snowplowing :)

Gate at the end of the trail. Doesn't look like Zorro or Jack have any intention of slowing
to go through gently, does it!!!!! Snowplow to save the human!

Back to the day before the Jack Dash. We skijored the upper trails of Breckenridge Nordic Center and the conditions were PERFECT! Look at this great view:

Great view of Flying Zorro!
Great view of perfect trail conditions!
Great view of the Colorado Rockies to our right!

Here we go with Zorro flying along the fast nordic trails. Zoom!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Great day for a 9+ mile skijor followed by a 50-100 yard Jack Dash to end the day!

"Perfect! Just perfect! I had sooo much fun!" exclaims happy Zorro at a turnaround point
on the trails yesterday morning.

A fast & fun day on groomed nordic trails: 9.4 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2017/2018 Season to Date: 22 days on the trails covering 152.3 miles with 13,550 feet of elevation climbed.

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Flying

Zorro and I had a blast zooming around the fast packed terrain yesterday morning.

The best word to describe Zorro's actions: FLYING!

Wheeee we go behind flying Zorro Zeeeee!
Love this shot of my impressive skijor partner flying along the trail!

We spent most of the morning on the fast packed trails of Gold Run Nordic Center with a couple of side tours on fast packed snowshoe trails. We have not had any new snow for about a week; so, while there was plenty of snow on the trails, they were also well used, packed and fast.

Zorro was really into the outing and was in a fast sprint all morning. If he was not flying, as shown above, then he was hovering instead:

Zorro, the skijor hovercraft, floating above the trail.

In past years, skijoring with Max & Zorro, our top speed was usually in the 26-27 MPH range. I figured we would not hit 26-27 this year with solo Zorro (as most of the fun in going fast is doing it shoulder-to-shoulder with your brother :) yet I expected to hit 24 MPH with just Zorro. Well, yesterday morning was the day, Zorro's top speed of the day: 24 MPH!!  Who knows, maybe he will surprise us all and top 24 all by himself at some point!

Come along for a quick minute of our fast skijor outing. Zorro is really in a fast & fun stride. Pay some attention to the last 10 seconds or so of the video... We come upon a hard left in the trail as Zorro leans into the turn perfectly. I, on the other hand, was not sure I could make the tight turn. The trail was so ridiculously fast packed that I did not know if I could cut my skis into the same tight turn as Zorro. If your volume is up high, you should be able to hear my skis scraping loudly during this turn and I was using all my leg strength to try push and cut the skis into the turn. It may look like the turn was executed with no problem; but the scraping you hear (and the burning I felt in my legs :) tells you how hard it was for me to keep pace with Zorro. Phew!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Done with most of the morning's outing and time to hook up little Jack to end the day. Here is a great shot of our skijor training with Jack: running on a gentle downslope as the gangline is taut from me to Zorro (e.g., Zorro is doing the pulling) while happy Jack is slightly set back as he practices "running as a team" for a short distance.

All smiles as we finish the day as a skijor team.

What a fast & fun day:

"Oh my, I had a ball! ZOOOOM!" says happy Zorro looking back at me during a turnaround
point of the outing.

A day of flying on fast terrain: 7.6 miles traveled with 450 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH. Zoom!

2017/2018 Season to Date: 21 days on the trails covering 142.9 miles with 12,850 feet of elevation climbed.

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