Mt.Rose again

April 26. 2009

Mt. Rose

a repeat

The snow is gone away from Mt. Rose. The frosty thorns have left. There are some white flowers growing and a bunch of little red bugs coming out of hiding. It looks like we have another new season, but it's suspiciously similar to the spring season we had before. Hmmm. Do they just rotate the seasons over and over?

I met 2 other pooches on the trail today along with a few humans. The new fur-do is great. I didn't have even one nasty thing stuck in it. Mt. Rose if fun for bouldering and sniffing. There were some wet spots for mud-bogging ( I can't pass up the mud!)

Grandma is coming over today so I better go have a nap. I want to be well rested so we can play, play, play!

Have you seen my fur?

It seems to be missing!

I found myself in a new place yesterday. After some wrestling, shivering and odd sounds, I came home to find a lot of my fur was missing.

The cat has been sneering at me all day. I'm pretty sure he had something to do with it, the miserable sot.

I no longer have to spend hours chewing stuff out of my fur after a day on the mountain trails. That's OK with me. What do you think of the new do?

Skaha

April 18/09

Skaha Conservation Area and Skaha Bluffs

5 hours

open pine forest

lots of deer

great sniffing

grouse

a few creeks in spring for drinking

rocks and boulders

no hikers in conservation area

lots of climbers at the bluffs

have a leash for the bluffs

2 paws up

April 19, 2009
Okanagan River Channel
somewhere between Oliver and Osoyoos Lk
2 hours

hot
dusty
not much shade
water for drinks and swimming
bikes, strollers
ATV's
take a leash
ducks and birds
lots of quail
plenty of wineries sprinkled throughout for interest

1 paw up

Back on the trail

April 10, 2009



Petgill Lake
about 12km
4 hrs


The snow has left my neighborhood and I found out where it went. It has gone back to the mountains. Most of it is on the trail to Petgill Lake.


beautiful shady forest
streams to wade in
rocks, roots
only two other humans hiking


Keep your eyes and nostrils open, your humans may get lost within 10 minutes of starting this hike. Mine wandered around for 45 minutes before I found the trail for them. After about 3 km we found snow. It was fun walking on the snow, for awhile. Then there was a marshy spot and the snowbridge was rotten. The fun ended and we headed for home, about 1.5 km from the lake.

2 paws up

April 11, 2009





Stawamus Squaw Trail
about 15km
5 hrs



steep, wet rocks, boulders
wet stairs
streams

BIG cliffs
grouse
mossy boulder hopping
rope pull
lots of hikers until after the Chief, then none
poor signage after the Chief summits





How do I say this? Lost 2 days in a row. We never got to the Stawamus Squaw, but we did find a cool new way down from the mountain! The humans kept reading a book to find out where to go. I guess the book was no good. We made a circle tour and came down the face of the Squaw, onto a logging road, to the highway where we followed the climbing access trails along the base of the Chief back to the parking lot. It was a good day.

2 paws up

Running in the Ditch

When I go for a walk there are two choices, the road or the ditch. The road is smooth, flat and gets me where I want to go. It is always the same; safe and predictable. It is clean and well ordered with cars and people going the right way.

The ditch, however, is where I prefer to run. I can get where I want to go by using the ditch, but sometimes I get to a place I never knew existed. This is where the fun begins. The ditch has hidden treasures like, pools of water, streams, clumps of bushes and weeds. There are mice to find and birds to bark at. The smells in the ditch can drive me out of my mind in a sniffing frenzy. There are things to root out and even stuff to eat. There are piles of mysterious substances to roll in. Even getting my fur full of burrs doesn't stop me. I don't want to miss any of it.

Cue the humans.

"Chili, get out of there."

"Chili, stop that."

"Spit that out!"

They never cared when I sniffed, rolled and ran on the mountain trails.

Once I get these burrs chewed out of my fur, I will take a nap and dream of the streams, meadows and mountain tops.

When will I hike again?