Groom & Zoom

Impressive lift from Jack & Rudy flooring it along a groomie zoomie trail!

The hover huskies doing their thing. Impressive!

The prior photo is actually from yesterday morning skijoring the Dumont Lake Trail at Rabbit Ears Pass. I'm putting yesterday and today together into this one blog entry.

The local snowmobile club we belong to grooms the main trails at Rabbit Ears Pass and yesterday was their first groom of the 2024/2025 season. Jack, Rudy and I were FIRST tracks on this beautiful groom. As you see above and below, Jack & Rudy know what to do with a groomed trail!

The kids catching air again with Rabbit Ears Peak visible in the upper
left of this photo.

Yesterday's skijor tally: 6.4 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

Now on to this morning. We started the day on narrower trails in Dry Gulch. It was a bit slick on the side trails, so we could safely gallop but not fully open the throttle. But a gallop is better than nothing!

Jack galloping along. 
What has Rudy's attention to the left? Well, this is known moose territory;
but if Jack didn't glance too then it was not a moose. I glanced left myself,
just in case, but saw nothing. So, what got Rudy's attention? Well, if you've
met Rudy you know it could have been anything from a leaf to a moose :)

The highlight of today's outing? Topping 24 MPH on Gold Run Road. This is part of Gold Run Nordic Center and typically on of the trails where we top 24 MPH when the conditions permit it. Well, today was such a day. Come along for a fast & wild 24 MPH skijor behind Jack & Rudy. You might notice you see a lot more of my skis than most video clips. Well, I'm in a serious ski tuck to keep pace (and upright) behind the speed demons; thus the reason you see so much more of my skis than normal. There was no "sitting back and gliding" behind them at this pace :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After hitting our top speed of the season, it was time to turn out of the heavily shaded forest trail in the video above and into the bright morning sun to complete the day:

Catching air once again! Not as impressive as the first photo above, but
all hover photos are cool to me :)

We redid one stretch of the upper trail to get some additional distance. That meant we turned around and here's today's turnaround comedy:

The usual snow angels from Jack with the added touch of munching on
snowcones while rolling.
Today was woos from Rudy - you never know which Rudy comedy act
you are going to get each day :)

Back to the trailhead for some well earned end of run treats for the speed demons:

"That was FUN! Love perfect conditions to FLOOR IT!" says the happy
speed demons.

Today's tally: 9.2 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 23 days on the trails covering 180.4 miles with 17,400 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Dives

Another wonderful day skijoring with Jack & Rudy in soft snowmobile tracks atop Rabbit Ears Pass!

Whee! Zipping along! I am in a serious ski tuck to keep pace, thus the reason
you can see so much of the carabiner in the lower right of this photo.

We started on the Harrison Creek Trail at Rabbit Ears as was the case yesterday. But, a few miles in and we got to a junction. Yesterday we went straight at the junction, today we turned right to mix it up. As with yesterday, this was still an "out & back" route. So, we had to turnaround at some point. You know what that means from Jack & Rudy:

"Turnaround! Roll around!" goes the snow rolling sillies to cool
themselves off before turning and restarting :)

On the way back, those pesky "rodents under the snow" apparently were very active and caught Rudy's attention. So, off Rudy went rodent diving off trail and into the deep snow. Jack, of course, was quick to follow (with his typical "rodent lunge" versus Rudy's high arching dives).

"I sense rodents! Incoming!" says rodent diving Rudy.
"What? Really? Well I'll certainly join too!" adds Jack.

Today, instead of my usual video highlight showcasing hard working/running Jack & Rudy, I will expose the comedians. Come along for today's episode of diving & dunking and diving & dunking again from the silly kids determined to find one of those rodents under the snow! Goofballs :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Ok, comedy interlude over and it was back to Jack & Rudy the professional sled dogs:

Whee, back to "normal"!

Back to the trailhead and a nice snow wall to climb for end of run treats:

"We heard you laughing! You loved our rodent dive comedy event!" says
the happy kids very proud of their performance on the trail today :)

A nice day for following soft snowmobile tracks and, apparently, a nice day to dive off trail in search of rodents under the snow: 8.7 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 21 days on the trails covering 164.8 miles with 16,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Track Follow

Fun shot from the front as we finish yesterday's skijor at Gold Run Nordic Center.

Whee, happy kids towing me to the finish yesterday.

I did not have time to writeup yesterday's outing; but I wanted to include the fun shot from the front above in today's summary.

On to today... We had a blast following soft snowmobile trails into the backcountry at Rabbit Ears Pass. Look at this wonderful photo of Jack & Rudy catching air in soft & deep snowmobile track:

Whee - zipping along! Look at how deep this track is in the awesome
soft snow! Pretty nice for December 2nd!

Besides snowmobiles, there is one other thing Rabbit Ears Pass is known for: MOOSE (and elk, too, but moose are the most interesting to Jack and Rudy)! 

"Moose went this way! We should too!" suggests the silly kids trying to
convince me to leave the trail and search for moose. Haha, I vetoed that :)

Well, since the big bully human vetoed the off trail moose excursion, we might as well gallop along in these nice & soft snowmobile tracks again. 

Whee we go along this nice shelf with awesome views of Colorado below
us to our right.

Now let's have some video demonstration of the day's fun. Come along as we bounce & gallop along in these wonderful soft snowmobile tracks. Oh, you can catch some of the nice views to our right in the gaps between the trees, if you can take your eyes off fun Jack & Rudy that is :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We did an out & back on the Harrison Creek Trail at Rabbit Ears. Well, that meant we stopped to turnaround at one point. Yes, you guessed, it... turnaround antics from the comedians:

"Stop, drop and ROLL!" goes snow rolling Jack.
"Turnaround, WOOOOOOs abound!" sings entertaining Rudy.

Back to the trailhead and who is ready for end of run treats?

"Me, me, me!!!! READY!" says the app & focused fun kids.

Today's fun following snowmobile tracks into the backcountry: 6.9 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 20 days on the trails covering 156.1 miles with 15,300 feet of elevation climbed.