Paws2Trail

🤣

Nice backwards skiing skills!

Mom, can we keep the snow all year round?

* non-Minnesotan Americans 😉

Aha! Interesting rules!

Good luck, and may the burgers be ever in your favor!

Are you allowed to eat their burgers, though? I thought there was something about illicit trail burgers last time, because contestants are supposed to be self-supported.

Do you have to bring your own ingredients for them to cook? Or does self-supported include giving $ for food?

We're still working up to doing the full 27k Banadad trail some day!

www.banadad.org/trail-info

That looks better! (Especially once I figured out how to navigate their quirky interactive map...)

I'm kind of surprised at how short the trails are out there, given how wide the vistas look in the mountain valleys! I was thinking the 5mi/8km trail we were on yesterday was short.

Is that Sun Valley? Conditions look really nice there, but how much is actually dog-friendly? The Nordic map doesn't show much for dog-permitted trails, and it's most/all shared with bikes.

www.sunvalley.com/the-mountain...

Looks like we'll have to switch back to running, too, if the warm weather holds!

With the Rockies as dry as they've been this winter, we're wondering how long we have before smoke season cuts off heavy outdoor activities. 😖

Nice! In Baker Park Reserve specifically or just that general region? Was it even called Baker Park back then?

And not to be left out, here's Zeena!

She didn't think today was nearly as much fun as yesterday because of the reduced opportunities for mousing. Poor girl!

With temps approaching 32F/0C snow was slow, but not yet truly sticky. Here's a compilation of Tonttu attempting to get some speed on what little hills were available.

Tonttu and Jeff lead the way, skijoring down a roller-packed snowy trail through deciduous woodlands. Zeena follows, pulling the photographer, whose shadow can be seen in the lower left.

The skijorers pause on a flat area where the trail curves to the left. While it has been roller packed, there have been many winter hikers trampling the snow. Zeena now leads Jeff, investigating something in the snow with her nose, while Tonttu hangs out with the photographer.

The Baker Park Reserve winter trail map. The park is a vertical blob with wider parts at the top and bottom. The upper blob contains a number of short cross-country ski loops around small lakes, while the lower blob has the skijoring-friendly trail on the right hand side. It's a long parallel track that loops around on either end, looking like a rubber band curved in a wobbly reverse-C shape, with a larger lake on the left between the ends.

One last day for skijoring before a long period of melting is expected! We drove to the other side of the Twin Cities metro to Baker Park Reserve, which we'd never been to before.

3 of the 5 mile dog-friendly trail were groomed. Snow was a bit slow as it warmed up...

#Skijoring #Huskies

Clearly the ASPCA should be looking into the cruel lack of pets going on here!

Oh, Huskies seem to know Huskies universally! Even just by ear.

😢💔❤️

A mostly white hind-end of a fluffy Siberian husky protrudes from a clump of cattail on the edge of a frozen lake.

The same clump of cattails, but with only the tip of a white tail sticking out.

One last shot of the cattail clump with hardly any evidence of canines at all, other than a red-and-black lead line disappearing into it and perhaps a whitish bit of fluff visible through the leaves.

Zeena, the Amazing Disappearing Husky!

She was quite certain that there was an exciting snack waiting for her deep inside, but despite quite a bit of snuffling & scruffling, she came out empty.

Still, the delay meant Tonttu & Jeff were far ahead, & thus much fun zooming was needed to catch up!

And one last video of the whole pack in motion. Skijoring can be hazardous when your dogs get distracted!

Tonttu is developing into a good, strong, fast puller... but only for short stretches, when he's behind and catching up. Once he's out front, he starts wandering about and following his nose.

Probably would be a good wheel dog if we had him on a team.

With warm temps cycling in and out, we ventured out onto Jensen Lake while temps were still below freezing. We hadn't been out on a frozen lake since last winter, but Zeena immediately recognized that this is a FUN place where you get to zoom from one sniff-and-dig spot along the shore to another.

Husky zoomie face is best face!

Our car may currently be stuck in the kennel driveway’s ditch, but we’re here and doing this together so everything is perfect 🤍
#retiredsleddog #skijoring

Does Hulu get frustrated that Villi doesn't have to do any work? 😄

Hulu does better in this video.

Timeline cleanser

A vertical postcard sized illustration of 7 sled dogs running on a narrow dirt path through a snowy woods and across a frozen (but cracking) river. A beaver is peeking out of a lodge. An a frame house with fishing hole are sit at the bottom on the edge of a frozen lake. A wolf is standing happily on a big rock. Text: Olivia When oliviawhen.com Rep'd by Bailey Tamayo - Sanford J. Greenburger

Happy #kidlitpostcard day! Please contact me if you need a lot of tiny dogs drawn!! 👋🐶

Did someone say snacks?

YouTube video by Associated Press Watch the moment a Greenland sled dog steals AP camera

THIS GOOD SLED DOG DESERVES AN ATTORNEY 😹 #UglyDogs
youtu.be/fzOM4khQSbE?...

It's the look of someone who hasn't gotten to play with other huskies in a LONG time!