Tracks

 Fun shot of Jack & Rudy running fast as we complete a 10+ mile skijor!

Impressive pair 10+ miles later!!!

Today we had a blast playing in all kinds of tracks!

We had rodent tracks which pulled Rudy off trail in one of his patented rodent swan dives:

"Rodents this way! Incoming!!!!" demonstrates diving Rudy.
"Whoa, really, here I come!" adds Jack reacting to Rudy's dive off trail.
Jack did a mini-dive of his own to join Rudy, but nobody gets the lift
of Rudy in a dive :)

At one point, Jack declared, "We MUST exit the main trail HERE!" I obliged and said, "Sure, tell us were you want to go Jack." I pretty much knew what Jack smelled in the air - MOOSE! Jack was exactly right, we found a trough of moose track leading far into the forest. I could tell by Jack & Rudy's energy that these tracks were very fresh:

The moose seeking twins power through deep snow to follow the
moose trail into the forest!

Despite the intensity of Jack & Rudy's energy, we never actually caught up to the moose (phew). When you are as large as a moose, you move through deep snow effortlessly!

My favorite part of the day? Cat Tracks (snowcat, that is). We saw a snowcat leave the trailhead and go out the same trail we were planning. 

Jack in one cat track, Rudy on an older snowmobile track.

What was so special about the cat track? Well, it was fresh! If you look at the prior photo, the left and right of the trail has fresh & soft cat tracks. The middle of the trail is an older (and now frozen) snowmobile track. This made for perfect conditions as I skied with one ski in the soft cat track (for control) and one ski in the frozen snowmobile track (for speed). Put weight on the snowmobile ski for speed and put weight on the cat ski for control. Come along and watch the day's cat track fun:

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Rodent tracks, moose tracks and cat tracks all in one day! What fun!!! Let's tell Zorro about it as we celebrate the 10+ mile skijor with 'end of run' treats:

"Oh my, what fun!" declares ecstatic Jack.
"Yea, yea, tracks, I heard - what about those pork treats in your hand!" says Zorro.

What a wonderfully entertaining day: 10.4 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 10 days on the trails covering 72.8 miles with 6800 feet of elevation climbed.

Tear

 Fun shot of the "ears" on top Rabbit Ears Peak:

View of the ears from the northwest side of Rabbit Ears Peak.
The two rocks atop the peak are the ears. At least Rudy and I were
entertained. Oh silly, snow rolling Jack :)

I got a tear in my eye today skijoring one stretch of trail along Rabbit Ears Peak:

Jack & Rudy skijoring Rabbit Ears Peak Nov 2020.

Max & Zorro skijoring the same trail at almost the same location
in Oct 2017.

Why the tear? Well, the Oct 2017 photo was one of Max's last ever skijors. Add that this was young Jack & Rudy's first ever skijor on this particular trail. In addition, Rudy & Jack are wearing Max & Zorro's "orange hunting season" skijor harnesses. We have an orange set we wear in Oct/Nov and then Jack & Rudy switch to their green & purple harnesses once we are out of hunting season. Well, Rudy is roughly the same size as Max and Jack is roughly the same size as Zorro. So, we get to see Rudy in Max gear and Jack in Zorro gear this time of year. Thus, the tear in my eye knowing we were flying along one of Max's last trails in his and Zorro's gear!

It was a fabulous outing on Rabbit Ears Peak this morning as we found a solo snowmobile track to follow forever:

Endless snowmobile track for endless skijoring!

Come along for a video counterpart to the prior photo. Endless, endless fun! Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The only thing that can distract Jack & Rudy from an endless trail? Moose tracks!

"Moose went this way!" declares Jack standing in a trough of moose
leg prints leading into the deep snow off trail.
"Really? How fresh? Shall we follow?" asks curious Rudy.

Done running one of Max's last trails and time to celebrate the outing with elder Zorro:

"Did they do justice to the karma in those harnesses?" asks Zorro.
"We did, we did!" adds happy Jack & Rudy.

An nostalgic tribute to Max run this morning, miss you Max! 7 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 9 days on the trails covering 62.4 miles with 6000 feet of elevation climbed.

Impressive

 "Made you smile!" as we cruise by a skier coming up the trail beside us :)

Besides smiling, he also said, "Wow, that is cool!" as we smiled
at him while cruising on by.

Remember I mentioned yesterday that it was a very windy day? How windy? Well here's one piece of evidence:

Uh-oh, wind blown downed tree across the trail!
"Uh oh indeed!" says Jack looking back for guidance!

Over the course of this morning's outing, we encountered TEN (10) downed trees across the trail from yesterday's extreme winds. That is a record for us from one day of wind! Some trees were so large that we simply turned around to take different trails. Other trees, like the one above, were small enough for me to take off my skis, hop over, re-attach the skis and then restart. But, wait, did I say "re-attach" the skis? Yes, and you must be stopped to re-attach. So, you know what that means:

Re-attach = stop = Jack & Rudy roll snow angels :)
Where does Jack end and Rudy start? Your guess is as good a mine.

Then, there were the occasional downed trees that had one little window of skiable crosssing:

Jack & Rudy crossing this downed tree at the ONLY point where
there is enough snow for me to ski over too! Impressive!

Just how impressive is the prior photo? Well, let's put it to video to show the incredible skills of Jack and Rudy. Come along as we are flying along the trail until we approach a downed tree. All it takes from me is to utter "over the left" and then "easy, easy" for Jack & Rudy to move to a safe place for my skis to gently glide over the tree. Once we are all over, it is petal to the medal again. Such impressive listening and execution!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Nothing could make me prouder than the prior video. Consider that Jack & Rudy are only 3 and 2 years old; yet they are already perfect "listen and execute" sled dogs. The skill at which they skijor does not get much more impressive than this!

Finally, what to do when the trail was clear of downed trees? Floor it as we hit our fastest speed of this early season this morning: 22 MPH. Pretty good for "early season conditions!"

Our first synchronized "hover husky" of the season as it takes
real synchronicity with your brother to top 22 MPH!

Today's fun parting shot: frisky Zorro! We got back to the trailhead to meet up with Nancy and Zorro. Once Zorro joined us, he had a friskiness about him and wanted to jog around the parking lot a few times before getting our end of run treats. Go Z Go!

"Whoa, wait up big bro!" says Rudy surprised by elder Zorro's burst.
Go Z Go!

What a great day to showcase young Jack and Rudy's perfect sled dog "listen and execute" skills! 8.6 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 8 days on the trails covering 55.4 miles with 5400 feet of elevation climbed.