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paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
Paws to Trail
@paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
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A couple of guys and their two huskies exploring the world on foot.

[bridged from https://mountains.social/@Paws2Trail on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]
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paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
RE: https://mastodon.social/@anne_lienchen/116040091160437147

Deep snow helps soften the blow when learning to skijor takes a bad turn!
mastodon.social
February 9, 2026 at 10:19 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
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.

It has what's advertised as a 5 mile loop (The yellow rubber band along […]

[Original post on mountains.social]
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.
February 8, 2026 at 8:02 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
With warm temps cycling in and out, we ventured out onto Jensen Lake this morning after temps dipped below freezing overnight. Just enough snow on top of the ice for our skis to get traction and glide!

We hadn't been out on a frozen lake since last winter […]

[Original post on mountains.social]
February 7, 2026 at 8:33 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
Impromptu Husky Playdate!

Passing our neighborhood tennis courts we noticed Scout, a black and white husky, having some off-leash time inside. Tonttu and Zeena wanted to say hi! Scout's human readily agreed, so everyone got to run around off leash for a bit […]

[Original post on mountains.social]
Three huskies on a fenced in tennis court in winter, the nets down and the court covered in snow. Females Zeena and Scout face each other on the left in polite greeting. Zeena's a gray and white Siberian husky and Scout Black with white legs, face and belly. She's also much of the Siberian type. Zeena, the 10 year-old elder has her tail over her back in polite dominance, while Scout, 5 years old, has a bit of tongue out, likely as a symbol of respect to her elder. To the right, Tonttu, a more lanky husky with mixed heritage looks at the camera with an open-muzzle smile that indicates he's having a good time. He's been enjoying more rough-and-tumble play with Scout.
February 4, 2026 at 10:58 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
Back on the snow today! We second-guessed our plans to go further west and instead stuck to the more local Murphy Hanrehan horse/pet trails. It was heavily trampled, but good enough to ski.

Here, Tonttu and Jeff go off-trail for a stright, if lumpy, descent against a clear sky.

#huskies #skijoring
A skier and a husky descend a long low slope along the horizon on a sunny winter day. The two are silhouetted against a clear blue sky with a swath of white cloud low on the horizon behind them. They are distant, against the sky, with tussocks emerging from the snow in the foreground to give scale.
February 3, 2026 at 2:27 AM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
Finally Fresh Snow!

Not much more than an inch, but it was enough to get us skiing once again on top of the icy base. We chose nearby and flat Pike Island once again to test the conditions, and were happy to find that it was surprisingly good! The snow was […]

[Original post on mountains.social]
Skijoring on the sandy point of Pike Island, where the frozen Mississippi River, seen in the back and on the right, meets the Minnesota River, out of sight on the left and behind the photographer. Jeff, dressed in dark, warm winter gear, skis with Tonttu a somewhat wolfish Siberian-Alaskan husky. Zeena, a fluffy white and gray Siberian husky skijors with the photographer, attached by a red lead. The dogs look at something offscreen to the left, while Jeff adjusts Tonttu's lead with his pole.
February 1, 2026 at 11:15 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
Queen of the Mountain once again!

Yes, it's just a pile of dirty snow at the end of the parking lot by the local hockey rink, but it's the TALLEST pile of snow in the neighborhood, and Zeena is at the pinnacle!
Zeena, a gray and white Siberian husky, stands on the summit of a lumpy, slightly dirty, pile of snow in a suburban neighborhood. Her leash is held by Jeff, dressed for cold weather, standing somewhat lower than her on the same pile, against a clear blue sky.
February 1, 2026 at 2:38 AM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
A quick and quiet escape from the chaos of the city.

We were curious how the frozen falls looked at Nerstrand State Park after a long period of sub-zero (F) weather, and the only disappointment was that all the flowing water was covered up! Only deep […]

[Original post on mountains.social]
Hikers Jeff and Tonttu lead the way down a path trampled in the snow through a deciduous forest. Tonttu pauses to sniff at the roots of a tree on the left side of the path, starting to fall over, and the upper side of the trunk covered in snow, making a white diagonal stripe across the other tree trunks beyond. Zeena leads the photographer, her body casting a foxy shadow on the snow to her right, captured between the shadows of trees on the left. Jeff and Tonttu pause at the base of frozen waterfalls, a single cascade over a rocky ledge that crosses the river valley. Tonttu rolls in the snow on the ice. Husky Zeena investigates a series of frozen cascades in the rocky shelves on the side of the falls.
January 30, 2026 at 4:07 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
Car battery was dead from the cold, so we had to alter our hiking plans yesterday to just a walk around the local lake.

Not the change of scenery we'd been looking forward to, but at least the huskies got some enrichment!
January 25, 2026 at 3:08 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
It's snowing, but it's also blowing, and the ground is ice, so there's nothing for the new snow to stick to!

