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paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
Paws to Trail
@paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
27 followers 0 following 460 posts
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
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 · 15d
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
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
Temps will drop and winds rise this weekend, giving us forecast windchills in the -20F / -30C range, so we got out for a quick loop around Pike Island after dropping off at the airport who we'd been picking up the last time we went skijoring here!

Less deer […]

[Original post on mountains.social]
Wolfish Alaskan husky Tonttu trots down a snowy trail packed by winter hikers. He's crossing the picture right to left, pulling a skier who's out of view on the right. His head is down, focused on the trail ahead and not the photographer who he's passing.
December 12, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Reposted by Paws to Trail
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
We had a nice little snowfall that dropped 4-6" across the region on Tuesday, so yesterday was a prime opportunity for skijoring on fresh powder!

The only problem was that 2 of the places we'd have loved to ski were closed for hunting, one of which we […]

[Original post on mountains.social]
A skijoring pair approach the camera from a distance across a prairie bordered by forest in the distance. They are following the photographer's ski track down a wide trail with a gentle bend that follows the forest edge in the distance. The sky is a hazy gray overcast sheet spread over the wide landscape.
December 11, 2025 at 3:53 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
We had a nice little snowfall that dropped 4-6" across the region on Tuesday, so yesterday was a prime opportunity for skijoring on fresh powder!

The only problem was that 2 of the places we'd have loved to ski were closed for hunting, one of which we […]

[Original post on mountains.social]
A skijoring pair approach the camera from a distance across a prairie bordered by forest in the distance. They are following the photographer's ski track down a wide trail with a gentle bend that follows the forest edge in the distance. The sky is a hazy gray overcast sheet spread over the wide landscape.
December 11, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Reposted by Paws to Trail
cdf1982.iosdev.space.ap.brid.gy
It’s been at least four years since we’ve been on this side of a river, but Milla remembered it very well and loved it.

I’m always impressed by her memory when visiting places we’ve been years before. #husky
December 6, 2025 at 8:14 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
The local lake is now frozen and snow covered! We took a walk out to it last night at dusk with the color-changing light-up collars.

Phone camera was way too happy to make it look like normal daytime, so you'll have to imagine it a bit darker, and the collars brighter.
Wolfish husky with icy blue eyes, Tonttu, high-steps through the snow on the ice at the edge of a lake, with trees and brush on the shore behind. He's wearing a chest harness, collar, and an extra ring around his neck between the two that's currently lit up with a bright red light. Tonttu and Zeena explore the frozen lake at opposite ends of the photo. Tonttu's collar is now a purple fading to red, while Zeena's is a more orangey red. Zeena sniffs the snow on the top of the frozen lake, a bit farther out, with only the wooded far shore and some distant buildings in sight. Her collar glows bright green.
December 6, 2025 at 7:21 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
RE: https://sunny.garden/@Paws2Spindle/115668674215472114

Calling all long- (and medium-) coated dog owners! Want to contribute to a fun experiment testing fiber prep for spinning fur into yarn? Have a look at our thread over on @Paws2Spindle on a new project in the works.
sunny.garden
December 5, 2025 at 8:36 PM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
Tonttu loves his snow!

#huskies #dogsofmastodon #snow
December 5, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Reposted by Paws to Trail
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
With one meeting cancelled and a couple hours before a friend was scheduled to arrive at MSP, we got in a quick skijoring session down the length of Pike Island and back. Convenient to have a skijoring spot right next to the airport!

Ski trails were now […]

[Original post on mountains.social]
Wolfish Alaskan husky Tonttu stands majestically on a snowy beach with the Mississippi River in the background, and forest on the far shore. He casts a strong shadow in the bright clear sunlight. Huskies Zeena and Tonttu lead the photographer onto a snowy spit where the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers come together. A row of apartment and condo buildings line the edge of the southern bluffs, on the right of the water, and a highway bridge crosses the combined rivers in the distance. The sun is bright and clear, making the huskies and snow practically sparkle. Huskies Zeena and Tonttu investigate beach grass tufts rising from snow on the banks of the Minnesota River. Zeena is particularly intent, head tilted slightly to the side, trying to triangulate on rustlings under the snow.
December 5, 2025 at 2:31 AM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
With one meeting cancelled and a couple hours before a friend was scheduled to arrive at MSP, we got in a quick skijoring session down the length of Pike Island and back. Convenient to have a skijoring spot right next to the airport!

Ski trails were now […]

[Original post on mountains.social]
Wolfish Alaskan husky Tonttu stands majestically on a snowy beach with the Mississippi River in the background, and forest on the far shore. He casts a strong shadow in the bright clear sunlight. Huskies Zeena and Tonttu lead the photographer onto a snowy spit where the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers come together. A row of apartment and condo buildings line the edge of the southern bluffs, on the right of the water, and a highway bridge crosses the combined rivers in the distance. The sun is bright and clear, making the huskies and snow practically sparkle. Huskies Zeena and Tonttu investigate beach grass tufts rising from snow on the banks of the Minnesota River. Zeena is particularly intent, head tilted slightly to the side, trying to triangulate on rustlings under the snow.
December 5, 2025 at 2:31 AM
paws2trail.mountains.social.ap.brid.gy
RE: https://sunny.garden/@Paws2Spindle/115656286787600760

Just a quick loop around Jensen Lake at Lebanon Hills Regional Park yesterday to get some fresh air between work projects.

At one point, we thought Zeena had found a mouse nest in a clump of grass under the snow, but then she came up […]
Original post on mountains.social
mountains.social
December 3, 2025 at 3:27 PM