Endless

It was a beautiful morning for a skijor on seemingly endless snow covered terrain atop Rabbit Ears Pass:

Starting off the outing on snowmobile trails with snow white covered
terrain as far as the eye can see! Wheeee!

We haven't skijored Rabbit Ears since December, 2024; but yesterday and then again today was a wonderful return to this great snow mecca. Today we got to spend most of the outing with a view of Rabbit Ears Peak and its two "rabbit ears" (huge rocks) atop the peak:

A little closer than the prior photo and Rabbit Ears Peak with its ears
on top is in view in the upper left of this photo.

Eventually we passed the peak, took a turn to the right and kept on going :)

Jack & Rudy's shadows reversed from the last to photos as Rabbit Ears
Peak is now behind us. Different direction, same results - endless terrain!

Now come along for the video counterpart to the prior photo. Such a peaceful day to glide for miles and miles behind my fun pals:

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We did pause at the Rabbit Ears Pass official geological marker. Well, paused to look at the marker; Jack & Rudy paused to roll snow angels!

"Rub a dub dub!" goes the silly kids rolling around in front of
the geological marker.

A very peaceful & enjoyable morning, right guys?

"Yep, we had a BLAST as usual!" says the happy kids awaiting
end of run treats.

Today's tally: 7.1 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH. Yesterday we had an equally enjoyable 9.1 mile skijor at Rabbit Ears, I just didn't have time to writeup that outing.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 73 days on the trails covering 567.8 miles with 53,600 feet of elevation climbed.

Mush, Mush

Laying fresh tracks in a light layer of new snow on the Sallie Barber Mine Trail. Wheeee!

You can see Jack & Rudy's footprints in the fresh snow behind them.
This was a surprise treat!

A surprise treat? Well, yes. The forecast for today did not call for any new snow. In fact it was predicted to be a warm and blue sky day! But, we woke to a surprise little snowfall. It was coming down lightly for an hour or so. As a result, we went to skijor the Sallie Barber Mine Trail this morning. This trail is very popular and sees lots of traffic. As a result, it is often too packed and slick to skijor on clear days. But, with the surprise dusting of new snow this morning, it was off to Sallie Barber with the safety of the light layer of new snow. Yay!

We made three passes by the historic mine. The first pass had the normal antics from the comedians:

Stop, drop and ROLL snow angels in front of the historic 1800s mine.

With "snow angels completed" on pass #1, it was time to zoom on by the mine the next two times. Funny, but consistent, kids :)

"No need to stop this time! Zoom!" goes the speedy kids flying on by the mine.

Then we got to flirt with oncoming traffic as we zipped on by. This guy paused to watch the cool sled dogs and even called out, "Mush, mush!" as we came on by.

"Mush, mush? You got it!" responds Jack & Rudy cruising on by.

You don't need to tell Jack & Rudy "mush" more than once (or often at all :) for them to turn it on! Here we are moments after the "mush, mush" call catching air on a wide open straightaway. Wheeee!

Zoom!

The little smudge in the photo above? Well, that is a piece of snow that flew off Jack & Rudy's feet and into the camera. Come along for today's video highlight putting the last two photos together. First, we pass on by the oncoming skier. If your volume is up VERY high, you can just barely make out his "Mush, mush" comment. Then, Jack & Rudy whip me around a tight left in the trail (this is where the snow hits the camera) before a gentle right and then a pedal to the metal wide open straightaway. Wheeee! 

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a surprise treat to have unpredicted fresh snow for the Sallie Barber Mine Trail, right guys?

"Oh yes, we LOVE fresh snow and end of run treats!" says the focused pair.

Today's tally: 8 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 70 days on the trails covering 543.3 miles with 51,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Wily

3 happy fellows arriving at the trailhead to conclude this morning's awesome skijor outing :)

1, 2, 3 - smiles all around!

We started the morning doing a little backcountry tour in Dry Gulch. But, after two technical backcountry skijors in fresh snow the last two days, I decided to reward the kids with some fast nordic groomed trails for most of today's outing. As you see above, the nordic trails were perfect. As you see below, the backcountry start was pretty darn nice too!

Zipping along in Dry Gulch before dropping onto the groomed
trails at Gold Run Nordic Center.

Along the way, we had a short pause at an intersection of trails. Jack & Rudy often like to hop off trail into the deeper snow to roll snow angels at pauses at the nordic centers. Today's pause started as expected:

Jack rolling a snow angel off trail in the fluffy snow as Rudy looks like he
is about to start rolling an angel too.

But, the silly redhead Rudy then got other ideas. Suddenly, jumping Jack instead of rolling a snow angel seemed like the more interesting activity to Rudy:

"Incoming, I'm going to tackle & bury you in the snow!" says Rudy.
"You think?" peeks Jack back.

Then, as Rudy was launching his tackle, wily Jack spun around, causing Rudy to miss his attempted tackle and then Jack landed on top of Rudy instead! It was one of the most impressive & skillful wrestling moves I've ever seen!

"Nice try kid, GOTCHA!" goes wily Jack.

Jack is only 5 months older than Rudy, but sometimes it seems like 5 years when you watch Jack manipulate Rudy :)

After the previous episode, we were then flying along one of our favorite speed sections of trail at Gold Run Nordic Center when Jack appeared to "egg Rudy on" to go faster. Watch at around 22 and 29 seconds in this clip and I swear (older) Jack is baiting Rudy with "Let's go kid! Don't make me flip you again!" glances! Funny.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, for the prettiest shot of the day. We were first tracks on the freshly groomed main trail as we neared the end of the outing. Perfect!

Catching air on the fresh groomie zoomie!

Back to the trailhead and I know what is thought is in the head of each:

"Haha, he won't try to blindside tackle me again! I showed him!" says wily Jack.
"You KNOW I'll try it again (& again & again)!" suggests instigator Rudy.

A beautiful morning for a 9.3 mile skijor with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 69 days on the trails covering 535.3 miles with 50,800 feet of elevation climbed.