1000 Miles

Jack & Rudy are both 4 years old. Today the impressive kids surpassed 1000 miles of skijoring for the 3rd straight season. Quite a feat!!!

"Ready for 1000 more!" says always smiling Jack.
"Woo! How about 1000 more woos?" adds always wooing Rudy :)

Not only did we surpass 1000 miles of skijoring for the season; but today was our earliest date (March 23rd) that we've ever passed this milestone! Our previous "earliest date" was March 26, 2014 with Max and Zorro. I'd say the 4 year olds have officially matured into professional sled dogs!

Back to the day's outing. We did a fun mix of trails by starting in the backcountry and laying fresh tracks in a light layer of fresh snow on single track trails.

Laying fresh tracks on one side trail.

Further along and still laying fresh tracks but now in a narrow single track trail:

Still zooming along :)

After touring the backcountry for a bit; we dropped onto the groomed trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. I knew we needed at least 9.3 miles to surpass 1000 today, so making use of the fast groomie zoomie trails was the perfect addition to the outing to make sure we passed our goal.

Flying kids on the fast nordic groom. Zoom!

Yesterday, we had the excitement of mountain lion + coyote + fox tracks all simultaneously on the trail. What could top that, you wonder? Well, moose tracks upstage all other forms of wildlife tracks, hands down :) Today we came across a pair of fresh moose tracks on the groomed nordic trail. Wow!

Big moose print in the lower center of this photo.
Tons of moose tracks in front of us. Lots of moose tracks to Jack's right
as the moose apparently paused to snack on shrubs to the right.

Oh those distracting moose tracks! Come along for today's skijor highlight as we start being first tracks on the freshly groomed nordic trail. But, seconds into this clip and suddenly there are footprints all over the trail. Who made those tracks? Well, a pair of moose!!!! Watch as Jack & Rudy are a bit distracted by these very fresh moose tracks but keep powering forward. Then, just as the moose tracks exit the trail, we encounter a pair of skiers coming up trail. So, abandon the disappearing moose tracks and go flirt on by the skiers! Fun kids :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Remember that we were first tracks on the nordic trail until the moose beat us to this section of trail. Now, do the math on when the groomer ran this trail (after sunrise) and the moose had been on this trail at most 45 minutes before us (if not sooner). No wonder they were SOOOO distracting to Jack & Rudy - especially Jack, who LOVES to dip his nose in fresh tracks. If your volume is up, you can hear me talking about the moose a bit during the video too :)

1000 miles & counting for the season in addition to fresh moose tracks ON the trail. What highlight to report to retired mentor Zorro? Maybe all of them :)

"Cool! I taught those kids well!" says cool Zorro.
"So much fun today!" declares happy Jack.
"I'm King of the Mountain today!" adds goofy Rudy.

The perfect outing to surpass 1000 miles for the season: 9.4 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 25 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 118 days on the trails covering 1000.1 miles with 94,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Trifecta

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay

topping 24 MPH skijoring yet another day!

Rudy the missile next to Jack the cannonball. Zip-a-dee Zoom!

We had a blast skijoring around the upper elevation trails of Breckenridge Nordic Center. We were all in a real "skijoring groove" as we were flying all over the place all morning long.

But, at one point, I had to stop the team to make sure what I was seeing on the trail was real. What did I see? Well, THREE sets of different wildlife tracks all going up the trail in front of us. After pausing to inspect, I was really seeing this cool trifecta. In this cool shot we have the following: 1) a set of mountain lion tracks behind & in front of Rudy; 2) a set of coyote tracks behind & in front of Jack; and 3) a set of fox tracks to the far right. Wow! I was hoping the following photo would come out better; but I still had to show it. I have put arrows to show the 3 different sets of tracks on the same trail!

1) Large mountain lion prints behind Rudy (notice the HUGE print at
the arrow MUCH bigger than Rudy's own prints).
2) Coyote prints behind Jack (again, the arrow shows the "bigger than
Jack/Rudy" but "smaller than mountain lion" coyote track).
3) Little bitty fox tracks along the right side of the trail.
TRIFECTA!

This trifecta of tracks made for some very juiced kids on the trail. Eventually all three tracks left the trail (at different points) and we had to inspect the exit path each time :)

"Coyote went this way! Can we too?" asks the coyote searchers.
"Ha, no kids, we are not following coyote tracks into deep snow!" I instructed.

Wow, those tracks sure were entertaining! Once all the wildlife cleared from the trail, we had nothing left to do but floor it and lay fresh tracks in the light layer of new snow all morning long. Wheeee!

Fresh tracks fun!

Now come along for the video counterpart to the prior photo. Having a blast laying fresh tracks until we eventually hang a right and reconnect with the more popular "main trail" to continue along. Zoom!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Mountain lions & coyotes & foxes, oh my! Let's tell Zorro all about it:

"I'd rather hear about that chunk of pork in your right hand!" declares
Zorro totally focused on the 'end of run' treats in my hand :)
"Mountain lions & coyotes & foxes, oh boy!" says Jack & Rudy.

A zippy day with a little bit of wildlife juice to add to Jack & Rudy's tank! 11.2 miles traveled with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 117 days on the trails covering 990.7 miles with 93,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Laps

Cresting on the trail at the historic Sally Barber Mine.

Laying fresh tracks in a light layer of new snow as we gallop
on by the mine.

It has been snowing lightly since we got up this morning. As a result, we headed out to the popular Sally Barber Mine trails knowing that the morning's little bit of fresh snow would make the terrain a lot of fun. Much to our surprise and pleasure, we were the first tracks on the morning's fresh snow! 

Whee! Zipping along laying fresh tracks in the new snow!

We skijored multiple laps around the historic mine on both the wide main trail and a few of the single track side trails. Much to our surprise and pleasure again, the only tracks we encountered all day were our own tracks from previous laps! Amazing!

Roughly the same location as the prior photo. The ski (and dog print) tracks
are our own from the first pass by in the prior photo. Fun!

Back to the first pass... Come along for the "fresh tracks fun" in this video clip as we start by leaning into a hard left, then lean into a gentle right and finally floor it on a wide open straightaway. 

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As I mentioned, we made multiple passes by the historic mine. On the final pass, I paused momentarily, expecting Jack & Rudy to roll snow angels before we got restarted. But, no snow angels today, just happy & approving Jack and 'always something to say' Rudy :)

"See, I can stop without the 'drop & roll' - sometimes!" says giddy Jack.
"WOO! Why'd you stop??? I said WOOOO!" adds talkative wooing Ruy.

Oh, and don't worry, Jack did roll a snow angel at one of our turnaround points on a side trail. Phew, his streak of rolling a snow angel on EVERY skijor outing of his life is still intact :)

Done with today's quick outing and enjoying time with the whole pack for 'end of run' treats!

"Pat, pat, me first!" says Zorro poking my leg with his right paw.
"I can see the treats! Ready!" adds focused Jack.
"Need me to woo again?" asks goofy Rudy.

A quick, but fun, outing enjoying the day's light layer of fresh snow: 6.8 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 116 days on the trails covering 979.5 miles with 92,300 feet of elevation climbed.