We headed out today with the little dogs, leaving Jake at home, to tackle a section of trail I was certain led somewhere.
Ben was too tall to get under this downed tree, so we left him there.
I liked how this looks like the Natchez Trace.
Ben wriggled under the tree and caught up. He's not thrilled I have him in a safety vest.
But he did not get shot, so I am okay with that.
The little dashed blue line on my map across the trail between where we were and where I was going turned out to be a substantial stretch of water.
It's 6-8 feet deep in the deep part next to the other side.
Nia swam right across and came back and rolled in the sand to get dry. Six times.
We walked upstream a ways, the water did get much more shallow, but it was already 3 and sunset is at 4:30 so we headed back to the van. I was not sure how well I would do on the 3 miles back since it was uphill some of the way and wanted to have enough time.
Nia ran right up this tree. We were all amazed, I had a dog growing up who would run up any slanted tree in the woods. I've not had another dog who showed any interest.
In fact, when she was back on the ground, I showed her a treat and put it on the tree and she went right back up and got it, then jumped off again. It was a good 5 feet to the ground!
Nia is showing Yippy Howler how the water is not super scary, but is actually drinkable.
That puppy talked ALL day. She cried, whined, howled, barked, grunted, growled and muttered. I have never been around such a vocal animal. She did calm down on the drive, after Nia told her to shut it.
Photographic proof of Matt being mean to the baby!
He put her in a tree AND made fun of her for being too short to get over the log.
I found this tree very visually pleasing.
My ankle was twingy on the uphills, but otherwise did okay. I had it wrapped tight for support, it's aching now, so a little Tylenol before bed for me!
I still think I did more good than harm.
This photo above of Matt being weird is showing fully loaded, but I only see half. If you only see half as well, rest assured I know of the problem and am clueless how to fix it.
She did all 6 miles! I carried her briefly and Matt carried her a short while. She needed several stops and had tiny power naps, but for the most part was keeping up just fine!
She used Zephyr's harness today.
There she is, that tiny orange and brown dot!
It was a pretty area, even if we did not reach our intended destination. I know how to get there from another trail, so at some point, we will go that way and keep going and see if we can meet up with where we were today! I'd rather get lost on a known trail. hahaha
Nearly back! We saw one hunter leaving as we pulled in and heard 3 shots-that was it all day. We did not see or hear anyone else on the trails.
I can't believe this is the end of November and not only was it sunny and 65 today, but tomorrow Ben turns 15! The weather has been VERY mild since that polar vortex crap earlier in the month. A few cold nights, but we have not even had a fire going, just our little heaters set to 65 and they have been on about 1/3 of any given day. I am hoping for a low electric bill! We got spoiled this summer-no AC and being at Katy's off and on for 5 weeks and Disney for 2 weeks meant the bills were under $100 3 months in a row. It also meant nearly everything we have mildewed, so next summer window units if nothing else. Gotta get that humidity down.
Anyway, that's a problem for another time, right now, it's bed early because the next 2 days will be busy! We have to celebrate Ben!