Thankfully, anti-ice preparations kept us safe on today's walk.
January 16, 2026 at 11:06 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
Over the weekend we remembered a trail along the Minnesota River that we hadn't visited in quite a while. It's messy in summer and icy in winter where poor drainage means water over the trail, but right now EVERYTHING is icy, so it's as good a time to visit […]

[Original post on mountains.social]
Siberian husky Zeena approaches a water control structure in a woodland. High water covered in ice comes up to the top of the structure on the left, with a small amount of open water along the edge, and there's a drop of a couple meters on the right. The weir is a cement structure wide enough for a vehicle to drive over it if it were properly in place, but weight of the water on the left is pushing it out of alignment to the right. The surface is fractured into large angular planes that don't quite meet up. There is a small point on the far left where the corner of the weir connects with the continuation of the trail on the far side. Looking back at the weir from the previous photo's perspective, you can better see the mass of cement weir structure angled down towards the river below and broken off from the bit at the far end. There's a bent metal frame on the left side with a sluice gate raised, but clearly not enough water is getting through to keep it from backing up on the right side. Zeena is descending down the steep bank on the near side towards the water's edge. Husky Tonttu leads hiker Jeff across the tilted and displaced slab of concrete that is the main body of the weir. Just ahead on the left you can see where the weir has broken away from the concrete road bed on the far side and water has undercut it, creating a jagged overhang. Zeena continues to explore the near slope of the bank.
January 12, 2026 at 3:40 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
Ugh. The light coating of ice we were supposed to get last night turned into an inch of wet rain. All our snow is now slush. 😭

Forecast for the foreseeable future has us bouncing above and below the freezing point, with no significant precipitation in sight. Skijoring is done for the time being. 😩
January 6, 2026 at 2:51 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
Woohoo! Finally some fast skijoring on X-C skis!

Back at the UMore Lone Rock Trail, this time the 4.3 mi middle loop. Still not groomed, but a few prior skiers set tracks and there was just enough snow to float over even the thinnest wind-blown spots […]

[Original post on mountains.social]
January 3, 2026 at 9:15 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
Zorro's foster family picked him up yesterday, so we're back to a family of four.

With fresh snow on the ground, we headed out to check out skijoring conditions at UMore's east end of the Lone Rock Trail. The trail hasn't been groomed, so the wide Hok skis […]

[Original post on mountains.social]
Tonttu pulls skijorer Jeff down a snowy path through a winter woodland. The photo is taken down at dog level, with Tonttu looking at the camera with a big tong-out doggy smile. Zeena pulls the skijoring photographer down a snowy trail through a woodland, though there's an opening ahead where the trail bends left, and an open field can be seen to the right. A quick snapshot of a signpost and Zeena's tail end at the corner mentioned in the previous photo. The post has two blue diamond markers on it, pointing both up the trail and down.
January 2, 2026 at 8:35 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
Zeena is not a counter surfer.

But if a house guest happens to pull half a lasagna off the counter onto the floor, she is not above helping to cover up the crime!

#huskies #dogsofmastodon
Zeena, the fluffy gray and white Siberian husky sits in the snow facing the left, eyes closed against a light breeze and flurries. There are tomato orange spots at the corner of her mouth and cheek ruff. She looks somewhat contrite, but don't believe it!
December 31, 2025 at 7:00 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
RE: https://mountains.social/@Paws2Trail/115811052486975232

Zorro may look like he's not wearing a harness, but that's just because our only spare X-back in his size is totally black!
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy Paws to Trail @paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy · Dec 30
This was Zorro's first time skijoring (we presume) so Jeff took him on an easy loop with lots of time to explore. He picked up the pace when the rest of the pack passed him on the way back. Overall, it was a good experience!

Yes, this is Pike Island again […]

[Original post on mountains.social]
Black and white husky Zorro rests calmly in the snow ahead of his skijoring partner who is paused behind him. Both are having fun, though the tilt of Zorro's head and eye markings makes him look a touch angry. Zorrow is now on his feet and leading Jeff down the trail through the snow. It's a wide flat cut through the woods for powerlines. Both skiers have their mouths open in smiles of enjoyment on the move. One last photo of Zorro and Jeff skiing the powerline gap. This view is from a greater distance, the two of them small figures against the line of trees on the far side of the gap.
December 30, 2025 at 11:57 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
Back on the skis!

Snow's back! Just enough for decent skiing. Dale took the more experienced huskies on his faster XC skis while Jeff wrangled Zorro on his bush-whacking Hok skis.

Here's part of the return leg where Zeena and Tonttu realized that they were […]

[Original post on mountains.social]
December 30, 2025 at 11:06 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
RE: https://mountains.social/@Paws2Trail/115799690521888420

We should not that Zorro is available for adoption! We're just dog-sitting for his current foster family.

If you need a bundle of energy and are in the MN/WI area, check him out at […]
December 28, 2025 at 11:21 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
Introduced Zorro to our neighborhood in a blizzard!

Good, hearty Minnesotan children (and their parents) were taking advantage of the weather at the local sledding hill, despite the windchill.

