First Skijor of the Season

Today I went out on my first skijor of the season. Actually, now that I think about it, it was the first time I had skijored since my wonderful old skijor dog passed away four and a half years ago. I took my most experienced lead dog Fresca. She has never skijored before, but I chose her because she is very responsive to me (she is also a house pet), and I want her to learn where the trails are for when I start getting the sled out. With the advent of snow season, new trails open up that cross the cow pastures in order to connect with the forest behind them. These are only open after the cows have been removed around November 1st.

Like most experienced sled dogs, Fresca was not sure what I was up to with the skis and no dog team. She thought maybe this was a play date. After a couple miles, she began to understand that I wanted her to pull and keep going forward on the trail. She pulled nice and steady coming back, and skijoring was just as much fun as I remembered. I think we went four or five miles, but I have no way to measure it until Mike retrieves his snowmobiles, which are still sitting in a storage garage in Three Forks.