Leftovers

Catching air with the Rabbit Ears in view to our upper left, whee!

Fun Jack & Rudy catching air!
Nice view of the ears for which Rabbit Ears Pass is named in the upper left;
the two rocks atop the peak to our upper left are the ears of Rabbit Ears Pass.

Today's outing can be summarized by one phrase: Groomer Leftovers. Yesterday found us being first tracks on freshly groomed snowmobile trails at Rabbit Ears Pass. Today we were playing leftovers from yesterday's groom. Since it is late April, not a lot of traffic was out on the trails yesterday (go figure, some people apparently think it is springtime or something :) As a result, we were able to hug the shoulders of the trails most of the day to find some leftover groomer corduroy to enjoy today. 

In the photo above, we are on a really nice & wide strip of leftover corduroy on the left shoulder of the trail. In the photo below, the leftovers are much smaller, but still enough to safely let Jack & Rudy floor it!

Much narrower leftovers than the prior photo; but still enough for me on skis.

For some added fun to the outing, we veered away from the vast open meadows we usually stick to at Rabbit Ears in Spring and did an out & back on a lesser used snowmobile trail. But, it was the same theme as the rest of the day: hug the shoulders for groomer leftovers for my skis and let Jack & Rudy do their thing :)

Still enough leftovers for my skis on the right shoulder as Jack & Rudy
zoom down the middle.

Let's go back to the first photo for today's video highlight. Come along and watch as we have some really nice leftover corduroy on the left shoulder for an awesome & endless skijor. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As with yesterday, it was above freezing all morning. So, you know what that gets you from Jack & Rudy:

"Stop, drop & ROLL! Need to cool off!" says the snow rolling sillies.
That is the official geological marker for Rabbit Ears Pass behind Jack & Rudy.
Notice talented Jack is rolling AND eating snow at the same time. Talented!!!

For some reason, Nancy's "end of run" video had either me or Jack (or both) cutoff for most of her footage. I guess she wanted to focus on Rudy today, haha!

At least most of Jack & I are in this frame (most were missing much more of us).

Another really nice late April skijor outing: 9.1 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 100 days on the trails covering 766.6 miles with 75,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Snack

Look at what we stumbled upon at Rabbit Ears Pass this morning!

Whoa, a FRESH groom! Holy smokes!

Yes, the local snowmobile club had groomed some of the trails late last night and we were first on the new groom for miles and miles this morning! We pay yearly dues to the snowmobile club, so it is perfectly fine that Jack, Rudy and I were the first snow machines out on the groomed trails this morning. What a fun late April surprise!

The fun kids catching air again on the fresh groomie zoomie.

Eventually the surprise groom did end. But, conditions were still perfect to keep skijoring the packed snowmobile trails for miles.

No more fresh groom, but still perfect late April conditions!

While the surprise groom might seem like the highlight of today's outing, it was upstaged by another event at one point. A suicidal squirrel darted across the trail in front of Jack & Rudy and nearly became a trail snack for them!

What a stupid crazy squirrel to dart in front of two meat eaters!!!

Now let's put the squirrel event to video. Come along and watch as we start out galloping along until the suicidal squirrel darts across the trail, barely making as Jack & Rudy are on the hunt once they see it! Nothing like a squirrel near miss to add a little extra juice to the Jack & Rudy skijoring engine!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

It was above freezing all morning long, so I knew this would happen at our turnaround point:

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes the silly kids rolling in the snow
to cool their jets :)

Since we (barely) missed the squirrel, how about some pork end of run treats instead?

"Ok, we'll take the pork; but that squirrel would have been tasty!"
says the fun kids.

It is not often we come across conditions good enough for a 10 mile skijor in late April: 10.4 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 99 days on the trails covering 757.5 miles with 74,200 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Early Morning Spring Crust

The early sled dogs get the wonderful early morning crust!

Nice shot of Jack & Rudy catching air as we zip across a firm
early morning snow crust. Wheeee!

Springtime is good for one thing, and one thing only: the Spring Crust! With warm days (well above freezing) and cold nights (many hours below freezing), a firm crust develops in the morning that can support Jack & Rudy's weight and me on skis. This lets us abandon set trails and skijor any direction we want. Such fun!

But, as the snowpack melts, obstacles do start to emerge from under the snow. Today we encountered many little trees starting to poke through. Not a problem, just obstacles to navigate around:

Sometimes Jack & Rudy have to spread apart to avoid obstacles.
I'll typically follow one of them until we are past the obstacle.

Once past any obstacle, though, it's back to shoulder to shoulder skijoring for the impressive sled dogs:

Moments after the prior photo and the cool kids reconnect
for tight, in team skijoring :)

Oftentimes, power lines provide us some of our best spring crust skijoring. This is because the power companies frequently clear cut trees under power lines. This provides us a pretty much obstacle free stretch of spring crust. Come along for today's video highlight to see what I mean. If your volume is up, you'll hear me call out the occasional "left" or "right" and Jack & Rudy listen for us to navigate along a wonderful spring crust under the power lines. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

There is one thing a spring crust cannot support: MOOSE! Yes, we encountered moose leg postholes in the crust at one point during the outing. You must stop and inspect moose tracks, it's in the rule book :)

What a moose posthole as Jack's head has completely disappeared down
the moose hole! These tracks were apparently very fresh according to
Jack & Rudy's noses!

But, the spring crust is perfectly strong for everything Jack & Rudy want to do: from running to rolling snow angels :)

"Rub a dub dub!" goes the snow rolling sillies cooling themselves by
rolling the crust. Funny kids.

Finally, who is ready for some delicious end of run treats?

"We are!" says the happy kids who were able to, once again, find a nice
snow wall to climb to come face to face with me for treats.

An early morning skijor to enjoy the crust before it starts to soften: 5 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 98 days on the trails covering 747.1 miles with 73,300 feet of elevation climbed.