Smooth Shoulder

Wonderful conditions on wide snowmobile trails on the Harrison Creek Trail at Rabbit Ears Pass!

Nice, wide trail with soft snowmobile tracks to gallop in. Wheeee!

We did an "out & back" skijor at Harrison Creek this morning. So, that means we got the typical antics from the comedians at our turnaround point :)

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes the snow rolling sillies.

Once done rolling, it was time to run back. Zoom!

The fun kids catching air as we zoom along.

Then, I stopped to check our time out on the trails to decide which direction to follow at a juncture. Well, this second stop was met with protest from Rudy :)

"WHY ARE WE STOPPED?!?" asks singing Rudy.
"I'll wait patiently for you to restart." adds mellow Jack.

Once restarted, Rudy and I found a wonderful stretch of trail to use. Watch how Rudy and I are on a bit of untouched corduroy to enjoy on the left shoulder of the trail. Meanwhile, Jack keeps dipping his head to sniff the moose tracks going down the center of the trail. Talented "sniff & run" Jack without breaking stride :) The moose tracks must not have been very fresh as Rudy was not interested; but they were definitely fresh enough for Jack to keep sampling with his nose.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Then it was "all business" to end the day. 

"Almost done? We need to floor it to empty our tanks!" says the fun
kids running fast to the finish.

Finally, everybody ready for some end of run treats?

"You bet!" says the happy, focused & fun kids.

Today's tally: 7.6 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 89 days on the trails covering 690.5 miles with 65,800 feet of elevation climbed.

Final Gold Run

Rudy had a lot to say at our turnaround point of the outing this morning :)

"Woo! Woo! Did you hear me, I said WOOOO?" sings wooing Rudy.
"Does he ever NOT have something to say?" asks mellow & quiet Jack.

Today was our last skijor at Gold Run Nordic Center for this season as they close tomorrow. I swear Jack & Rudy got the memo, as they were tearing it up sprinting around the nordic trails today!

We started on the upper Preston Loop. There was a light layer of new snow on a day old groomed trail. Since this trail gets light usage, a dusting of snow over a day old groom is quite perfect conditions. See for yourself:

I told you, the kids were tearing it up all day long!
They are FLYING in this photo!

We then transitioned onto the main (and very heavily used) trail. I was originally fearing the condition since this trail gets a lot of traffic and the upper loop had not been groomed yet. But, what did we find? Well, low & behold, a freshly groomed lower trail. We were shocked and ecstatic to be first tracks on the fresh groom!

The hover huskies catching air being first tracks on a fresh groom!

Once I saw that we were first tracks, I immediately thought, "Could it be? Could it be? Could we get to play our favorite game at nordic centers: Catch and Pass the Groomer?" Well, sure enough, Jack & Rudy slung me around a few bends in the trail until finally it was Catch the Groomer!

We did it! We caught the groomer! Jack & Rudy love doing this.

As I've described many times before, the groomer drivers know us and will stop to wave us on by when the trail gets wide enough to do so safely. So, we hung behind the groomer for a few moments until the trail widened and the driver stopped and waved us on. Oh boy: Pass the Groomer!

Passing on by! What fun for our final skijor at Gold Run this season!

Now let's put it all together in today's video highlight: 1) flying along being first tracks on the fresh groom; 2) catch the groomer! 3) wait, wait; 4) pass the groomer! 5) FLOOR IT once safely on by. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a wonderful outing for our last skijor at Gold Run Nordic Center this season, right guys:

"We LOVE Catch and Pass the Groomer!" says the happy kids.

Today's tally: 6.6 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 88 days on the trails covering 682.9 miles with 65,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Classic

Love how skinny Jack can fit in a classic ski track to roll a snow angel!

That's classic Jack :)

While Jack is known for his skijoring POWER, he is also a skinny guy as you see above. There's a LOT of power packed into that skinny frame!

This morning was a gem of a day, especially for April! We started out laying fresh tracks in a light layer of new snow in the Dry Gulch backcountry:

Laying fresh tracks! Wheeee!

We then found ourselves first tracks on the freshly groomed upper trail at Gold Run Nordic Center. Sweet!

The hover huskies catching air as we are first tracks on the fresh groom!

We were doing a short outing today, so we only spent a short distance on the upper loop trail before transitioning onto the main trail. But, what did we find on the main trail? Darn near PERFECT. Only one other skier with a dog had been on the trail since the fresh groom. That's pretty much still "first tracks" :)

If you look closely, you can see a set of dog footprints in front of and to Jack's
right. The skier had used the classic track (you can see the ski pole holes on each
side of the classic track). This was about as close as you can get to being first
tracks on this popular section of trail!!!!

So much fun footage from today's short outing. What to feature in the video? Hmm, how about the counterpart to the prior photo as the GPS registered us topping 23 MPH along this section of trail. Come along, watch the fun and enjoy the light snowfall coming down around us. Whee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a classic day!

"Ready!!!" says the happy kids perched atop a snow wall awaiting
end of run treats.

Today's tally: 4.3 miles traveled with 200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 87 days on the trails covering 676.3 miles with 64,800 feet of elevation climbed.