The huskies were of course oblivious to the cold and the wind […]

[Original post on mountains.social]
Zorro, a black and white husky with a somewhat long and feathery coat approaches the camera, which is down at husky level. His icy blue eyes look directly into the lens. He's leading his human in a puffy winter coat, full face mas, and big reflective snow goggles. They're following a path through trees that are somewhat indistinct through wind-blown snow. Huskies Tonttu and Zeena bound left to right across the scene. Beyond them, a group of five sledders assemble on the top of a small hill. The scene is largely black and white, but one winter coat and one sled, both bright baby blue, provide a pop of color to the scene. Husky Zorro and his human Jeff leave the sledding hilltop, with a picnic shelter and group of people in the background. The scene is slightly bleached white from flying snow.
December 28, 2025 at 11:04 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
Zorro is a much better indicator of how much it's snowing than either Zeena or Tonttu!

Given the state of the yard, today's snow is coming none too soon!

Bring it on!
Two huskies stand on a cold wet patio with slushy snow in the background. Zorro, on the left is black with white paws, muzzle, cheeks, eyebrows and ears, and has a dusting of snow flakes across his back. Zeena, on the right is a light gray and white, and the snow hardly shows on her. Looking out to the rest of the back yard, we see the remains of an earlier snowfall, soft and slushy from days of above-freezing temperatures and grass starting to show through where husky paws have trampled the snow down to the ground. Zeena sniffs the air in front of patio furniture stacked for the season. A US National Weather Service forecast for the Minneapolis region, showing a large swath around the metro area and east into Wisconsin forecast to get 7 to 10 inches of snow. There is a diagonal transition to the west where amounts decrease to 5-8", then 2-5" and less in the SW corner of Minnesota.
December 28, 2025 at 4:21 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
Early morning husky chaos!

Around 7:30 we took delivery of a temporary new husky to the pack. His current name is Zorro, a foster dog who's vacationing with us while his human foster family visits with their family out of state. They'll be picking him up […]

[Original post on mountains.social]
A fluffyish black and white husky with icy blue eyes surrounded by smudged eye-liner markings and two round white spots for eyebrows runs approaches the camera with a doggy grin. Dim dawn light is augmented by yard lights coming from the left side, creating somewhat odd highlights and shadows on the snow. Two huskies, Tonttu and Zorro, spar in the yard, muzzle to muzzle. Three huskies play in a snow-covered yard in early morning light.
December 27, 2025 at 2:41 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
Fluffy cows! 🐂

Big, slow fat deer. 🦌

Fascinating all the same to our huskies! 🦬

Temps above freezing with a prickle in the air meant we stuck to paved tracks today: the bike trail through Spring Lake Park past the bison fields. The bison were cooperative […]

[Original post on mountains.social]
A tall husky in walking harness stands alert, taught against his lead as he stairs at a tall fence, behind which eight American bison relax, some standing, some laying down. It's a gray winter day with snow on the ground that's holding on despite warm temperatures.
December 26, 2025 at 11:36 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
Yesterday we returned to UMore Park, which had been closed for hunting for nearly 2 months. A bit of icy base remains in most places, so if we do get a few inches more of snow it might be skiable again!

Trampled snow was a good workout on the ankles and […]

[Original post on mountains.social]
Jeff, a human in light winter dress, walks two huskies on long Flexi leads down a snowy path through a prairie towards a copse of trees. There is a bit of a drift of old snow over the left side of the trail that isn't the whitest any more. The sky is an even gray.
December 25, 2025 at 10:53 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
"Tonttu Eats the Sun"
by @sofawolfone

#huskies #dogsofmastodon
A black and white Siberian Husky leaping up a snowbank in a residential neighborhood. His head and muzzle are perfectly aligned with the glow of the setting sun in the distance.
December 23, 2025 at 9:07 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
Sadly, skijoring is on pause for now, locally. Warm temps and a bit of rain reduced our base and made it icy, and a recent dusting of fluff on top is happy to blow and drift around in unhelpful ways.

We pulled on our crampons and set out to Afton's Deer […]

[Original post on mountains.social]
Jeff, bundled for cold weather, descends a steep slope into a forested valley. Traction devices on his boots keep him from sliding down hill, despite Tonttu, the husky, pulling out ahead of him (but blocked from view). Zeena, a fluffy Siberian husky, leads the photographer down the slope. A trio of hikers, Zeena, Tonttu and Jeff, follow a wide trail across a prairie, towards the sun, which is a bright blob trying to burn through a thin layers of clouds. Jeff and Tonttu follow a set of tread marks in the thin snow, while Zeena stands off to the side, focused on sounds under the snow. Jeff and Tonttu stand at a trails de map in front of a grassy field. On the horizon, a Midwestern downhill ski area can be seen: stripes of snow cutting down the slope through patches of trees. To the right, the slopes are hidden in a haze of manufactured snow drifting in the breeze.
December 20, 2025 at 5:45 PM